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Remember "Hillary will start a war over Syria"? Oh well.
The only reason Trump has attacked Syria is to try not be seen as a lap dog to Putin.
theguardian.com
Who is John Kelly, Trump's new chief of staff - CNNPolitics
A Marine, Kelly served in the military for nearly five decades and served in positions including chief of Southern Command, senior assistant to the secretary of defense and legislative liaison to Congress, and he served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Kelly was born and raised in Boston and graduated from the University of Massachusetts. Kelly's son, Robert Michael Kelly, was killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2010.Six months in, Kelly's military background still influences DHS secretary
Related Article: Six months in, Kelly's military background still influences DHS secretary
In a June interview with CNN, Kelly said that call from Trump's transition team about joining the administration came out of the blue, and he turned to his wife to get her thoughts.
"True to form, my wife Karen said, 'Well, if the Kelly family is nothing else, we're a family of service to the nation. And if they think they need you, then you've got to do it,'" Kelly recounted.
Many Democrats joined Senate Republicans in confirming him to the position on an overwhelming basis, with 88 votes in favor.
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Jan 12, 2019 | economistsview.typepad.com
im1dc , January 08, 2019 at 08:52 AM
No reason to believe anything retired Gen Kelly says ever, S. Harris nails the incompetent lying BS'er in her bookimo, he's a typical US Marine, a liar and coverup artist for his and others incompetence and inadequacies
"Kamala Harris: John Kelly Got Mad That I Called Him at Home About the Travel Ban"
by Gideon Resnick...01.08.19... 5:16 AM ET
"In the early days of President's Trump first term, when he signed an executive order to ban travel to the United States from seven Muslim-majority nations, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) decided to get more information about the chaos occurring at airports across the country.
"So I called [then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary] John Kelly," Harris writes in her new book, The Truths We Hold: An American Journey.
Senators talking to Cabinet members is not rare, especially when it involves a pressing legal and political matter. But Harris hadn't called Kelly at his office. She had dialed him at home. And the soon-to-be chief of staff was not exactly pleased.
"There were a lot of ways Secretary Kelly could have shown responsiveness, a lot of information he could have provided," Harris writes. "Indeed the American people had a right to this information, and, given my oversight role on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, I intended to get it. Instead, he said gruffly, "Why are you calling me at home with this?" That was his chief concern. By the time we got off the phone, it was clear that he didn't understand the depth of what was going on. He said he'd get back to me, but he never did."...
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Dec 31, 2018 | www.unz.com
never-anonymous , says: December 31, 2018 at 5:50 pm GMT
Everything about this CIA agent's history lesson sounds fake. The blood sucking military runs the White House. ISIS or ISIL or whatever the CIA calls itself today poses no threat.
Poor General Kelly, one of the generals who let 911 happen, is probably going to be promoted to Bechtel. I say poor because he's only worth about $5 Million, which is a low figure for the super rich who own the military industrial complex.
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Dec 31, 2018 | www.zerohedge.com
DEDA CVETKO , 21 minutes ago
PresidentTrump , 24 minutes agoSo, the bastard waited until his last day on the job to do a little fake media pay-per-view kiss-and-tell. He couldn't be mensch enough to give his boss a professional courtesy of telling him to take this job and shove it, he just succumbed to the siren's call of money and spilled the beans to the fake media first before anyone in the Administration had a chance to tell him how dangerous and detrimental to the interests of American people his words would become (anyone taking bets that the kiss-and-tell New York Times bestseller memoir is in the works?). Such is the psycho-profile of an average Pentagon brass. No vertebratae there -- just mollusks, tapeworms, snails and amoebas. Throw the money at them, and watch them grovel. Everything is for sale: service record, decorations, rank, faux military and political expertise, integrity, character, valor, heroism, cavalier and valiant battlefield engagement, self-sacrifice, loyalty to the nation...their family...their kids...their asses...everything@!. If it has a rank, it is casually sold on an open market. The winning bidder takes all.
Yes, General, Donald Trump is a deeply flawed human being. To his credit, though. we have been duly forwarned. He never - ever - claimed that he was a saint and cautioned us against turning him into a Mao Zedong-like personality cu;t. We knew all along that we were electing a profoundly imperfect person, and the reason why we elected him nonetheless is that the honesty of his admission was so refreshing that it outweighed all other considerations and was too brilliantly confessional to ignore. When was the last time you heard Hillary Clinton focus on her shortcomings, ethical lapses, judgment failures and mental syncopes instead a litany of her glorious accomplishments/?
