to Isis and its Caliphate. A new and terrifying state has been born.

General William Tecumseh Sherman burned the city of Atlanta in 1864. He warned: "I fear the world will jump to the wrong conclusion that because I am in Atlanta the work is done. Far from it. We must kill three hundred thousand I have told you of so often, and the further they run the harder for us to get them." Add a zero to calibrate the problem in the Levant today. War in the Middle East is less a strategic than a demographic phenomenon, whose resolution will come with the exhaustion of the pool of potential fighters.

The Middle East has plunged into a new Thirty Years War, allows Richard Haass, the president of the Councilcited the Haass article) has given sufficient thought to the implications.

How does one handle wars of this sort? In 2008 I argued for a "Richelovian" foreign policy, that is, emulation of the evil genius who guided France to victory at the conclusion of the Thirty Years War in 1648. Wars of this sort end when two generations of fighters are killed. They last for decades (as did the Peloponnesian War, the Napoleonic Wars and the two World Wars of the 20th century) because one kills off the fathers die in the first half of the war, and the sons in the second.

This new Thirty Years War has its origins in a demographic peak and an economic trough. There are nearly 30 million young men aged 15 to 24


in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran, a bulge generation produced by pre-modern fertility rates that prevailed a generation ago. But the region's economies cannot support them. Syria does not have enough water to support an agricultural population, and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of farmers into tent cities preceded its civil war. The West mistook the death spasms of a civilization for an "Arab Spring," and its blunders channeled the youth bulge into a regional war.

The way to win such a war is by attrition, that is, by feeding into the meat-grinder a quarter to a third of the enemy's available manpower. Once a sufficient number of who wish to fight to the death have had the opportunity to do so, the war stops because there areinsufficient recruits to fill the ranks. That is how Generals Grant and Sherman fought the American Civil War, and that is the indicated strategy in the Middle East today.

It is a horrible business. It was not inevitable. It came about because of the ideological rigidity of the Bush Administration compounded by the strategic withdrawal of the Obama administration. It could have been avoided by the cheap and simple expedient of bombing Iran's nuclear program and Revolutionary Guards bases, followed by an intensive subversion effort aimed at regime change in Teheran. Former Vice President Dick Cheney advocated this course of action, but then Secretary of State Condileeza Rice persuaded Bush that the Muslim world would never forgive America for an attack on another Muslim state.

The Pentagon, meanwhile, warned Bush


wish, and can respond to incentives." Bush may have been feckless, but Obama is mad.

With Iran neutralized, Syrian President Basher Assad would have had no choice but to come to terms with Syria's Sunni majority; as it happens, he had the firepower to expel millions of them. Without the protection of Tehran, Iraq's Shia would have had to compromise with Sunnis and Kurds. Iraqi Sunnis would not have allied with ISIS against the Iranian-backed regime in Baghdad. A million or more Iraqis would not have been displaced by the metastasizing Caliphate.

The occupation of Iraq in the pursuit of nation-building was colossally stupid. It wasted thousands of lives and disrupted millions, cost the better part of a trillion dollars, and demoralized the American public like no failure since Vietnam-mostof all America's young people. Not only did it fail to accomplish its objective, but it kept America stuck in a tar-baby trap, unable to take action against the region's main malefactor. Worst of all: the methods America employed in order to give the Iraq war the temporary appearance of success set in motion the disaster we have today. I warned of this in a May 4, 2010 essay entitled, General Petraeus' Thirty Years War (Asia Times Online, May 4, 2010).The great field marshal of the Thirty Years War of 1618-1648, Albrecht von Wallenstein, taught armies to live off the land, and succeeded so well that nearly half the people of Central Europe starved to death during the conflict. General David Petraeus, who heads America's Central Command (CENTCOM),


taught the land to live off him. Petraeus' putative success in the Iraq "surge" of 2007-2008 is one of the weirder cases of Karl Marx's quip of history repeating itself first as tragedy second as farce. The consequences will be similar, that is, hideous.

Wallenstein put 100,000 men into the field, an army of terrifying size for the times, by turning the imperial army into a parasite that consumed the livelihood of the empire's home provinces. The Austrian Empire fired him in 1629 after five years of depredation, but pressed him back into service in 1631. Those who were left alive joined the army, in a self-feeding spiral of destruction on a scale not seen in Europe since the 8th century. Wallenstein's power grew with the implosion of civilsociety, and the Austrian emperor had him murdered in 1634.

Petraeus accomplished the same thing with (literally) bags of money. Starting with Iraq, the American military has militarized large parts of the Middle East and Central Asia in the name of pacification. And now America is engaged in a grand strategic withdrawal from responsibility in the region, leaving behind men with weapons and excellent reason to use them.There is no way to rewind the tape after the fragile ties of traditional society have been ripped to shreds by war. All of this was foreseeable; most of it might have been averted. But the sordid players in this tragicomedy had too much reputation at stake to reverse course when it still was possible. Now they will spend the declining years


End of the World - It's Just the End of You, also appeared that fall, from Van Praag Press.

Has Qatar Surrendered?Much has been written in the past year about the part Qatar plays in the conflict over the status and role of the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement that presents a non-tribal Islamist alternative to tribal loyalties and ideological parties in the Arab world.

For the past two years, the controversy has centered on the role of the “Brothers” in Egypt, on former president Mohamed Morsi’s legitimacy and the legality of General Sisi’s new government as of July 2013. Qatar has been the main source of support for the “Brothers” and their Palestinian offshoot, Hamas, for the last two decades.

Leading the opposition to Qatar’s policies was Saudi Arabia, and Sisijoined that opposition when he deposed Morsi. The relations between Qatar and its opponents reached a new low in March 2014, when the Saudis, Egypt and the United Emirates recalled their ambassadors from Qatar. Later, there were reports of a Saudi armed force concentrated on Qatar’s border that would have invaded the recalcitrant emirate, had Qatar not been under the protective shade of the United States, which has its main Persian Gulf airbase in Qatar as well as strong economic and institutional ties with it.

Qatar has been the main supporter of Hamas for years, providing funds and a venue for Hamas leadership after it left Damascus, while granting political backing to the movement and its rule in Gaza. Several years ago, Turkey joined the Hamas supporters axis, sometimes


joined by Iran – the latter motivated by its hatred of Israel and/or its hostility to the Saudi regime.

When the current round of hostilities between Hamas and Israel broke out, the Qatar-Turkey Axis immediately placed itself on the side of Hamas, while on the opposing side stood the anti-Muslim-Brotherhood-and-Hamas Axis, consisting of Egypt Saudi Arabia, the United Emirates and Jordan. America attempted to help the Qatar Axis, but retreated when faced with strong criticism, both from Israel and Congress. The Palestinian Authority is torn between its desire to see Israel destroy Hamas and its pity for the Gazans who are paying with their blood for the Hamas takeover of their lives – and deaths.

When the possibility of ceasefire negotiations was broached, rivalry broke out between the two sidesover who would head them and who would be able to sway the agreement in the direction he preferred. As the days went by, it became clear that the solution would depend on the result of the duel between the Saudi King and the Qatar Emir, with the winner designing the future of any agreement between Israel and Hamas.

On August 9, 2014, It became obvious that the winner was the Saudi King and the Egypt-Emirates Axis, the group opposed to Hamas, although not openly supporting Israel. Saudi victory over Qatar and its supporters was certain when last weekend, the Emir could be seen rushing to Riyadh, the capital of the country that opposes his nation’s activities.

Qatar’s surrender reached world consciousness mainly by way of Al Mayadeen, the media


is on the verge of collapse).’”

Al Mayadeen reports that the meeting between the Saudi King and the Qatari Emir was just ten minutes long, and does not bring the response of the Saudi King – who may have remained silent throughout.

The significance of the detailed report is in the total subjugation of Qatar to Saudi Arabia, of a young and inexperienced Emir to an older and wiser king. What brought about this abject surrender is the combination of Israeli determination and the geography of Gaza, an area under siege even if the present siege is removed, with Israel on one side, Egypt on the other and only the sea – blockaded as well – as a way to find refuge. Qatar’s peninsula is in a similar position: onecan reach the rest of the continent from Qatar only by way of hostile Saudi Arabia or by way of the sea. If not for the American presence there, Saudi Arabia could crush the Qatar regime within a few hours as it did to Bahrain in 2011.

If it is true that the Emir visited Riyadh and if the text of his monologue, as reported by Al Mayadeen, is accurate, we are about to face a new constellation of forces in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia, a tribal monarchy with an Islamic cast – has become the leading force, Israel is closer to the winning axis and the US is on the losing side. The Iran-Syria-Iraq Axis is under pressure because of the IS Jihadists and the US is


sand dunes of the Middle East.

U.S. Hostage Rescue Failed, White House Says A United States Special Operations team tried and failed to rescue James Foley and other Americans held hostage in Syria during a secret mission this summer authorized by President Obama, senior administration officials said Wednesday.A day after Sunni militants posted a video showing Mr. Foley being beheaded, officials described what they called a “complicated operation” in which several dozen commandos were dropped into a remote area of Syria where American intelligence agencies believed several hostages were being held.But when the Special Operations team arrived on the scene, the hostages were not there. Officials said the commandos exchanged fire with militants, and one American was slightly wounded when one of the United States aircraft came under fire.Allbody of the Middle East. But like cancer, it will be stubbornly difficult to defeat—and some of the cures could end up killing the patient.

The spread has been shockingly quick. In June, the Islamic State surged deeper into Iraq, taking Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, advancing close to Baghdad and threatening Kurdish territory. The group even declared a "caliphate." Only Mr. Obama's Aug. 7 decision to launch U.S. airstrikes halted its advance.

The Islamic State is stalled militarily but far from beaten. But there is a way to turn the tide.

