11-14-2020, 09:40 PM
** 14-Nov-2020 World View: Expertise
All I can tell you is my observations, beginning with the 2007
Congressional Quarterly article that revealed that long-time experts
in Washington on the Mideast knew almost nothing about the Mideast.
Let's take Iran as an example. Someone in the CIA would be an expert
on Iran. He would be able to enumerate all the politicians, tell you
the locations of the country's army bases and missile sites, and all kinds
of other information that I wouldn't have a clue about.
But the chances are that he wouldn't understand the significance of
things like the Occultation in Shia theology, or the significance of
historical events like the Tobacco Revolt and the Constitutional
Revolutions, and their importance to Iran's policy today.
On December 31, 2015, there was a BBC World Service special show with
an hour of the top BBC reporters and analysts predicting what would
happen in 2016. Lyse Doucet has been a BBC reporter for almost 40
years, and is considered an expert on the Mideast. But she predicted
that in 2016, Saudi Arabia and Iran would get together to start peace
talks, and would settle many of their differences by the end of the
year.
As in the case of the Congressional Quarterly article, I almost
couldn't believe my ears. This wasn't a simple mistake like
forgetting the name of the Iran's president. This was massive
ignorance and stupidity about the Mideast in general and Iran in
particular, by someone who was supposed to be an expert.
Then there's Chris Murphy, who has been in Congress since 2007, and is
considered a leading Democrat expert on foreign policy. He gave a
speech that I mentioned in my last message. He said that the Saudi
blockade of Qatar was Trump's fault because of something or other that
I forget, and that Trump could have resolved it in two weeks. Once
again, we're not talking about simple misstatement, but a profoundly
ignorant "expert" who has no clue what's going on, and makes America
look like idiots. And according to reports, Biden is considering him
for Secretary of State.
Obama's Secretary of State was the abysmal idiot John Kerry, who stumbled
from one disaster to another. It's not enough to say that, well, hiring
Kerry was just a mistake, and it won't happen again. Trump would have
fired someone like Kerry within three months, but Obama kept him on for
years. I can only think that Obama wanted someone around who was even
stupider than he was.
Obama never did anything that even made sense to me. The epitome was
when al-Assad used chemical weapons, and Obama took a 15 minute walk
around the Rose Garden and, based on his 15-minute walk, decided to
reverse several years of his "red line" policy. Obama looked like a
complete fool in the Mideast. In fact, everything that he and Kerry
did made them look like complete fools, especially in the Mideast.
During the last four years, I've written about a dozen articles
explaining the complexities of Trump's policies, whether about North
Korea, China, Afghanistan, or the Mideast. I didn't always agree, but
at least his policies made sense. Obama's policies never made sense.
Biden has been hiding in his basement for a year, and appears to be a
total dolt. Kamala is a pretty little girl who giggles a lot, but is
not worth much in a crisis. Suppose there's a military confrontation
with China in March. There will be the initial nonsense blaming the
crisis on Trump, but that will pass as the crisis deepens. Will
either of them be able to handle it?
I doubt that anyone believes so. Hopefully, there's an army general
who knows what's going on in the world who can take over as de
facto president, and lead the country through the crisis. The
country's survival may depend on it.
[P.S.: I heard a reporter on tv yesterday say that the reason that the
jihadists were able to attack on 9/11/2001 was because Clinton had not
provided intelligence briefings to Bush. I have to say, after
listening to people like AOC and Chris Murphy, that every time I think
that the people in Washington can't be any stupider, they find a way
to reach ever greater and greater heights of ignorance and stupidity.]
(11-14-2020, 12:36 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: > What expertise do you have that people in the CIA and DIA do not
> already have?
All I can tell you is my observations, beginning with the 2007
Congressional Quarterly article that revealed that long-time experts
in Washington on the Mideast knew almost nothing about the Mideast.
Let's take Iran as an example. Someone in the CIA would be an expert
on Iran. He would be able to enumerate all the politicians, tell you
the locations of the country's army bases and missile sites, and all kinds
of other information that I wouldn't have a clue about.
But the chances are that he wouldn't understand the significance of
things like the Occultation in Shia theology, or the significance of
historical events like the Tobacco Revolt and the Constitutional
Revolutions, and their importance to Iran's policy today.
On December 31, 2015, there was a BBC World Service special show with
an hour of the top BBC reporters and analysts predicting what would
happen in 2016. Lyse Doucet has been a BBC reporter for almost 40
years, and is considered an expert on the Mideast. But she predicted
that in 2016, Saudi Arabia and Iran would get together to start peace
talks, and would settle many of their differences by the end of the
year.
As in the case of the Congressional Quarterly article, I almost
couldn't believe my ears. This wasn't a simple mistake like
forgetting the name of the Iran's president. This was massive
ignorance and stupidity about the Mideast in general and Iran in
particular, by someone who was supposed to be an expert.
Then there's Chris Murphy, who has been in Congress since 2007, and is
considered a leading Democrat expert on foreign policy. He gave a
speech that I mentioned in my last message. He said that the Saudi
blockade of Qatar was Trump's fault because of something or other that
I forget, and that Trump could have resolved it in two weeks. Once
again, we're not talking about simple misstatement, but a profoundly
ignorant "expert" who has no clue what's going on, and makes America
look like idiots. And according to reports, Biden is considering him
for Secretary of State.
Obama's Secretary of State was the abysmal idiot John Kerry, who stumbled
from one disaster to another. It's not enough to say that, well, hiring
Kerry was just a mistake, and it won't happen again. Trump would have
fired someone like Kerry within three months, but Obama kept him on for
years. I can only think that Obama wanted someone around who was even
stupider than he was.
Obama never did anything that even made sense to me. The epitome was
when al-Assad used chemical weapons, and Obama took a 15 minute walk
around the Rose Garden and, based on his 15-minute walk, decided to
reverse several years of his "red line" policy. Obama looked like a
complete fool in the Mideast. In fact, everything that he and Kerry
did made them look like complete fools, especially in the Mideast.
During the last four years, I've written about a dozen articles
explaining the complexities of Trump's policies, whether about North
Korea, China, Afghanistan, or the Mideast. I didn't always agree, but
at least his policies made sense. Obama's policies never made sense.
Biden has been hiding in his basement for a year, and appears to be a
total dolt. Kamala is a pretty little girl who giggles a lot, but is
not worth much in a crisis. Suppose there's a military confrontation
with China in March. There will be the initial nonsense blaming the
crisis on Trump, but that will pass as the crisis deepens. Will
either of them be able to handle it?
I doubt that anyone believes so. Hopefully, there's an army general
who knows what's going on in the world who can take over as de
facto president, and lead the country through the crisis. The
country's survival may depend on it.
[P.S.: I heard a reporter on tv yesterday say that the reason that the
jihadists were able to attack on 9/11/2001 was because Clinton had not
provided intelligence briefings to Bush. I have to say, after
listening to people like AOC and Chris Murphy, that every time I think
that the people in Washington can't be any stupider, they find a way
to reach ever greater and greater heights of ignorance and stupidity.]