Now, I have a question for you, General: what kind of ball-less, dickless and brainless asswipe devoid of any moral scurples and personal values serves his "unfit-for-the-job " (sic) and dangerous-to-the-country Supreme Commander for two consecutive years without uttering a word of criticism and dissent and then, after being fired, unleashes a torrent of hysterical fury and not even minimally credible accusations? In my mother tongue there is a phrase for characters like you: worthless piece of ****. And you can quote me on it, Sir.
veritas semper vinces , 37 minutes agogood riddance kelly
Conscious Reviver , 40 minutes ago"What difference does it make, at this point?" who is the president? To paraphrase a Soros supported ex candidate, who is still not in jail.
As Ms. No a stutely observed a few days ago : there was a petition to investigate Soros , signed by more than the necessary number for the White House to respond, and this 1 year ago.
And the Donald ignored it, braking the law this way.
Does this count as more or less evidence he is fighting the swamp, trumptards?
Together with the fact Sheldon Adelson , the zionist financed his campaign and Wilbur Ross, Rothschild's man bailed him out of his bankruptcies.
Wilbur Ross , who is now his Commerce Secretary.
Can trumptards put 2+2 together ?
youshallnotkill , 2 hours agoKelly is just more senior management in the crime syndicate known by the acronym USG. What about the oath he swore to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic? If he was a true soldier and patriot, he would have arrested the criminals, hiding in broad daylight, who did 9/11.
As it is, he's just another toady. Good riddance to bad trash.
Hans-Zandvliet , 1 hour agoThese kind of threads always make me wonder how many of the commenters here are paid to **** on our US military.
11b40 , 46 minutes agoNo need to pay people for shitting on the US military. Even marine corps general Smedly Butler (most decorated marine in US history) wrote it himself ("War is a Racket" [1935]), saying: "[while serving as a marine] I spent most of my time as a high-class muscle-man for Big Bussiness, for Wall St and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism."
Nothing much has changed since then in the US army, or has it?
Baron von Bud , 2 hours agoOnly gotten worse since eliminating the draft and getting a mercenary army.
terrific , 2 hours agoThese military generals portray themselves as selfless victims of Trump. These are the same clueless idiots that couldn't or wouldn't grow a spine and tell Obama or Bush they were destroying America with senseless wars. Trump may be a loose cannon but he has great instincts. These generals make me want to puke. Starched uniforms and a high tipped hat but no brain for good policy underneath and behind all those little medals. Good riddance. Trump needs to dump these guys and John Bolton.
Celotex , 2 hours agoThe title to this story is a lie. Just because the NYT reported that Kelly told two anonymous sources that Trump is not up to the role of President, doesn't mean that Kelly actually said it. I'm actually surprised that a news site like ZH would use that title for a story, when the story was never even sourced, much less corroborated.
Moribundus , 2 hours agoHe'll go to Boeing and will be pulling down eight figures annually.
GoldRulesPaperDrools , 2 hours ago„Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children." -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
" Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. Is there no other way the world may live?"
Moribundus , 2 hours agoThat's because this county hasn't fought a REAL war in decades, and by a REAL war I mean one where you can honestly expect if you go and you're in combat you're got no more than an even chance to come back. Military service has become another gubmint job where you wear a uniform and play with expensive hardware paid for by the taxpayer while doing some neocon's bidding overseas.
The best amerikan soldier was Smedley Butler.
The best amerikan war is Vietnam war.
I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.Smedley D. Butler, War is a Racket: The Antiwar Classic by America's Most Decorated Soldier
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Dec 17, 2018 | www.foxnews.com
President Trump on Friday named White House budget director Mick Mulvaney as his new acting chief of staff, saying the former South Carolina Republican congressman will replace John Kelly as his top aide.
"I am pleased to announce that Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management & Budget, will be named Acting White House Chief of Staff, replacing General John Kelly, who has served our Country with distinction," Trump tweeted. "Mick has done an outstanding job while in the Administration. I look forward to working with him in this new capacity as we continue to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" The president said Kelly, who recently announced plans to leave the White House, will stay through 2018.
"John will be staying until the end of the year," Trump tweeted. "He is a GREAT PATRIOT and I want to personally thank him for his service!"