The Islamic State's evil could almost seem cartoonish if it weren't so horrible. The beheading of journalist James Foley was only the latest in a long line of atrocities. In Iraq, the group called for exterminating male members of the


minority Yazidi group and selling Yazidi women into slavery. In Syria, the Islamic State crucified those who opposed it. The group bears the blame for much of the savagery against civilians in Syria—in a conflict that the U.N. estimates has claimed more than 190,000 lives.

This humanitarian disaster is bad enough, but the Islamic State also poses a strategic threat to U.S. interests in the Middle East that even the most hardhearted realist cannot easily dismiss. Iraq's stability, precarious even before the latest Islamic State campaign, is now in serious jeopardy. Iraq could join Syria as another failed state, and a far more important one given its oil reserves. A broader conflagration could risk more intervention by Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and other neighbors. West European governments fear terrorismat home from Islamic State converts. And ironically, the terrorist threat to the U.S. is now more direct: By striking the Islamic State, the U.S. has risen higher on its (long) list of enemies.

The Obama administration, which has—with some justification—tried to avoid entanglement in Iraq and Syria, has an array of "treatments" at its disposal to attack this growing cancer. They all have one thing in common: They won't work well.

The overwhelming problem is the lack of suitable allies. Forget assembling a "coalition of the willing" against the Islamic State—the best you're likely to get is a coalition of the inept, the corrupt, the fanatical and the balky.

In Iraq, former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki systematically alienated the country's Sunnis and Kurds. As the Islamic State advanced, many Sunnis


rose up against his government, and U.S.-trained military forces disintegrated. Mr. Maliki is out now, but the new government in Baghdad is shaky, the Kurds are openly discussing a push for independence, and sectarian divisions plague the country.

In Syria, the problem is even worse. U.S. policy is now aimed at both overthrowing Bashar al-Assad, the country's dictator, and defeating the Islamic State—one of the toughest groups fighting to overthrow Mr. Assad. Only a year ago, the U.S. was on the verge of bombing the Assad regime; now it is bombing the Assad regime's enemy, the Islamic State. The Syrian opposition is no more unified, and the radical element in its ranks is much stronger.

Some approaches are clearly disastrous. Paying ransom money to rescue brave journalists in the Islamicpart, because Sunni tribes, ex-Baathists and other Sunnis had joined the fray against the Maliki government. At the height of the troop surge that began in 2007, the U.S. had turned these fighters against the jihadists. Doing so again without a significant U.S. presence on the ground will be far harder—but if Mr. Abadi's government extends a real olive branch to its Sunni citizens, the Islamic State could rapidly lose much of its support.

The best long-term hope is to help grow local military forces and build up their capacity. Iraq's forces collapsed in the face of the Islamic State's summer offensive, and their morale and cohesion must be restored. Part of this problem is technical, and the sustained deployment of U.S. advisers can improve their performance.

But the bigger


problem is political. Iraqi forces had more training and far better equipment than the Islamic State (though when they ran away, the radicals found themselves with a cornucopia of advanced U.S. military hardware), but many of them have no faith in their officers and no loyalty to their political leaders. So without political reform, military reform will fail.

Pushing the Islamic State back in Iraq does little good if it remains strong across Iraq's blurry border with Syria. Syria's beleaguered moderate opposition forces must be trained far more extensively, enabling them to oppose both the killers in the Assad regime and the fanatics of the Islamic State.

U.S. air power and special operations forces can prevent the Islamic State from growing further. But airstrikes can't evict it once and forserious domestic and foreign political blowback, while the second option could derail critical nuclear negotiations with Iran, a key ally of the Syrian regime.

Ultimately, even a broader air campaign would serve only to weaken rather than cripple the Islamic State. In order to severely degrade the group's capabilities, the United States would need to get involved in the Syrian conflict in a manner similar to its involvement in Iraq. In Syria this would entail active partnership with one or more of the key belligerents in the civil war -- involvement that carries its own risks.

In one version of this scenario, the United States could choose to partner with the forces fighting the al Assad regime by bolstering them with air power. Washington is already working with rebels to


a large degree through a CIA program that provides arms and training. The Obama administration has also sought congressional funds to transition this into a more comprehensive U.S. Special Operations Command effort. Were the United States to partner with rebels through enhanced weapons transfers, embedded special operations forces or air power, it would upgrade the relationship significantly and risk severe blowback. The Syrian rebels are not a homogenous or unified force and their affiliations are murky and in flux. Both domestic U.S. and international critics would fault the administration for potentially directly or indirectly supporting extremist forces, especially if U.S. weapons were found in jihadists' hands. The United States would also face difficulty pushing the rebels toward fighting the Islamic State because rebel combat power is currently directedPeople's Protection Units operate only in Kurdish-populated areas. U.S. ally Turkey is also suspicious of the group because of its ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which operates inside Turkey.

The least risky scenarios the United States can pursue -- limited airstrikes or alignment with the People's Defense Forces -- are also the least likely to damage the Islamic State in the long run. In Iraq, the United States is pursuing cooperation through longstanding relationships with the Iraqi government and the peshmerga. The Syrian situation, however, is much more complex. In upping its chances of success, Washington also opens itself to a host of secondary risks and negative side effects. Given the administration's risk-averse nature, the United States may very well elect to pursue the independent, more


limited approach in Syria. Overall, however, the fact remains that the United States has no easy options in Syria.

Read more: The U.S. Explores Options Against the Islamic State | StratforFollow us: @stratfor on Twitter | Stratfor on Facebook

Reality can be harsh. In order for the United States to weaken and eventually defeat the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, it could use help from both the Iranian regime and that of President Bashar al Assad in Syria. In the Middle East, it takes illiberal forces to defeat an even more illiberal force. The mullahs' Iran and al Assad's Syria sadly represent the material at hand, with which the United States must somehow work or tolerate, however surreptitiously, however much it will deny it at the same time. Ah,the reaction. Thus, from the conflicts in Syria and Iraq that together have killed many hundreds of thousands of people and have featured a plethora of armed groups, the Islamic State has emerged in all its horrifying barbarity.

This harsh moral and political reality extends beyond Syria and Iraq to the larger Levant and the Middle East. Egypt is now, once again, governed by an illiberal, Pharaonic regime, worse arguably than that of the deposed military dictator Hosni Mubarak. It has killed many demonstrators in the streets. It features a budding personality cult around its president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Yet it is a friend of Western and Israeli interests, whereas the democratically-elected government it illegally deposed, that of the Muslim Brotherhood, was demonstrably not a friend of the West


Barack Obama. Though Obama might like to think of himself as a realist, the fact is that a President Richard Nixon or a President George H. W. Bush -- and their secretaries of state, Henry Kissinger and James Baker III -- would have openly acknowledged their friendship with the current Egyptian regime, while Obama and his secretary of state, John Kerry, cannot quite bring themselves to do it.

To repeat, America's friends in the region for decades have been -- and will continue to be -- autocrats. George Kennan, arguably America's greatest foreign service officer of the 20th century, pointed out that the internal nature of a regime was less important to the United States than its international posture. To wit, autocratic Egypt has been more helpful in theGaza crisis than democratic Turkey.

Other examples:

Oman is a great friend of the United States. Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said has quietly provided temporary basing support and logistics for American wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and has been among the United States' most avid diplomatic allies in the region. He rules in a liberal fashion. But he is an absolute dictator.

Morocco, like Oman, has always been among America's most dependable friends in the Middle East. King Mohamed VI has been moving in the direction of a constitutional monarchy. But Morocco remains stable and dependable precisely because power ultimately rests with the monarch; thorough democracy could undo the country.

America's worst strategic nightmares in the Arab world would be the toppling of the regimes in Jordan and Saudi Arabia --


nearly two years by Al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria has been freed, according to a representative of the journalist’s family and a report on Sunday by the Al Jazeera network.The journalist, Peter Theo Curtis, was abducted near the Syria-Turkey border in October 2012. He was held by the Nusra Front, the Qaeda affiliate in Syria, which has broken with the more radical Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. Another American journalist, James W. Foley, who was kidnapped in Syria the following month, was beheaded last week by ISIS, which posted images of his execution on YouTube.A family friend confirmed on Sunday that Mr. Curtis, originally from Boston, had been handed over to a United Nations representative.READ MORE »http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/25/world/middleeast/peter-theo-curtis-held-by-qaeda-affiliate-in-syria-is-freed-after-2-years.html?emc=edit_na_20140824

Lebanon was created out of the Sykes-Picot Agreement.This agreement between Britain and France reshaped the collapsed Ottoman Empire south of Turkey into the states we know today -- Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, and to some extent the Arabian Peninsula as well. For nearly 100 years, Sykes-Picot defined the region. A strong case can be made that the nation-states Sykes-Picot created are now defunct, and that what is occurring in Syria and Iraq represents the emergence of post-British/French maps that will replace those the United States has been trying to maintain since the collapse of Franco-British power.The Invention of Middle East Nation-States

Sykes-Picot, named for French diplomat Francois Georges-Picot and his British counterpart, Sir Mark Sykes, did two things. First, it created a British-dominated Iraq. Second, it divided the Ottoman province of Syria on a line from


the Mediterranean Sea east through Mount Hermon. Everything north of this line was French. Everything south of this line was British. The French, who had been involved in the Levant since the 19th century, had allies among the region's Christians. They carved out part of Syria and created a country for them. Lacking a better name, they called it Lebanon, after the nearby mountain of the same name.

