The President's summary of his policy on the Islamic State or on "the group known as ISIL" was not elegantly enunciated: "To degrade and ultimately destroy" is a compound infinitive phrase that is pitched to the demotic or colloquial in ways that contribute to misinterpretation and distortion.
The infinitive "to degrade," a somewhat esoteric military term of art roughly inserted into public discourse some years ago, is meant to refer us immediately to an enemy's capabilities, which are to be brought to a lower level, but the second and more common connotation of "degrade" is quietly also conveyed, perhaps somewhat intentionally if not entirely consciously: to humiliate, to render an object of spite. ((To complete the linguistic circuit from the high to the low, we can observe that in the language of the street, or perhaps the language of the President's "anger translator," to degrade IS is to fuck IS up, to chingar IS, or perhaps to smash IS, like a bug.)) Regarding the phrase in its entirety, the absence of pauses (which could be indicated by commas) and the omission of the second particle "to" run the two parts of the President's program together, and encourage his critics to indulge their impatience or polemical convenience, to drop the qualifying adverb "ultimately" altogether or to treat it as an intensifier, and, as events unfold, to expound on each day's, week's, or month's necessarily mixed results as somehow contradicting a solemn promise or revealing a strategy already "in ruins" or "in full-scale... meltdown," or suffering from a fatal mismatch of minimal means and maximal ends, or, also premature if less dramatic, simply "not working."
"To degrade and, ultimately, to destroy" might have been more difficult to misinterpret, since a more careful phrasing would clearly designate and distinguish two phases of a long-term strategy. As offered and initially implemented, if not as articulated or heard or unconscientiously translated, the strategy seems to mean "at first primarily to contain, but actively to contain in such a way, specifically by reduction of capacities and potentials, as to expose the targeted entity to destruction." Indeed, the two-part program does not exclude - or perhaps can be taken to imply - a policy shaped to the nature of a presumed ultimately self-destructive phenomenon.
On “Open Thread”
Schwangerschaftsverhütungsmittel
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and found wanting?
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good to focus the criticism on GG rather than the tadpoles at the Guardian who have been in touch with Snowden and trying to work the story on a more rational and less obnoxious way.
being linked to Greenwald was the main reason not to accept the job offer from the G.
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sSomeone named Shirley Schindler writes for the Guardian?
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White Rabbit.... or is it?
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Muster Strong, he dark
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from the Dont Dont Shoot the Piano Player file
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where did you see the strangle and perhaps not coherent light?
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yup. dude is big. Scott might suggest that he spent a bit of time training with the East Germans.
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If Puig came to the US 6 years ago he would be playing on the NFL as well as MLB
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Mister Mxyzptlk ?
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anybody doing anything special for National Moth Week ?
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Artest on the same team with J R ......... thank Kermit that Nate Robertson signed elsewhere or it might have been the thing that would raise Hell and resurrect the ABA
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I'm pretty sure that NBA players have a one baby per person limit in most cases as they usually like to keep the line moving.
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gonna sell it on E-Bay of course. what else do you do with a Nate Robinson autograph?
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The plaintiff, Chris Sevier, is an attorney in Nashville.
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might have been based on consumer preference not favoring "forum blue" oranges.
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watermelon as health food sounds a bit fruity to me, CK
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it's Harold Shirley whats got all serious.
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he likes to dress casually when molesting melons that's how we roll and tumble in Brooklyn
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I'm impressed at the level of passion pouring out.
I know that it's a cultural impossibility to cut Kobe, but the truth is that he doesn't have much left and isn't worth the absurd salary this year......and is going to be no more than a good third option in 2014-15.
the Lakers blew it by buying into Howard in the first place when they couldn't get him to sign at the time of the trade.
they could have turned the massive asset that was Bynum into a young top-tier player and a couple of first-round picks.
and finally, give serious consideration to the idea that max FAs aren't going to want to come to LA and get bitched-out by a Kobe in his early-onset Norma Desmond days.
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why a fine upstanding citizen such as OtherWorld Peace?
why not waive that sonofaJellyBean guy and gopher that first pick in the lottery at this point?
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Do not stop and ask
what is it
On “WW Me/Summer Getaway”
sum large lumps
On “Open Thread”
one to consider for the image archives