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Sep 06, 2018 | www.zerohedge.com
Dickweed Wang -> nmewn Thu, 09/06/2018 - 15:12 Permalink
Dancing Disraeli -> Lumberjack Thu, 09/06/2018 - 15:59 PermalinkFor anyone that hasn't seen this yet check out this video of McStain's "funeral" where Mattis and Kelly give Lindsey Graham the stare down after he gives hugs to Huma Abedine.
Graham refuses to look at General Kelly and when he finally does Kelly points to his right eye like "We're watching you punk". Graham definitely looks like a little boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar as both Mattis and Kelly stare him down. It's classic.
Kayman -> Dickweed Wang Thu, 09/06/2018 - 15:33 PermalinkDuring the embrace, Miss Lindsey and Huma touch hands. I assumed something small was being handed off between them, and Kelly's gesture indicated that he had witnessed the transfer. Mattis appeared to be touching an earpiece, as though he were concentrating on something being said.
Kissinger looked like a toad.
JRobby -> Dickweed Wang Thu, 09/06/2018 - 16:27 PermalinkMob funeral. "Remember Michael, the guy that comes to you from the Senate, and promises you that you will be safe on his territory... that's the traitor."
Graham, "Mueller must continue the investigation."
Hugs from Huma.
carbonmutant -> nmewn Thu, 09/06/2018 - 15:41 PermalinkAhhh Yes, Huma Abedine, the middle eastern spy / goddess (not) married to an Ashkenazi Weiner.
Anthony Weiner and Ashkenazi CHUTZPAH
Most normal people would be thankful that after dealing with what Anthony Weiner has been through over the past few years that they were still breathing.
His original "sexting" scandal would have crushed lesser human beings.
But the intrepid and moronic recidivist Weiner is still at it!
Weiner represents Ashkenazi Jewish hubris at its most egregious.
It is clear that he has no shame, and continues to believe that there are no rules for his truly deplorable behavior. It is a sense of Jewish entitlement that is based on a "Da'as Torah" mentality that allows Jewish leaders and prominent figures like politicians to think that they are above the Law.
It is truly a stunning development that is sure to plague the Clinton presidential campaign.
In a 2010 Politico article written by current MSNBC host Steve Kornacki we see clearly how Weiner gradually became unmoored from his patron Senator Charles Schumer, also an Ashkenazi Jew, and aggressively upped his public profile:
Sinophile Thu, 09/06/2018 - 15:14 PermalinkMcCabe is the gateway to bigger fish...
cankles' server -> Sinophile Thu, 09/06/2018 - 15:30 PermalinkHow come Gen. Flynn didn't have a GoFundMe deal working for him? I know he is a man of integrity, but I would have contributed had I known of such a fund.
swamp -> Sinophile Thu, 09/06/2018 - 15:40 PermalinkGen Flynn volunteered to take a rubber bullet - Q
This was done to distract the MSM like a laser pointer does a cat.
Did it work? Has he been sentenced?
This is the week for the unredacted FISA release. Everything rests on that. We're now at ~51k sealed federal court documents.
MissCellany -> Sinophile Thu, 09/06/2018 - 16:22 PermalinkJerome Corsi is coordinating a fund for General Flynn
jack duk -> Sinophile Thu, 09/06/2018 - 16:59 PermalinkHe does have one. https://mikeflynndefensefund.org/
quadraspleen Thu, 09/06/2018 - 15:15 Permalink847328_3527 -> quadraspleen Thu, 09/06/2018 - 15:24 Permalinkone can only hope he's been thrown under the bus. If he's taking one for the team it'll be a slap on the wrist, maybe a year in an open prison or so and a directorship once he's beern "rehabilitated". If he's ben shat on, expect fireworks and much ass-covering by means of singing. /popcorn
apocalypticbrother -> quadraspleen Thu, 09/06/2018 - 15:26 PermalinkThe DNC, ACLU and soros are chipping in for his defense.
11b40 -> quadraspleen Thu, 09/06/2018 - 15:53 PermalinkAs long as mcabe gives up all his bosses he will be free. It is going to be a party when Comey goez to jail.
JoeTurner Thu, 09/06/2018 - 15:16 PermalinkTrump will pardon Flynn if he is sentenced.
Krink26 Thu, 09/06/2018 - 15:16 Permalinkits scary how close this country came to total catastrophe by electing Hillary Gambino Clinton
FreedomWriter -> Krink26 Thu, 09/06/2018 - 15:37 PermalinkOne can only hope the 50,000+ sealed indictments are what they are purported to be.