The British named the area to the west of the Jordan River after the Ottoman administrative district of Filistina, which turned into Palestine on the English tongue. However, the British had a problem. During World War I, while the British were fighting the Ottoman Turks, they had allied with a number of Arabian tribes seeking to expel the Turks. Two majortribes, hostile to each other, were the major British allies. The British had promised postwar power to both. It gave the victorious Sauds the right to rule Arabia -- hence Saudi Arabia. The other tribe, the Hashemites, had already been given the newly invented Iraqi monarchy and, outside of Arabia, a narrow strip of arable ground to the east of the Jordan River. For lack of a better name, it was called Trans-Jordan, or the other side of the Jordan. In due course the "trans" was dropped and it became Jordan.

And thus, along with Syria, five entities were created between the Mediterranean and Tigris, and between Turkey and the new nation of Saudi Arabia. This five became six after the United Nations voted to create Israel in 1947.


The Sykes-Picot agreement suited European models and gave the Europeans a framework for managing the region that conformed to European administrative principles. The most important interest, the oil in Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula, was protected from the upheaval in their periphery as Turkey and Persia were undergoing upheaval. This gave the Europeans what they wanted.

What it did not do was create a framework that made a great deal of sense to the Arabs living in this region. The European model of individual rights expressed to the nation-states did not fit their cultural model. For the Arabs, the family -- not the individual -- was the fundamental unit of society. Families belonged to clans and clans to tribes, not nations. The Europeans used the concept of the nation-stateto express divisions between "us" and "them." To the Arabs, this was an alien framework, which to this day still competes with religious and tribal identities.

The states the Europeans created were arbitrary, the inhabitants did not give their primary loyalty to them, and the tensions within states always went over the border to neighboring states. The British and French imposed ruling structures before the war, and then a wave of coups overthrew them after World War II. Syria and Iraq became pro-Soviet states while Israel, Jordan and the Arabians became pro-American, and monarchies and dictatorships ruled over most of the Arab countries. These authoritarian regimes held the countries together.Reality Overcomes Cartography

It was Lebanon that came apart first. Lebanon was a pure invention carved out of Syria. As long


as the Christians for whom Paris created Lebanon remained the dominant group, it worked, although the Christians themselves were divided into warring clans. But after World War II, the demographics changed, and the Shiite population increased. Compounding this was the movement of Palestinians into Lebanon in 1948. Lebanon thus became a container for competing clans. Although the clans were of different religions, this did not define the situation. Multiple clans in many of these religious groupings fought each other and allied with other religions.

Moreover, Lebanon's issues were not confined to Lebanon. The line dividing Lebanon from Syria was an arbitrary boundary drawn by the French. Syria and Lebanon were not one country, but the newly created Lebanon was not one country, either. In 1976 Syria -- or moreprecisely, the Alawite dictatorship in Damascus -- invaded Lebanon. Its intent was to destroy the Palestinians, and their main ally was a Christian clan. The Syrian invasion set off a civil war that was already flaring up and that lasted until 1990.

Lebanon was divided into various areas controlled by various clans. The clans evolved. The dominant Shiite clan was built around Nabi Berri. Later, Iran sponsored another faction, Hezbollah. Each religious faction had multiple clans, and within the clans there were multiple competitors for power. From the outside it appeared to be strictly a religious war, but that was an incomplete view. It was a competition among clans for money, security, revenge and power. And religion played a role, but alliances crossed religious lines frequently.

The state became far


less powerful than the clans. Beirut, the capital, became a battleground for the clans. The Israelis invaded in order to crush the Palestinian Liberation Organization, with Syria's blessing, and at one point the United States intervened, partly to block the Israelis. When Hezbollah blew up the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, killing hundreds of Marines, U.S. President Ronald Reagan, realizing the amount of power it would take to even try to stabilize Lebanon, withdrew all troops. He determined that the fate of Lebanon was not a fundamental U.S. interest, even if there was a Cold War underway.

The complexity of Lebanon goes far beyond this description, and the external meddling from Israel, Syria, Iran and the United States is even more complicated. The point is that the clansbecame the reality of Lebanon, and the Lebanese government became irrelevant. An agreement was reached between the factions and their patrons in 1989 that ended the internal fighting -- for the most part -- and strengthened the state. But in the end, the state existed at the forbearance of the clans. The map may show a nation, but it is really a country of microscopic clans engaged in a microscopic geopolitical struggle for security and power. Lebanon remains a country in which the warlords have become national politicians, but there is little doubt that their power comes from being warlords and that, under pressure, the clans will reassert themselves.

Syria's Geographic Challenge

Repeats in Syria and Iraq

A similar process has taken place in Syria. The arbitrary nation-state has become a


region of competing clans. The Alawite clan, led by Bashar al Assad (who has played the roles of warlord and president), had ruled the country. An uprising supported by various countries threw the Alawites into retreat. The insurgents were also divided along multiple lines. Now, Syria resembles Lebanon. There is one large clan, but it cannot destroy the smaller ones, and the smaller ones cannot destroy the large clan. There is a permanent stalemate, and even if the Alawites are destroyed, their enemies are so divided that it is difficult to see how Syria can go back to being a country, except as a historical curiosity. Countries like Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel and the United States might support various clans, but in the end, the clans survive.

Something verysimilar happened in Iraq. As the Americans departed, the government that was created was dominated by Shia, who were fragmented. To a great degree, the government excluded the Sunnis, who saw themselves in danger of marginalization. The Sunnis consisted of various tribes and clans (some containing Shiites) and politico-religious movements like the Islamic State. They rose up in alliance and have now left Baghdad floundering, the Iraqi army seeking balance and the Kurds scrambling to secure their territory.

It is a three-way war, but in some ways it is a three-way war with more than 20 clans involved in temporary alliances. No one group is strong enough to destroy the others on the broader level. Sunni, Shiite and Kurd have their own territories. On the level of the tribes


and clans, some could be destroyed, but the most likely outcome is what happened in Lebanon: the permanent power of the sub-national groups, with perhaps some agreement later on that creates a state in which power stays with the smaller groups, because that is where loyalty lies.

The boundary between Lebanon and Syria was always uncertain. The border between Syria and Iraq is now equally uncertain. But then these borders were never native to the region. The Europeans imposed them for European reasons. Therefore, the idea of maintaining a united Iraq misses the point. There was never a united Iraq -- only the illusion of one created by invented kings and self-appointed dictators. The war does not have to continue, but as in Lebanon, it will take the exhaustionof the clans and factions to negotiate an end.

The idea that Shia, Sunnis and Kurds can live together is not a fantasy. The fantasy is that the United States has the power or interest to re-create a Franco-British invention crafted out of the debris of the Ottoman Empire. Moreover, even if it had an interest, it is doubtful that the United States has the power to pacify Iraq and Syria. It could not impose calm in Lebanon. The triumph of the Islamic State would represent a serious problem for the United States, but no more than it would for the Shia, Kurds and other Sunnis. As in Lebanon, the multiplicity of factions creates a countervailing force that cripples those who reach too far.

There are two issues here. The


and let the rest kill each other would seem to be supported by this from Stratfor:

The U.S. Could Get Mired in Syria and IraqGeopolitical DiaryTuesday, August 26, 2014 - 19:16 Text Size Print

Already having made considerable gains against a range of rebel forces, the Syrians are thrilled at the recent turn of events in the world. In a year's time, Washington has gone from nearly taking military action against the Syrian regime to targeting its most lethal opponent, the Islamic State. The al Assad regime is not only interested in seeing U.S. military action against the Islamic State. It wants to use this opportunity to try to regain its credibility abroad by being part of an international coalition against the biggest jihadist threat since 9/11.

Though the United Stateswill likely carry out airstrikes against Islamic State assets in Syria, the Obama administration's focus will be on ousting the transnational jihadist group from Iraq. This is because there is consensus among Iraq's domestic and international stakeholders that the country's political system needs to be protected from the al Qaeda offshoot. In sharp contrast, the international community is deeply divided over the fate of the al Assad regime, a cross-border contradiction that will undermine the overall U.S. effort to defeat the Islamic State.

On Tuesday, White House and State Department officials ruled out any coordination between Washington and Damascus in the fight against the Islamic State. They were reacting to an AFP report that said the U.S. government was sharing intelligence on the group with the Syrian regime through


Iraqi and Russian channels. A day earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported that the United States had begun reconnaissance flights over Syria, news that triggered a warning against unilateral action from Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem. He called instead for U.S.-Syrian coordination.

Despite official statements to the contrary, the United States is willing to work with Syria on tactical matters against the Islamic State, but it does not want the arrangement to turn into support for the Syrian government. In many ways the struggle against the Islamic State has distracted from the original conflict -- a civil war in Syria. For the Americans, supporting Syria's rebels gives Washington considerable leverage in its talks with Iran.

What is a Geopolitical Diary? George Friedman Explains.

U.S. support for the rebels has been minimal,State, it can also work with Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Jordan to mobilize the rest of the rebel constellation so as not to give the Syrian regime the upper hand.

This course of action would be very risky given the internal differences between these four Sunni states. Even when the Islamic State has been weakened, nationalist jihadist forces will still dominate the rebel movement in Syria. At the same time, the United States is engaged in talks with Iran over its nuclear program and has begun cooperating with Tehran against the Islamic State in Iraq. It is not possible for the two to achieve their common goal in Iraq while they are conflicting in Syria.

Considering all these factors, the likelihood that the United States will get mired in


the environment that produced it. The Islamic State (like its predecessor organizations) is rooted in the Iraq conflict and is a product of that conflict. Although Abu Musab al-Zarqawi founded the organization Jamaat al-Tawhid and Jihad in Afghanistan, the group never amounted to much there. It was only when he relocated to Iraq following the 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan that the group really found success in recruiting and on the battlefield.

Unlike the educated men from wealthy families who formed al Qaeda, al-Zarqawi is a former Jordanian street thug who was radicalized while in prison. His group's hubris, brutality and embrace of sectarianism all trace their roots back to his influence and guidance.

