US Defense Secretary Ash Carter is a man who knows that actions speak far louder than words.
That’s why when Washington’s feud with China over the latter’s land reclamation efforts in the South China Sea reached a boiling point last year, Carter made a trip to the Pacific and had someone snap this picture of him riding in a helicopter with an aircraft carrier visible in the background.
Submitted by Gail Tverberg via Our Finite World blog,
A person often reads that low oil prices–for example, $30 per barrel oil prices–will stimulate the economy, and the economy will soon bounce back. What is wrong with this story? A lot of things, as I see it:
1. Oil producers can’t really produce oil for $30 per barrel.
How can we stop the Islamic State?
Imagine yourself shaken awake, rushed off to a strategy meeting with your presidential candidate of choice, and told: “Come up with a plan for me to do something about ISIS!” What would you say?
What Hasn’t Worked
Back in June of 2014, ISIS - which at the time hadn’t yet rampaged its way into the world’s collective consciousness - took over Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city and home to more than 2 million people.
When the city fell, it became immediately apparent that the group was quite serious about its stated goal of creating a medieval caliphate and bringing Sharia Law to the entire region.
The victory wasn’t purely symbolic. ISIS fighters captured 2,300 Humvees parked in the city and looted more than $400 million from Mosul’s central bank.
Policymakers and media people—as well as anyone interested in the Middle East, Islam, terrorism, and related issues—need to be talking about al-Jazira. I am not talking here about the Qatar-based media operation that we usually call al-Jazeera. Rather, I am referring to those regions of Eastern Syria and Northern Iraq that have been in the news so much recently because they are the main stamping grounds of ISIL, and the core of the Islamic State, the Daesh.