UmbilicalMosqu -> FreedomWriter Thu, 09/06/2018 - 16:20 PermalinkThe swamp is a diverse and rich ecosystem. 50000 indictments is probably just the start.
Heroic Couplet Thu, 09/06/2018 - 15:22 PermalinkBolsheviks are like rat turds...a never-ending trail of shit!
apocalypticbrother -> Heroic Couplet Thu, 09/06/2018 - 15:28 PermalinkTrump has seven members of his campaign team under indictment. Between Faux News and the Republican National Committee, and their attorneys, who should have been vetting Donald Trump's choices? Clearly, no attorney at Faux or the RNC took time to do background checks. The two fossils, McConnell and Giuliani didn't foresee any problems with Trump's campaign team, nor did Adelson, the Koch Brothers, or Rupert Murdoch.
So how is McCabe any different from Manafort, Gates, Papadopoulous, or Mike Flynn? and come 24 Sept, I want to hear Trump talk at length and in detail about Mike Flynn: where did Flynn learn money laundering? did he pass techniques on to anyone else? Why is he giving speeches to the Ukraine? the United States military got its ass kicked in Viet Nam because of Russia and Communist China, and the Ukraine is a direct line to Russian oligarchs. Robert Mueller is doing the vetting job that someone in the Republican Party should have done as Trump assembled his team.
SDShack Thu, 09/06/2018 - 15:23 PermalinkHeroic Cutout. Maybe you are mike pence?
847328_3527 -> SDShack Thu, 09/06/2018 - 15:25 PermalinkCNN: "Wolf Blitzer here, now let's join John Brennan and James Clapper for their analysis on today's news."
Chupacabra-322 Thu, 09/06/2018 - 15:24 Permalink"Followed by a guest editorial by star editor of the New York Times, Sarah Jeong."
The day after Trump's surprising win on Nov. 9, 2016, the FBI counterintelligence team engaged in a new mission, bluntly described in another string of emails prompted by another news leak.
"We need ALL of their names to scrub, and we should give them ours for the same purpose," Strzok emailed Page on Nov. 10, 2016, citing a Daily Beast article about some of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's allegedly unsavory ties overseas.
"Andy didn't get any others," Page wrote back, apparently indicating McCabe didn't have names to add to the "scrub."
"That's what Bill said," Strzok wrote back, apparently referring to then-FBI chief of counterintelligence William Priestap. "I suggested we need to exchange our entire lists as we each have potential derogatory CI info the other doesn't." CI is short for confidential informants.
It's an extraordinary exchange, if for no other reason than this: The very day after Trump wins the presidency, some top FBI officials are involved in the sort of gum-shoeing normally reserved for field agents, and their goal is to find derogatory information about someone who had worked for the president-elect.
[Aug 15, 2018] Black Americans View Omarosa As Two-Bit Opportunist, Racial Sellout, Ego Driven Hustler
This is another Wolf style scandal, and another book ;-)
Aug 15, 2018 | www.zerohedge.com
looking like members of the black community aren't amused with her antics, according to an AP report . In fact, some African Americans have gone as far to call her a "two bit opportunist", "sellout" and "ego driven". Others are simply calling her about-face on President Trump, after a decade of loyalty, "too little too late".The surprisingly candid takes follow remarks by the President of the United States, who called Omarosa a "lowlife" and a "dog" in a Tweet he published Tuesday morning. The Associated Press detailed what some key members of the African-American community think about Omarosa's sudden change of heart.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson, who is the author of "Why Black Lives Do Matter" said that most African Americans' loathing of Omarosa is "virtually frozen in stone". He then went on to say "She's still roundly lambasted as a two-bit opportunist, a racial sellout and an ego driven hustler." It certainly hasn't seemed to faze Omarosa, who has escalated her attacks on the President, as recently as Tuesday calling him "a racist, a misogynist, a bigot."
Furthermore, the black community has held a "deep hostility" for Manigault-Newman due to her defense of the President over the course of the last decade - especially after he was viewed as attacking various African-Americans like President Barack Obama and LeBron James. As a result of - at least initially - aligning herself with Trump over the last decade, made her "deeply unpopular" with the black community. "Every critic, every detractor will have to bow down under President Trump," Manigault-Newman is quoted as saying on PBS Frontline during her time working for the Trump administration.
Of course, Manigault-Newman - after she's been fired - reportedly claims in her book that she only joined Trump because she was denied a position within Hillary Clinton's campaign; This was the first time this particular story emerged.