This brutal sectarianism was well suited for Iraq (and later for Syria) and took root inthe de-Baathification programs following the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. It was also fostered by the atrocities that Shiite militias committed against innocent Sunnis. De-Baathification helped Jamaat al-Tawhid and Jihad, and later al Qaeda in Iraq, attract many Sunni fighters who were former Iraqi officers and gain support from Iraq's powerful Sunni tribes.

The Evolution of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant

While the tribal support was diminished during the Anbar Awakening, the Sunni sheikhs always maintained a healthy fear and skepticism of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki's sectarian bent. Because of this, the Sunni tribal sheikhs permitted a weakened Islamic State in Iraq to survive in case it was ever needed again as a tool with which to confront the al-Maliki government.

Even during the U.S. occupation of


regain power and momentum.

The highly sectarian Syrian civil war also proved fortunate for the resurgent Islamic State in Iraq. A good number of Syrian Sunnis had been involved with the Islamic State in Iraq since the beginning, and the many years of experience they gained fighting coalition forces in Iraq permitted the group's Syrian surrogate, Jabhat al-Nusra, to emerge as an effective fighting force. Jabhat al-Nusra's professionalism, sectarian rhetoric and brutality allowed it to quickly attract not only Syrian rebels but also a substantial portion of the foreign fighters flocking to Syria. The Syrian-led Jabhat al-Nusra later split with the Islamic State of Iraq when the Iraqi leaders of the latter group attempted to directly integrate the Syrian fighters in their renamed group the Islamic State in Iraqand the Levant. When al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri sided with Jabhat al Nusra in the dispute, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant ignored his admonishment and split with al Qaeda.Frictions and Limited Cooperation

The spectacle of al-Zawahiri's criticism of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant was nothing new. The group's ideology was never all that closely aligned with al Qaeda's, and there is documentation from as far back as 2005 that al-Zawahiri criticized al-Zarqawi because his group was highly sectarian and exceedingly brutal. Al-Zawahiri noted that al-Zarqawi's policies were alienating many Muslims against the group. The degree of this alienation became readily apparent in the 2007 Anbar Awakening.

The group has gained some traction among Lebanese Sunnis, with many Sunnis in Tripoli openly supporting the


and weapons. Many jihadist leaders are jealous of the way that geography has permitted their counterparts in Iraq and Syria to monopolize the financial largesse of wealthy Muslim donors in the Gulf and elsewhere. Iraq and Syria were the seats of previous Islamic caliphates and are seen as being at the heart of the Muslim world -- places like Pakistan and Yemen are not.

Even current al Qaeda leader al-Zawahiri, who is sheltering in the area along the Afghan-Pakistani border, recognized this when he laid out his vision for the global progression of the jihadist movement. In a 2005 letter to al-Zarqawi, he wrote: "It has always been my belief that the victory of Islam will never take place until a Muslim state is established in the manner ofthe Prophet in the heart of the Islamic world." He wrote that the first step in such a plan was to expel the Americans from Iraq. The second stage was to establish an emirate and expand it into a larger caliphate. The third stage was to attack the countries surrounding Iraq, mainly Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Syria and Jordan, bringing them into the caliphate. The fourth step was to use the combined power of the caliphate to attack Israel. Although the Islamic State has split with al-Zawahiri's al Qaeda core leadership, they are progressing along the trajectory he laid out.

A second factor keeping the leaders of other jihadist groups from joining the Islamic State is the group's sectarian focus and its propensity to attack other jihadist groups, such as


against the type of strict and sudden enforcement of Sharia the Islamic State is known for.The Islamic State's Appeal

Grassroots jihadists have been the Islamic State's main source of public support since before the declaration of the caliphate. Individual grassroots jihadists from around the world have flocked to Iraq and Syria to fight, and grassroots networks have been set up in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East to send men, funds and weapons to support the Islamic State. Jihadists in Libya and Tunisia have been especially active in these support networks in terms of sending men (and weapons from Libya), but they have not yet overtly declared loyalty to the Islamic State.

In Indonesia, Abu Bakar Bashir, the former leader of the now-defunct Jemaah Islamiyah, declared allegiancePhoto : Instagram

Authorities are currently searching for automotive journalist Davey G. Johnson, a veteran of Car and Driver, Autoweek, Jalopnik and more, after he apparently went missing on a motorcycle ride somewhere along California State Route 49 earlier this week.

The Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office confirmed it does have a missing person case in progress. Anyone with information is asked to call the department at (209) 754-6500.

According to social media posts from Davey’s friends, he was last heard from around 2 a.m. Wednesday. He was riding a black Honda CB1000R press loaner motorcycle with manufacturer license plate 3421 somewhere along Route 49.

He was headed toward his home in Sacramento from the Mammoth area. The last ping from his cell phone was in Amador County around 8 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Additionally,


Hansell conveying this request by telephone. She had Hansell write the name of his New York contact, Dane Ligoure, down for her.4

4
As arranged by Prescod with the LAX gate agent, the bag accompanied Neischer on the LAX-JFK flight leg. A wheelchair booked by Hansell with his counterpart at JFK met Neischer on arrival, as AA operates BWIA's baggage handling and other ground operations at JFK. At some point during the connection to her BWIA flight, Neischer was required to relinquish her suitcase to an unidentified AA or BWIA employee.5 She was given a receipt for the bag. The unidentified employee — according to testimony from decedent's son, Orin Rodrigues, who met her in Georgetown — "promised her that the bag would be with her in Guyana as soonHe added, however, that at busy times such as the holiday season "other avenues" are sometimes explored to reunite passengers with lost bags, including transporting luggage by truck to Miami as a transit point for delivery.

7
After arriving at Rodrigues's house, Neischer used her inhalers from the handbag she had retained and, according to her son, "was breathing a little bit short but[she was] mostly agitated." After Rodrigues called BWIA and learned that the bag was not on the following flight, but, again, assuredly "would be on the next plane," Neischer became"[m]ore agitated." This telephone routine was repeated on the morning of December 16, when Rodrigues was told that the bag had failed to arrive on the overnight flight.

8
By then, Neischer had begun to exhibit palpitations. During the day,


would not have been possible."

10
The day Neischer arrived in Georgetown was national election day in Guyana. After Rodrigues called BWIA for a second time — on the morning of December 16 — he went into Georgetown to look for a replacement inhaler for his mother. He testified that "the city was in turmoil ... [t]he downtown pharmacies were all closed down ... there was a riot pending in the city. All the stores were barricaded with[steel]." Rodrigues did find an open pharmacy "on the outskirts of town" and purchased an inhaler. Asked why he did not take his mother to a doctor, Rodrigues testified that

11
after being promised that the bags would be delivered at any said moment ... I knew from past experience that once mom had herhealthbased request to ensure that Neischer's bag travel with her was an "event."

27
Second, the event was "unusual or unexpected." While baggage removal and delivery delays are routine in air travel, the atypical aspect of this case was the promises made by defendants' employees that the bag would not be taken from Neischer and would not be delayed. In light of defendants' employees' knowledge of Neischer's need for the bag and the ensuing promises regarding it, removing the bag from Neischer's possession was "unusual or unexpected." Airlines do not usually take steps that could endanger a passenger's life after having been warned of the person's special, reasonable needs and agreeing to accommodate them.9

28
Third, the "unusual or unexpected event" was external to Neischer, for the same reason the refusal of


assistance in Husain was external to the decedent in that case: In each instance, the preexisting illness was a contributing cause of death, but the airline's "unusual or unexpected" action, external to the individual, was also"a link in the chain of causes" producing the injury. See id. at 1228. Under the Convention, the "accident" need only be such a link; that the plaintiff's own pre-existing condition was also a cause does not matter. Id. at 1227-28.

29
Similarly, the fact that Neischer's bag was delayed subsequent to the "accident[al]" seizure is immaterial. The question of whether the later delay of the bag fits under the Convention's definition of "accident" is not relevant pursuant to Husain, as the seizure standing alone was a"link in the chain of causes" leading to Neischer'sof the device to "a bronchial toilet as if you're flushing things out of the lung that have accumulated." Neischer's son, with whom she stayed in Guyana, testified that on previous visits Neischer "never lost [sight] of the little ... machine." Neischer's grandson, who lived with her in Los Angeles, testified that she used this device frequently and had it with her "[a]ll the time," along with her regular medication

4
 This individual was not traced by AA, but Hansell identified his handwriting of the name

5
 This was most likely an AA employee, as BWIA ordinarily had only a supervisor at the JFK gate

6
 Dr. Spector noted consistency with other evaluations when testifying that "this diagnosis has been going on for years." In addition, he stated that even if


The relegation match at the 2016 World Junior Championship will not require a third game, with Switzerland beating Belarus 6-2 on Sunday to clinch a spot in the 2017 World Junior Championship in Toronto and Montreal, where they will compete in the group playing in Montreal, according to the IIHF.

Swiss Not Expected in Relegation

It’s not an entirely surprising outcome, as many thought the Swiss wouldn’t even be facing the possibility of relegation. They brought a solid team to the tournament, including a number of NHL prospects, looking like they should be able to best Denmark coming out of Group A. The Danes wound up being one of the great stories of the tournament, beating the Swiss and giving Russia, Canada and the U.S. some good competition.

The Swiss hada steady crop of talented players coming up through their program, including 16-year-old Nico Hischier, who was on the team this year. He put up just a pair of assists and one shot on goal in limited ice time, but he’s considered to be one of the top prospects entering the 2017 NHL draft and should be a factor for the team at next year’s World Juniors.

He also played for the Swiss team at the Ivan Hlinka tournament this year, scoring three goals and six points in four games.

Switzerland named Rod, Simon Kindschi and Suter as their best players of the tournament. For Belarus, it was Ivan Kulbakov, Vladislav Goncharov and Artemi Chernikov.

