{"id":129109,"date":"2015-12-14T12:43:25","date_gmt":"2015-12-14T19:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/14\/talk-about-the-middle-east-is-cheap.html"},"modified":"2015-12-14T12:43:25","modified_gmt":"2015-12-14T19:43:25","slug":"talk-about-the-middle-east-is-cheap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/14\/talk-about-the-middle-east-is-cheap.html","title":{"rendered":"Talk (about the Middle East) is cheap"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yes, of course, it's Election Season (when is it not Election Season any more), but public's ginned-up fear over Da'esh and domestic Islamicist terrorism has the GOP presidential hopefulls falling all over themselves to be the hardest, toughest, leaderiest candidates with the one, true, solution to dealing with Da'esh and other thorny Middle Eastern condundrums.<\/p>\n

Which answers, of course, can be summed up in short, pithy, sound-bitey phrases that draw applause but really don't mean a lot other than the candidates being either clueless or deceptive about how "simple" it will be to deal with said problems.<\/p>\n

'To a degree, you can’t blame them — if there was an easy solution, the administration certainly would have been more than happy to use it. The trouble is that there are nothing but bad options. But presidential candidates aren’t supposed to express caution and concern about unintended consequences. They have to be confident and strong, assuring voters that there’s no problem they can’t solve.'<\/i><\/p>\n

Damn the IEDs! Full speed ahead.<\/p>\n

Let's see how many journalists are able to pin down these folk on specifics<\/i> as to their easy "tough leader" solutions for these problems — or, really, any of the problems they say they can fix (at least for areas that the public hasn't had its policy analysis organs hardened into partisan binary flag-waving choices that are taken as axioms, e.g., "Cutting taxes is an morally objective good thing").<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/a>
\nSeven things that show the GOP candidates are clueless about the Islamic State<\/a><\/span>
\nHow to spot the baloney in what the candidates are saying.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yes, of course, it's Election Season (when is it not Election Season any more), but public's ginned-up fear over Da'esh and domestic Islamicist terrorism has the GOP presidential hopefulls falling all over themselves to be the hardest, toughest, leaderiest candidates with the one, true, solution to dealing with Da'esh and other thorny Middle Eastern condundrums. … Continue reading “Talk (about the Middle East) is cheap”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":128890,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/11\/18\/yes-lets-vigorously-support-what-daesh-explicitly-says-it-wants.html","url_meta":{"origin":129109,"position":0},"title":"Yes, let's vigorously support what Da'esh explicitly says it wants","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 18-Nov-15 5:03pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Is anybody particularly surprised that the passports found with the Paris attackers are fakes?'Authorities believe the passports are all fake, and were forged either in Syria or Turkey. Officials with the European Union agency Frontex, which is responsible for border controls, say the number of people trafficking in fake Syrian\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":129083,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/07\/so-what-are-the-other-candidates-saying-in-response-to-trumps-muslim-ban.html","url_meta":{"origin":129109,"position":1},"title":"So what are the other candidates saying in response to Trump's Muslim ban?","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 7-Dec-15 6:29pm","format":false,"excerpt":"For the Dems (and a few GOPers), it's a blanket condemnation.For the other GOPers it's \"Well, that's just crazy talk, we should only ban refugees coming in from places where they are fleeing radical Islamicist terror, because some might be secret Da'esh agents, so tough noogies on the rest of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":129051,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/03\/the-people-with-the-biggest-bombs-dont-always-win.html","url_meta":{"origin":129109,"position":2},"title":"The people with the biggest bombs don't always win","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 3-Dec-15 6:14pm","format":false,"excerpt":"An interesting perspective on Da'esh and what it will take to beat it. Hint: it's not about bombing missions.\"What we have to do \u2013 and this is really key \u2013 is we have to engage the local people. As soon as the people have hope for a political solution, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":129092,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/08\/a-different-perspective-on-the-san-bernardino-attack.html","url_meta":{"origin":129109,"position":3},"title":"A different perspective on the San Bernardino attack","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 8-Dec-15 2:44pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A bit more complex analysis of \"global jihad\" and the terror threat from various factions and groups within Islam and the Middle East. He takes a very pragmatic view that there is a terror threat, that there is scriptural basis for Da'esh and other terror\/jihad groups, but that it's just\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":128810,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/11\/15\/more-on-daesh-and-what-it-does-and-doesnt-mean.html","url_meta":{"origin":129109,"position":4},"title":"More on "Da'esh" and what it does (and doesn't) mean","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 15-Nov-15 5:06pm","format":false,"excerpt":"All of a sudden, following the Paris attacks, the use of an Arabic acronym \"Da'esh\" for the Islamic State \/ ISIS \/ ISIL has become a lot more popular -- but with only a surface (and poorly stated) explanation of why.This article gives a lot more detail, and makes it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":128292,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/10\/11\/best-pre-primary-season-money-can-buy.html","url_meta":{"origin":129109,"position":5},"title":"Best pre-primary season money can buy","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 11-Oct-15 5:43pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Remember, candidates are already debating -- and dropping out -- long before the first primary or caucus vote by any US citizens. By the time any voting to even select a party candidate takes place, much of the campaign for a nomination will already be over.That said, knowing that nearly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/indian-creek-12545B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/indian-creek-12545B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/indian-creek-12545B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129109\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}