Despite the Trump campaign supposedly being her second choice, AP reports that in her book she claimed that Trump was "eager for help". And it is only now, months after she was fired from the Trump campaign, that she is making accusations that Trump "used" her. No such allegations were made over the previous decade when her association with Trump is what was making her a household name - turning her from a generic game show contestant to a White House adviser.
Another member of the African-American community, Raynard Jackson, described as "a black Republican who has worked on GOP presidential, gubernatorial and local campaigns", stated that there is "absolutely no way [Omarosa] can redeem herself" and that her secret recording of Trump and other White House officials under the circumstances were the "political equivalent of spitting on a man."
[Aug 14, 2018] Personnel policy of the White house is terrible and terrifying
Slightly edited Google translation
This is the story of Wolf sneaking into WH No.2. Looks like to say that Trump is incompetent in selecting his personnel would be an understatement...
Aug 14, 2018 | vz.ru
Trump made Omarosa first a TV star, then an official. Now strongly spare efforts
In the administration of the USA the next scandal with dirty Laundry and nasty details. A former employee of the White house on behalf of Omarosa released a book with memories about his work on trump, but making a mistake – substituted for criminal charges. The horror, however, is not this – it is that such people can even get to work in the White house.
The lawyers of the US administration are studying the possibility of adopting criminal and injunction against former employee of the White house Omarosa Manigault Newman , who secretly taped his conversations with the President of the United States Donald trump and his assistants. On the recording, which Manigault Newman was transferred to NBC, you can hear how she and the President's chief of staff John Kelly to discuss her dismissal.
According to a former employee of the trump administration, the conversation was recorded in the so-called situational room of the White house, which is protected from external listening and where secret intelligence. To make this room any recording equipment is prohibited, emphasize the lawyers of the White house.
Commenting on the situation, the press Secretary of the President Sarah Sanders stressed that Manigolt-Newman showed "a blatant disregard for American national security", and her boasting of her act on television only confirms the lack of character and integrity. Personally, trump called Manigault-Newman is a "despicable human being". And she in her book hit the President's with more offensive epithet – "racist", and a "person suffering from mental disease."
It seems that there are all signs of censorship, violation of freedom of speech and circulation of information. It is obvious that the black lady was fired, and now she is seeking justice by the methods available to her. But this is a deceptive impression. The question that we have to answer is how such people generally get to the highest public office in the United States and how such practice threatens humanity.
Omarosa Manigault-Newman – hard luck woman. She was born and raised in Ohio in a disadvantaged neighborhood and in an appropriate family. Her father Thomas Manigolt Sr. (another version of the reading of the name – Mongo, we are talking about immigrants from the Francophone part of Louisiana, and the heroine of this story has always demanded to call himself on television just Omarosa – for short) was killed in a showdown when the girl was only seven years old. Her eldest brother, Thomas Manigault Jr. was shot and killed under similar circumstances in 2011. These circumstances would probably permanently close Omarosa road to the situation room of the President of any country in the world, but in the United States there are some non-standard approaches to security checks of personnel. There's a black hustler TV showgirl, independently made his controversial career studying journalism in school at Rayen school of journalism and then the Bible at the Seminary named after Payne, can pass all the checks. She's a self-made woman – the embodiment of the black woman and at the same time the feminist dream.
In the 1990s, Omarosa actively pursued a political career, working in the office of Vice President Albert Gore. What did people in the Trump administration thought, hiring a former employee not even Clinton, but Albert Gore who at times was superior to his boss in key parameters of [neo]liberality? Even Omarosa's former employer, Mary Margaret Overby, who was responsible for public relations at the peak of Gore's fight against "global warming," publicly stated that it was her "main personnel mistake" and "worst hiring in a lifetime."
After Omarosa was first kicked out of the White house, she took part in the NBC TV show "Candidate" (another possible translation of the name – "Newcomer", The Apprentice), which Donald trump not only sponsored, but also periodically led, for which he earned a star on the Boulevard in Hollywood. Last month the star has repeatedly demolished by anti-Trump activists, but was resorted several times As for the show itself, we are talking about a typical entertainment for channels such as TNT and STS: were the participants eat each other (on American TV there is even a special term for such shows – dog-eat-dog) to achieve a prestigious and high-paying job, at the same time drowning competitors. On Russian television there are direct analogues of the franchise of this product.