Relegation

Moving into Belarus’s spot in the 2017 tournament will be Latvia, who won the World Junior


Championship Division I Group A in December. They have been outside of the top group for the last three years.

RELATED: 10 Standouts From the World Juniors Quarterfinal

RELATED: Every NHL Team’s Prospects at the 2016 World Junior Championshipmen who took the birth control pill, average circulating testosterone levels dropped as low as that which occurs in a state of androgen (male hormone) deficiency.

However, the men did not experience any severe side effects, such as major loss of libido, as can occur in a typical state of androgen deficiency.

Any side effects that did occur were few and mild, and included fatigue, acne or headache, Wang's group reported.

Five of the men who took the birth control pill reported slight declines in their sex drive, while two reported mild erectile dysfunction. However, none of this affected their sexual activity, which did not decrease. None of the men stopped taking the drug because of side effects, and they all passed safety tests.

In men who took the birth control pill,


2019, including Hagerstown, Maryland; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; St. Louis, Missouri; Cedar Falls, Iowa; Mason City, Iowa; and Omaha, Nebraska.

Purdue Global is academically organized into seven schools:

School of Business and Information Technology
Concord Law School Concord Law School is not accredited by the American Bar Association, which does not accredit online universities. As such, California is the only state allowing Concord's graduates to take the state bar exam. Concord's pass rate for the July 2018 sitting of the California bar exam was 29% for first-time takers and 9% for repeat takers, compared to 55% and 16% overall pass rates, respectively.
School of General Education
School of Health Sciences
School of Nursing Purdue University Global has a 68 percent NCLEX pass rate.
Open College
College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

According to Purdue University President Mitch Daniels, thefaculty and 1,590 part-time faculty. Purdue University faculty are expected to become increasingly involved in launching programs and courses in the Purdue Global online system.  To date, three new programs have been approved to be created in collaboration with Purdue's West Lafayette faculty including programs in pharmacy, and aviation.

Like Purdue's other campuses, Purdue Global is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Specific degree programs are accredited by the ACBSP, ABET, CCNE, AHIMA, NALA, and others. Its master of science degree in finance is also registered with the Certified Financial Planner board and qualifies graduates to sit the CFP examination. Purdue Global's law school,Concord Law School, is the only fully online law school in the country. Given that the American Bar Association does not accredit online universities, the


A mother in China has killed herself because her son's fiancée was too short, according to a government statement.

The 47-year-old woman's corpse was found on November 17 in a river in Ningling County, Henan Province.

After seeing the woman's remains, her emotional husband jumped into the river and his son also plunged in to save him. Both were immediately rescued by the police.

Ms Lin's body was found in a river in Ningling County, Henan Province on November 17

Local authority said the woman killed herself because she didn't like her son's short partner

Previous reports indicated that the woman committed suicide because she couldn't afford the expensive betrothal gifts demanded by his son's fiancée, reported People's Daily.

Du Chuanfeng, a local police officer, claimed that her son's fiancée had asked her futurein-laws to buy a new car, but the couple didn't have enough money to do so.

Mr Du said he rescued the woman's husband and her son from the river.

The Propaganda Department of Ningling County however has denied the claims.

In a post on their official social media account yesterday, the authority said the mother killed herself because she was unhappy about her son's fiancée's height.

After seeing the woman's remains, her emotional husband jumped into the river. Her son also plunged into the water to save his father. The two men were immediately saved by the police

Previous reports claimed the couple couldn't afford the expensive betrothal gifts demanded by the son's partner, but the government has denied the allegations in a statement yesterday

The woman has been identified as 47-year-old Ms


Lin and her husband has been identified as 46-year-old Mr Gao.

The statement read: 'The dead person, Ms Lin, had disagreement with her son regarding her son's engagement.

'Her son's partner came from the same town as the family. Ms Lin did not like her son's partner, claiming she was too short.

'She threatened to kill herself.'

The woman was said to have taken her life 'on a sudden impulse' after passing a local river on her scooter.

The woman's husband, Mr Gao, and her son are yet to release a statement.

For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details.remarkable vigor and youthful appearance for a man his age. All indications from the procedures and tests in his hospitalization are that he remains in good health. However, crucial CAT scan X-rays of his abdomen Tuesday could tell whether the bowel cancer that was removed 18 months ago has spread silently elsewhere in his body. Discharge This Week Seen

Mr. Reagan, who will turn 76 next month, is expected to be discharged from the hospital later this week for further recuperation at the White House.

The President was not sedated before or after he received a low spinal anesthetic and was awake for the entire operation, which began at 8:15 A.M., the White House spokesman, Larry Speakes, said. He said Mr. Reagan awoke on his own at 6 A.M., adding


that the President was ''joking when he went in and when he came out of'' the operation.

Spinal anesthesia temporarily numbs and paralyzes the lower body. The effects wore off shortly after noon, according to the White House.

''The procedure went very smoothly,'' Col. John Hutton of the Army, the White House physician, said of the operation, which was performed by Dr. David C. Utz, a urologist from the Mayo Clinic. In a statement, Dr. Hutton added, ''There was nothing out of the ordinary.'' On Job After Operation

Shortly after the operation, Mr. Reagan signed correspondence and reviewed his daily intelligence report, Mr. Speakes said. Mr. Reagan's wife, Nancy, and the White House chief of staff, Donald T. Regan, visited the President in his hospital room. The Reagan children had spokento remove it.

Infection is also a common complication of trans-urethral prostatectomy surgery. For that reason Mr. Reagan began taking antibiotics before he entered the hospital. He will continue to receive antibiotics ''for a few weeks'' after he leaves the hospital, Mr. Speakes said.

Mr. Reagan is being charged for his hospital stay at the standard interagency Government rate that is provided to members of Congress and other Government officials, Mr. Speakes said. In 1985, when Mr. Reagan had colon surgery, the rate was $423 a day.

Mr. Reagan will pay out of his own pocket for the costs of his medical bills that are not covered by his Blue Cross-Blue Shield policy from the California Legislature's retirement system. Although Mr. Reagan is eligible for coverage under the Federal Medicare health


On 14th October, the US Trade Representative (USTR) began the out-of-cycle review (OCR) of India’s intellectual property (IP) laws, the mandate which it gave itself in the 2014 Special 301 Report. Like several years in the past, the USTR once again included India in the Priority Watch List, but this time, India’s IP laws are being subjected to the additional scrutiny through an OCR. It is to be seen whether the OCR sets the stage for naming India as a Priority Foreign Country (PFC), viewed by the USTR as worst offender of intellectual property rights (IPRs), in the next Special 301 report.

Although the USTR has listed several areas of its concerns in India’s IP protection and enforcement regime, patents and regulatory data protection have been most extensively coveredwhose IP laws do not find the approval of the USTR.

This threat of unilateral action against India using the provisions of Section 301 of its trade act brings out two bleak facets of US trade administration’s conduct. In the first instance, the USTR has displayed the tendency to challenge the disciplines of the multilateral trading system and secondly, the trade administration has virtually downgraded the bilateral process of engagement with India, which it does through the Trade Policy Forum and which was recently revived after Indian Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the US.

The multilateral trading system has been challenged on two fronts. First, the continued use Section 301 provisions is a violation of an undertaking the trade administration has given to the Dispute Settlement Panel in 1999 not


practices. John Doe orders issued by the Indian courts also emphasise the attention India is paying to tackle online piracy. The reports relied on by the USTR for highlighting high rate of online piracy of films in India are questionable, industry sponsored, using non- transparent methodologies and without any peer review, as brought out by recent studies.

With its abject rejection of the due processes provided by the multilateral rules, the question that arises is whether the bilateral process of engagement put in place during Prime Minister’s Modi’s recent visit to the US would become yet another platform for the US lobbies to seek changes in India’s patent regime.

India-US Bilateral Engagement on IP Issues

In September 2014, the heads of Governments of India and US endorsed the first “Vision StatementA man is accused of following someone through the streets of River North Monday and stabbing him in the back.

Brian Mallett, 36, is charged with a felony count of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, according to Chicago police.

Mallett, of Lawndale, allegedly stabbed a 37-year-old man about 2:30 a.m. in the 500 block of North State Street, police said.

Earlier, the pair were involved in a fight in the 400 block of North State Street, police said. Mallett allegedly left the area after the initial fight but later came back, followed the victim around the surrounding streets and ultimately stabbed him.

The 37-year-old was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where his condition was stabilized, police said.

Mallett was charged Tuesday and ordered held without bond by a Cook County judge, according


Mr.Toews Goes Local, With Purchase Order From Fraser Valley Hop Farms In B.C.

Last month, at the VIP dinner preceding Brewery annual summer festival, employees, volunteers, and attendees toasted the launch of a brand new beer: Lean Machine.

The beer, which had been was made exclusivly from locally grown hops in British Columbia, Chilliwack.

Fraser Valley Hops

Chilliwack, B.C. –

FraserValley Hop Farms Ltd, (“Hops Supplier”) and VCPBrands Ltd, (“Hops Buyer”) hereby express their non-binding intention to enter into an agreement in the future pursuant to which
Hops Buyer intends to purchase from Hops Supplier the business/property known as Lean Machine (“the Business”), located at 1055 West Hastings, Vancouver, British Columbia upon the following terms and conditions:

Hope farmers across the province of British Columbia are about to begin the tedious process of the annualto the Freedom of Information Act, the President and the Executive Secretary of the National Security Council suddenly changed course in 1994 declaring that the National Security Council is not an agency and thus not subject to the Federal Records Act. (Copies of the declarations are attached hereto and made a part hereof as Exhibit A, Mem. of President Clinton on "Access to NSC Records" dated March 24, 1995, and Exhibit B, Mem. of William H. Itoh, National Security Council Executive Secretary, on "Instructions on Presidential Status of the National Security Council and Revised Disclosure and Disposition Policy" dated March 25, 1994). In doing this on March 24 and 25, 1994, (See Exhibits A and B), the Defendants would have the Court ignore the facts that the National


Security Council ("NSC") performs rulemaking and adjudication and functions independently of the President in many areas. Moreover, the NSC has operated as an agency, subject to the Freedom of Information Act, which requires that it must maintain and preserve its records in accordance with the Federal Records Act.
In particular, the Defendants contend that the NSC it not an agency, because its sole function is to advise and assist the President. The Court finds, however, that this contention is incorrect because the NSC performs traditional agency functions and operates independently of the President in many areas. Moreover, their contention that this decision will intrude on the exercise of Presidential powers and responsibilities is also wrong because Congress, in enacting the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"), specifically provided that materialcontrary to history, past practice and the law. (A copy of the old guidelines that were revoked by the March 25, 1994 declaration is attached hereto and made a part hereof as Exhibit B). Moreover, the Archivist shall be directed to perform her obligations with respect to NSC records under the Federal Records Act and to do so without any further delay as this case is important to the nation and the very credibility of this and future administrations.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY
This case was filed in 1989 at the close of President Reagan's Administration by journalist Scott Armstrong, the National Security Archive and several other individuals and organizations claiming, inter alia, that the President, the Archivist, and the NSC's recordkeeping practices failed to comply with the Federal Records Act and


continued preservation. Notice of such disposal shall be published in the Federal Register at least 60 days in advance of the proposed disposal date. Publication of such notice shall constitute a final agency action for purposes of review under chapter 7 of title 5, United States Code.
Id. In addition, before the conclusion of his term of office, the President is to specify a duration, "not to exceed twelve years, for which access shall be restricted with respect to information, in a Presidential Record." The restriction on access to Presidential Record material applies to certain categories of information contained in a Presidential Record, such as personnel and medical files, the disclosure of which would clearly constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, or information involving confidential advice between thePresident and his advisors, etc. 44 U.S.C. § 2204.

B. The Structure Of The National Security Council

The National Security Act of 1947 established the NSC. 50 U.S.C. § 402. Pursuant to the Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1949, the NSC was transferred to the Executive Office of the President ("EOP"). As an entity within the EOP, the NSC has a separate budget and staff, and a firm structure.
From fiscal years 1983 to 1995, the NSC's budget has ranged from approximately $4,000,000 to $7,000,000. (See Budget of the United States Government (1985); Mem. from J. Robert Manzanares, Director of Administration, to Robert S. Dotson, Chief, Air Force Branch of National Security Division Office of Management and Budget, entitled "FY 1995 Submission" (1993)). In fact, last week President Clinton transmitted his


United States Government (1985); Mem. from J. Robert Manzanares, Director of Administration, to Robert S. Dotson, Chief, Air Force Branch of National Security Division Office of Management and Budget, entitled "FY 1995 Submission" (1993)).
Since the NSC has a separate staff and a firm structure, as indicated by the foregoing facts, the Court concludes that the NSC is an "establishment in the executive branch" and, therefore, satisfies the first prong of the agency test.

B. The NSC Meets The Second Prong Of The Agency Test Because It Exercises Substantial Independent Authority Through The Performance Of The Traditional Agency Tasks Of Rulemaking And Adjudication, And Because It Performs Many Functions Independently Of The President.

The second prong of the agency test was established by this Circuit in Soucie v. David, 448 F.2dthe President.
First, the NSC plays a role in Intelligence independent of the President. By statute, the NSC is the head of the Central Intelligence Agency ("CIA"). National Security Act of 1947, ch. 343, Pub.L. 253 (1947). According to the statute, the CIA is "to perform such ... functions and duties ... affecting the national security as the National Security Council may from time to time direct." Id. More importantly, pursuant to Executive Order, the NSC is "the highest Executive Branch entity that provides review, guidance and direction to the conduct of all national foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, special activities, and attendant policies and programs." Exec.Order No. 12,333, 46 Fed.Reg. 59942 (1981).
Second, the NSC plays a role in protecting National Security Information independent of the President. In the area of


and it is
FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment shall be, and hereby is, GRANTED; and it is
FURTHER ORDERED that Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment shall be, and hereby is, DENIED; and it is
FURTHER ORDERED that the Court hereby declares that to the extent the NSC's current recordkeeping guidelines classify all of its records as "Presidential," those guidelines are contrary to law and the Archivist is hereby directed to perform her obligations under the Federal Records Act; and it is
FURTHER ORDERED that the Court hereby declares that the NSC is an agency subject to the FOIA, within the meaning of the Federal Records Act, with the limited exception mentioned in the Court's Opinion of even date herewith, and the records created and received on the NSC's electroniccommunications systems shall be maintained and preserved in accordance with the Federal Records Act; and it is
FURTHER ORDERED that on or before 4:00 p.m. on February 27, 1995, the Executive Office of the President and the Archivist shall forthwith adopt new guidelines for the National Security Council, in place of those vacated and nullified on March 25, 1994, in accordance with the Court's Opinion issued on even date herewith.

EXHIBIT A

THE WHITE HOUSE

WASHINGTON

March 24, 1994
MEMORANDUM FOR ANTHONY LAKE
                   WILLIAM H. ITOH
SUBJECT:    Access to NSC Records
I understand that the status of the National Security Council (NSC) under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Presidential Records Act will


Act, 44 U.S.C. § 3301.
Most NSC records have not been searched by NSC in response to FOIA requests. These Presidential records have been transferred to the Presidential Library of the respective President upon completion of his term in office. Under the Presidential Records Act ("PRA"), which went into effect on January 20, 1981, Presidential records are ultimately subject to the FOIA, though not until at least five years after the end of an administration. On February 19, 1975, the National Security Council ("NSC") issued regulations intended to guide NSC staff in response to requests for classified material under the amended Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"), 5 U.S.C. § 552, to the extent that Act is applicable to the National Security Council. See 32 C.F.R. § 2101.1; 40 Fed.an "agency" whose records are subject to the FOIA. Armstrong v. EOP, 1 F.3d at 1294. Relying on Supreme Court and D.C. Circuit case law, the court noted that "only entities `whose sole function is to advise and assist the President' are not separate agencies subject to the FOIA." Id. at 1295.

D. NSC Status as a Presidential Entity

The NSC was created by Congress in the National Security Act of 1947, 50 U.S.C. 402. By statute, the National Security Council includes the President, the Vice President, and the Secretaries of State and Defense. Id. Other high-ranking officials may be designated by the President as Council members, or to attend Council meetings. The 1947 Act sets forth the NSC's statutory functions. Subsection (a) of the Act provides, in part that


the "function of the Council shall be to advise the President with respect to the integration of domestic, foreign, and military policies relating to the national security so as to enable the military services and the other departments and agencies of the Government to cooperate more effectively in matters involving national security." 50 U.S.C. § 402(a).
The 1947 Act also provides for the creation of a staff to support the NSC. The NSC staff advises and assists the President, under the direction of the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs ("APNSA") and the Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs ("DAPNSA").
Taking into account the historical and current functions and purposes of the NSC, the NSC is an entity within the Executive Office of the Presidentsecurity matters. Pursuant to this Presidential memorandum, the NSC shall establish a disclosure policy under which procedures will be developed to make these records available on a discretionary basis. These records, which previously would have been searched by NSC in response to FOIA requests, shall continue to be searched and, subject to the exemptions from disclosure set forth in the FOIA, made available to requesters on a discretionary basis  notwithstanding the NSC's status as a Presidential entity within the EOP.
In addition, the President's memorandum directed the NSC to provide for the release of appropriate NSC records of the current Administration. Therefore, the NSC will continue to respond to document requests regarding appropriate Clinton administration records, subject to the exemptions from disclosure set forth in the FOIA. A


of their activities. The attached memoranda reflect the general guidance being provided to all EOP staff. All NSC staff should review carefully and comply with the guidance in these memoranda.
Because the NSC both advises and assists the President and is an agency, the issue of which NSC records are presidential and which are federal is an important one. The Office of the Legal Adviser and the Information Management staff will be providing shortly additional training to assist all NSC staff in implementing the attached guidance. Attachments
Tab A Memorandum on Federal Records
Tab B Memorandum on Presidential Records

NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20506
MEMORANDUM FOR ALL NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL STAFF
FROM: WILLIAM ITOH
      ALAN KRECZKO
SUBJECT: Federal Records

INTRODUCTION
The offices within the Executive Office of the President generate two categoriesof records: "Presidential Records" and "Federal Records."
Records are "Presidential" if they are "created or received by the President, his immediate staff, or a unit or individual of the Executive Office of the President whose function is to advise and assist the President, in the course of conducting activities which relate to or have an effect upon the carrying out of the constitutional, statutory or other official or ceremonial duties of the President." Such Presidential records are subject to the provisions of the Presidential Records Act, 44 U.S.C. § 2201. Presidential records remain in the custody and control of the President during his term of office and are not accessible to the public until five years after the end of the Administration, at the earliest. The treatment of Presidential


the creation and receipt, custody and maintenance, and disposition of federal records. The responsibilities apply regardless of whether the records are generated in paper form or by automated systems.
It is critical that staff members in offices, such as the National Security Council, that create or receive both federal and Presidential records, file those records separately in clearly designated files. Documents subject to the Federal Records Act may be subject to public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. Presidential records, by contrast, are not subject to the Federal Records Act and are not subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act during the President's term of office. Personal records (defined and discussed below) also should be segregated, and filed separately, from official records.
The guidance that followsor converted to formal documents that have been verified for accuracy and completeness.
 Catalogs, trade journals, and other publications that are received from other government agencies, commercial firms, or private institutions and that are maintained for reference purposes.
In addition, certain "personal papers" fall outside the scope of the Federal Records Act. Personal papers are documentary materials that are not used in the transaction of agency business. Examples include:
 Papers and other materials accumulated by a staff member before joining government service.
 Materials that relate to a staff member's private affairs, such as personal financial records, insurance forms, and materials relating to an individual's professional activities and outside business and political pursuits.
 Personal photographs.
 Materials that may refer to official duties but are not directly used to carry out


designating record status.
The monitor will maintain statistics on the number of entries changed during the examination and note patterns of errors with the objective of developing specific recommendations for training. The monitor will prepare an annual report to the agency head (or a designated agency official). The report will indicate the sample population count and how the sample was derived from the electronic repository, the number of entries incorrectly designated and corrections made. In addition, it shall include any recommendations for process improvements and suggested training refinements. The first report shall be submitted within three months after this directive is incorporated into other component's guidance.
The records liaison for each agency is also responsible for including in this report a statement regarding the printing and filing of the calendarsConsult with agency records officers whenever substantive modifications to the electronic communications system are contemplated.
c. Provide guidance and training to educate OASIS ALL-IN-1 users on records management procedures.
d. Manage materials placed on the OASIS Bulletin Board and the Suggestion Box in accordance with NARA-approved disposition schedules.

APPENDIX 1

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY DIVISION

OFFICE OF RECORDS MANAGEMENT

TEMPORARY RECORDS ON ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
Administrative Records: Messages and any attachments documenting agency administrative activities both internal and external. The agency program material may include documentation about the following administrative subjects:
1. Personnel: Official Personnel Folders (OPF), Service Record Cards, personnel correspondence, offers of employment, certificate of eligibles, Employee Record Cards, position classification, position descriptions, interview records, Performance Rating Review Board cases, temporary individual employee records in OPF, position


Common to Most Offices Within Agencies: These records include administrative subject files; facilitative records such as suspense files, tracking and control records, calendars, and indexes; and transitory documents; as well as certain types of records created in electronic form and stand-alone or networked micro- and mini-computers.
1. Office Administrative Files: Records accumulated by individual offices that relate to the internal administration or housekeeping activities of the office rather than the functions for which the office exists. In general, these records relate to the office organization, staffing, procedures, and communications; the expenditure of funds, including budget records; day-to-day administration of office personnel including training and travel; supplies and office services and equipment requests and receipts; and the use of office space and utilities. They may also include copies of internalthe Federal Records Act (44 U.S.C., Chapters 29, 31, and 33). Traditionally, USTR has treated its records as federal and filed them in paper format.
This memorandum provides guidance for fulfilling USTR's legal obligations as they apply to federal records that are created on electronic communications systems. The guidance applies to the e-mail and calendar functions on the Local Area Network (LAN) (which includes WordPerfect Office e-mail) and the calendar function of WordPerfect Office, as well as subsequent revisions of WordPerfect Office software for e-mail, word processing, and calendar functions to be introduced in 1995.
The staff of USTR creates records electronically, including by the use of electronic communications systems. USTR has preserved electronic mail messages that are records by filing paper copies of these documents. We are proposing to


decide how to maintain the transmission and receipt information either as part of the E-mail communication or as a separate record linked to the communication. Because printouts may not contain necessary transmission and receipt information, the Court of Appeals in Armstrong held that to comply with the Federal Records Act, certain transmission and receipt information must be preserved along with all E-mail messages that are Federal records.
NARA will work closely with the agencies in the implementation of the final standards and will review, upon request, agency directives concerning E-mail records. In addition, NARA records management evaluations of agencies will include review and analysis of the management of E-mail records.

Comments
In soliciting comments from Federal agencies and the public, NARA particularly requests that agencies address the practical effects of complianceAttorney, United States Department of Justice, to Michael E. Tankersley, Attorney, Public Citizen Litigation Group, dated July 15, 1994). These new guidelines cover the following major components of the Executive Office of the President: (1) the Office of Administration; (2) the Office of the United States Trade Representative; (3) the Office of Science and Technology Policy; (4) the Office of Management and Budget; (5) the Office of National Drug Control Policy; and (6) the Council on Environmental Quality. (Exhibit C).

Also in response to this litigation, the National Archives and Records Administration ("NARA") finally proposed new regulations applicable to all Federal agencies. 59 Fed.Reg. 13906 (March 24, 1994) (A copy of the proposed regulations is attached hereto and made a part hereof as Exhibit D). The NARA's proposed regulations


classify its records under both the FRA and the PRA.
[1]  All records of the White House Office, the Office of Policy Development, the National Economic Council, the Council of Economic Advisers, the President's Intelligence Oversight Board and the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board are Presidential records.

The records of the Office of the Vice President are treated in the same manner as Presidential records under the Presidential Records Act. The records of the Office of the Vice President are not federal records.
Records of the National Security Council staff are Presidential Records if they were received or created by or for the President, the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, the Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, the White House office, or a unitor an individual within the NSC in advising or assisting the President, and are not official records of the NSC.
Records produced or received by the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in his role as Science Advisor to the President are Presidential records and should be segregated as such. Other records of the OSTP are federal records.
Records of the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the Council on Environmental Quality, and the Office of Administration are federal, not Presidential records.
[2]  For further information on personal papers, consult Personal Papers of Executive Branch Officials: A Management Guide, published by the National Archives and Records Administration. Copies are available in the EOP Office of Administration.


The present invention relates to truck tire treads and tires for steer axles.
The use of treads specifically designed for the steer axle of truck tires is well known in the art. It is also known, however, that improvements were desired.
One problem is related to stones. It is known in the art for stones to become trapped or held within the grooves of the tread. Such stones may damage the groove bottoms and the belt-package that lies beneath the tread. Such damage caused by stones is known as "stone drilling."
Another problem relates to irregular wear in the shoulder ribs of steer tires. Such irregular shoulder wear is known to produce peaking on the inside edge of the shoulder rib and drop off on the outside edge of the shouldercurb just in time to see a pre-teen girl collapsing on the pavement. I immediately stopped, as did the oncoming driver that hit her. The girl was apparently leaving an event at the Marin Art and Garden Center, and parents who had been at the center, along with a policeman, immediately converged on the scene.

The girl was obviously in shock and may have been briefly knocked out, for she kept screaming, “What happened?”

“You were hit by a car,” the officer repeatedly explained. Within minutes, paramedics and an ambulance arrived. I later called the Ross Police Department to relate what Kathy and I had witnessed. Kathy had seen two girls in the road, jaywalking in the dark. One “retreated” to the curb when she saw the oncoming car. The


discusses his painting Still Waters III with two guests at his opening.

The painting in the foreground is titled Boathouse. The three smaller paintings to its left are titled Towards Dark Water, RowBoat, and RowBoat II.

Lauritzen graduated from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland and earned a master-of-fine-arts degree at the San Francisco Art Institute. He later taught at the College of Marin and the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. He was also a member of the Marin Arts Council’s founding board of directors. Lauritzen’s work is in more than 100 private, institutional, and museum collections.

Lauritizen (left) with fellow Point Reyes Station artist Chuck Eckart during Saturday’s opening at the Marin Contemporary Art Museum on the old Hamilton Air Base.

The show can be seenfrom 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays through July 13 at 500 Palm Drive.

Some history regarding the museum’s impressive home: It typifies the air base’s Spanish-Revival-style buildings, which were mostly constructed in 1934. Originally called Hamilton Airfield, the base is named for a World War I hero, 1st Lt. Lloyd Andrew Hamilton. In August 1918, Hamilton received the Distinguished Service Cross for heroism after leading a low-level bombing attack on a German airdrome 30 miles behind enemy lines in Belgium. He died in action only 13 days later in France. The air base was decommissioned in 1974.

Like a kite/ Cut from the string,/ Lightly the soul of my youth/ Has taken flight. — Ishikawa Takuboku (1885-1912)

Students from tiny Nicasio School on Wednesday afternoon flew kites on


Hillary Clinton told Democratic politicos in New York that she is willing to be Obama’s running mate.

Senator Obama, 46, is the first black presidential nominee of a major US political party.

Obama was born in Honolulu to a Kenyan father and a white American mother, who met at the University of Hawaii. His parents soon separated, however, and eventually divorced. His mother’s second husband was Indonesian, and when he was six, Obama moved to Indonesia for four years. He then returned to Hawaii where he lived with his maternal grandparents while attending 5th through 12th grades.

Obama graduated from Columbia University where he majored in Political Science, specializing in International Relations. In 1991, he received a law degree magna cum laude from Harvard Law School.

From 1993 to 2004, Senator Obamataught Constitutional Law parttime at the University of Chicago Law School while also working as an attorney. He was elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996 and the US Senate in 2004.

Incumbent Kinsey (left) ran unopposed in the nonpartisan Marin County race for the Fourth District.

He will now serve his fourth term on the Board of Supervisors, representing all of West Marin, along with pieces of Larkspur, Corte Madera, and San Rafael.

Incumbent Woolsey (right), who represents Marin and Sonoma counties in the US House of Representatives, likewise ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.

In November, Woolsey will face Michael Halliwell, who was unopposed in today’s Sixth District Republican primary. Woolsey has already served eight terms in the House, where she has one of the most liberal voting records


of any member.

Update on the State Senate Democratic Primary: With 43 percent of the vote, Assemblyman Mark Leno handily outdistanced Assemblyman Joe Nation (29.3 percent) and incumbent Carole Migden (27.7 percent) in the Third State Senate District.

The district includes Marin County and parts of San Francisco and Sonoma counties.

The 59th annual Western Weekend in Point Reyes Station got off to a merry — but tiny — start Saturday at the Dance Palace. In a large corral across Sixth Street, Point Reyes-Olema 4-H Club members showed a total of only half a dozen dairy cows and heifers.

“Where are all the other animals?” asked architect Sim Van der Ryn, a long-time resident of Inverness. But aside from five chickens and five rabbits in cages outside the back door of theof West Marin's lively little towns and their Pulitzer Prize-winning weekly newspaper. Click here to read about it.

David V. Mitchell

Welcome to the blog of David Mitchell, editor & publisher emeritus of The Point Reyes Light. In 1979, The Light won the Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service for an exposé largely written by him of the increasingly violent Synanon cult. Mitchell retired in November 2005 after 35 years of newspapering, 27 of those at The Light.

During his newspaper career, he also worked for the old San Francisco Examiner, Sonora’s Daily Union Democrat in the Sierra Nevada, and Council Bluff’s daily newspaper, The Nonpareil. In addition, he edited the weekly Sebastopol (California) Times. Mitchell holds a master’s degree in Communications and a bachelor’s degree in English from Stanford University.


have an open mind on scientific problems. A lie may be able to travel around the world before the truth has its shoes on, but an unchallenged untruth will never stop.

He recounts that his awakening occurred after he had a run-in with Brietbart news over their gross misrepresentation of the science of global warming and ocean acidification. Now he is on a crusade to fight back against pseudoscience online.

For greatest effect, I suggest that we harness the collective power and reach of the Internet to improve its quality. The global scientific community could learn from websites such as travel-review site TripAdvisor, Rotten Tomatoes (which summarizes film and play reviews) and alexa.com (which quantifies website popularity), and set up its own, moderated, rating system for websites that claim toBirch has been tapped to reboot "Shazam!," Warners' adaptation of a DC Comics series featuring Captain Marvel.

Geoff Johns, one of the three DC Comics heavyweights hired by the studio to act as consultants on DC projects, is also helping with the kick-start, co-writing the story with Birch.

It's somewhat fitting that Birch takes on "Shazam!" as his very name echoes the name of the comic's hero, Billy Batson, a teenager who becomes Captain Marvel when he utters the magic word "Shazam!" The name is an acronym for six gods and heroes of the ancient world as well as their attributes: the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Aries, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles and the speed of Mercury.

The project, which was housed


at New Line for several years, has had a tough time taking flight, with writers William Goldman, Bryan Goluboff, Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow, as well as John August taking turns writing a script.

Peter Segal remains attached to direct and also is producing with Michael Ewing.

Greg Silverman is overseeing for Warners while Gregory Noveck oversees for DC.

Birch, repped by ICM and Anonymous Content, has appeared in TV shows ranging from the original "Beverly Hills, 90210" to "Grey's Anatomy" to "The Unit." He is currently writing Warners' "One Finger Salute" to which Segal is attached to direct.

Zack Smith wrote:Currently, Geoff Johns is working on a version of Shazam! that might find its way to the big screen, or possibly as another TV series. Details are sparse, but we decidedentry above, The Marvelous Land of Oz is all about a boy named Tip who discovers he is actually a girl who had been transformed into a boy with magic. This comes as quite a shock to him, as you can probably imagine. But everyone gives him a pep talk, and soon he accepts the loss of his wiener. As Ozma, she ends up ruling Oz quite well and repels several attempts to steal her throne.

Mike Fleming Jr wrote:“The overall deal is for producing, but Emmerich said the studio sees him as an emerging major filmmaker and they hope he will grow in that capacity on the Warner Bros lot. “New Line has always been a big believer in great filmmakers emerging from the horror genre, and he


from the presumed success of Batman v Superman back in 2014, there must be some sweaty palms as it moves onto Justice League, an Avengers -like team-up movie, and Wonder Woman in 2017.

Two people with a vested interest in the direction of WB’s DC Comics world are Hollywood star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and his producing partner and manager, Dany Garcia. In 2014, Johnson announced he will star as villain (some might say anti-hero) Black Adam in 2019’s Shazam! , based on the superhero previously known as Captain Marvel. But aside from the odd expression of enthusiasm from the actor here and there, not much more is known about the film. That is until now.It’s fair to say that Warner Bros.’ DC Comics movie universe has stumbled outof the starting blocks in 2016—both Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad have been met with tepid reviews by both fans and critics.

For Warner Bros., which announced an ambitious slate of superhero movies springboarding from the presumed success of Batman v Superman back in 2014, there must be some sweaty palms as it moves onto Justice League, an Avengers -like team-up movie, and Wonder Woman in 2017.

Two people with a vested interest in the direction of WB’s DC Comics world are Hollywood star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and his producing partner and manager, Dany Garcia. In 2014, Johnson announced he will star as villain (some might say anti-hero) Black Adam in 2019’s Shazam! , based on the superhero previously known as Captain Marvel. But aside


[movie] versus Avengers versus Deadpool? What are the elements people are responding to? We want to move the needle.”

Graeme McMillan wrote:Little is known about Warner Bros.' Shazam! movie, beyond that The Rock has signed on to play the movie's antagonist, Black Adam, and the fact that it will, apparently, be part of the same fictional universe as Justice League, Suicide Squad and the other DC superhero movies. Which raises the question: Is the movie Shazam! doomed to repeat the comic book version's mistakes?

A little history is required before we go any further. Although he's not one of the most recognizable superheroes out there, Shazam is one of the longest-serving; he debuted in 1940's Whiz Comics No. 2, the creation of cartoonist C.C. Beck. At the time, though, hewas called Captain Marvel — a name the character continues to use, on occasion, to this day despite Marvel claiming a trademark on it in the mid-1960s.

To say Captain Marvel was successful when he first appeared would be an understatement; appearing across a number of series published by Fawcett Publications (including his own solo title, Captain Marvel Adventures), he was outselling every other superhero in the medium by the mid-1940s, a fact celebrated with the cover tagline "LARGEST CIRCULATION OF ANY COMIC MAGAZINE." Sadly, the hero's career would never reach such heights again.

A lawsuit from National Publications — which would later become DC Entertainment — claiming that Captain Marvel was derivative of Superman dragged on for years, going through multiple judgments (first, that Captain Marvel was derivative but


National had failed to copyright Superman appropriately, then that National had copyrighted Superman but that Captain Marvel didn't constitute infringement even though some of his powers did) before being settled in 1953 in a way that essentially ended Captain Marvel's career: Fawcett shuttered its comics department, agreed to never publish a Captain Marvel title again and paid National $400,000 in damages.

That Captain Marvel survived at all after that is a fluke, but in 1972, National — now known as DC Comics — licensed the rights to the character for a 1973 relaunch that mixed reprints of the original material with all-new stories originally written and drawn by Beck himself. By this point, Marvel had trademarked the Captain Marvel name, so the series was titled Shazam!, with each coverannouncing that the title featured "the original Captain Marvel."

The revival wasn't a great success; Beck soon quit, dissatisfied with the direction DC had decided to take with the character, and the series was cancelled with its 35th issue, setting in place the template for Captain Marvel's future in the DC portfolio — periodic revivals that fail to find a large enough audience, followed by long stretches of disuse punctuated by guest appearances in other comic books.

Of the character's irregular reappearances, arguably his most successful were two 2015 releases: Convergence: Shazam! and The Multiversity: Thunderworld. What set those two revivals apart from anything else DC had attempted in decades were their refusal to try and retool the character to make sense in the wider DC comic book universe. Not


only did the atmosphere of both reflect Beck's original optimism (and moral simplicity), but they restored the idea that Captain Marvel — and he was, once again, called Captain Marvel in both comics despite the "primary" character having been officially renamed Shazam in 2012 — worked best in a world where he (and his "Marvel Family" of sidekicks and siblings) were the sole force for good against the "Monster Society of Evil."

In a world where Superman and the Justice League exists, Captain Marvel doesn't really make sense. His power set is already represented and the mythical figures that give him his powers — "Shazam," the magic word that transforms him from the underage Billy Batson into the adult superhero, is an acronym for Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achillesto.

Even when talking about the the most ruthless villain/anti-hero of all time finally coming to life. Prepare yourselves DC Universe.

Borys Kit wrote:New Line and DC Entertainment are doubling down on comic book hero Shazam!

New Line, which has been for over a decade developing a movie on the longtime DC character, will develop concurrently a movie centering on Black Adam, with Dwayne Johnson attached to star as Shazam’s arch-nemesis.

The move stems from last week’s high-level meeting with Johnson and DC Films co-head and comics author Geoff Johns, after which Johnson took to social media to promise “hope, optimism & fun.”

But on a deeper level, the meeting led to a reconfiguring of the Shazam! movie. Johnson has been attached to play Black Adam since around 2008. Since that time, the


a teenager who becomes the superhero when he utters the magic word "Shazam!" The name is an acronym for six gods and heroes of the ancient world as well as their attributes: the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Aries, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles and the speed of Mercury.

Sandberg, the filmmaker behind the upcoming Annabelle 2, is in talks to direct the New Line Cinema adaptation of the DC Comics character, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Sandberg released his debut feature, Lights Out, last year, with the horror film earning more than $148 million on a $4.9 million budget.

First appearing in 1940's Whiz Comics No. 2, Shazam was originally known as Captain Marvel. The stories starred teen Billy Batson, whobecomes the superhero when he utters the magic word, "Shazam!" The name is an acronym for six gods and heroes of the ancient world as well as their attributes: the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Aries, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles and the speed of Mercury.

Last month, news broke that Dwayne Johnson, who has long been attached to play Shazam! villain Black Adam, would star in his own spinoff movie as the character. Johnson's big-screen take on Black Adam will see him cast as an antihero, mirroring developments in recent DC Comics by Geoff Johns.

The Black Adam movie is concurrently being developed with Shazam, which has a script by Henry Gayden.

“Yes, of course, Black Adam—in the mythology—is a villain. Or