Omarosa consistently won several franchises, moving from one to another, until she got to All-stars Celebrity Apprentice, which also led personally trump (this is something like the top League for the participants of "Dom-2"). Along the way, she appeared in Celebrity Big Brother, that is, in the analogue of "behind the glass", which became famous due to the exceptional bitchiness. In addition, Omarosa has repeatedly been accused of using the so-called n-word, "words-that-cannot-be-spoken", that is, nigger.
And in July 2016, at the Congress of the Republican party of Omaros, she led the African-American movement in support of Donald Trump, and after the victory of the patron in the elections, she became one of his assistants in public relations (about a dozen, and each is highly specialized). Once again: the girl who screams the term "f**cking nigger" each second word was appointed to be in charge of "public relations". It was assumed that it will deal with African-American problems -- the plight of the ghetto residents...
But at the first public event in almost her native New Orleans at a meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists (this is the official name of the orgnization) provoked a scandal. Omarosa was invited to the section where problems of the families who lost relatives in gangs shootings were discussed. But she refused to answer questions about her family and began to talk about the political views of President Trump, which caused a scream, a brawl and almost shooting.
A couple more revealing details. The official papers on White house letterhead, addressed to different public organizations, for some reason she signed as "the right honorable Omarosa Manigault", as if she has a law degree or belongs to Protestant clergy. She is not and was not. In addition, she still claims to be "the only African-American woman in the White House."
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What was expected in the presidential security Department from the girl who brought several participants of the show "behind the glass" to a nervous breakdown ? Obviously you can expect that she might record the conversation about her dismissal and will try revenge by methods known to her.
The most ambiguous episode in the life of Omarosa associated with the tragic death of her fiancé – really outstanding actor Michael Clark Duncan, nominated for an Oscar for his role in the cult "Green mile" by Stephen King. This man is a huge hight (195 cm) and monstrous physical strength went into show business after the murder in 1997 of Notorius B. I. G., the head of security of which he was and it was a miracle that he survived. And this giant dies from a heart attack at the age of 55 in his own bedroom on the matrimonial bed.
Omarosa, according to her confession, went up to bed later, and suddenly realized that he gasps softly. She began to give him CPR, that is, pressure on the chest. And when for reasons of blatant mismatch of weight categories she did not work, began to "pray to God as never before did not" instead of calling 911. In the end, she still called there, but after two months in a coma Michael Duncan died. Subsequently, La Toya Jackson (sister of Michael Jackson) at one of the sessions of the TV show directly accused Omarosa of murder, or at least in contributing to the death of his fiancé.
In April 2017, Omarosa married radical Protestant pastor John Allen Newman from Florida. He is a registered Democrat and political activist, worked in the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama, Jesse Jackson in the distant 1980s, as well as NAT Glover-the first black Sheriff in the history of Florida. Despite this background, the ceremony was held first at the Trump hotel in Washington, and then smoothly moved directly to the White house, where the table was set for 39 people. The happy bride began to post tweets, and then the security service for the first time started to suspect something wrong, because Omarosa's tweets were contrary not only to ethics (what are you in figs a fighter for the rights of ghetto residents, when you dress for 70 thousand dollars, and the Banquet goes to the President's residence?), but also with the rules of national security.
The ability to arrange a wedding table in the residence of the President of the United States sounds simply wild.
When in December 2017 Omarosa were finally fired from the White house, there was a rumor that the Secret service took revenge on her for everything she had suffered from the telediva. However, representatives of the Secret service denied that used physical force, accompanying Omarosa (she sort of scratched and swore her favorite "f***cking nigger" words) out of the presidential residence.
The conflict with administration started because of Omarosa's statements about the reasons why she left WH, instead of the fact that she was dismissed for incompetence, she started to claim that she left voluntarily. To prove this, she gave the famous TV presenter Chuck Todd records of negotiations with John Kelly about the terms of her dismissal.
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[Aug 01, 2018] Let Mikey do it Maybe not.
Aug 01, 2018 | turcopolier.typepad.com
IMO Mikey Pompeo suffers from Smart Guy Syndrome. My wife calls it Great Man Syndrome. In both of these a delusion of centrality sets in based on a belief in one's own superiority. This rots the mind. Mikey has always been the smartest kid in the room. You know his resumé. And, pilgrims, he has a smiley face welded onto his real sharkey face. These attributes have carried him far but he has a weakness or two. He really does think he is a being above the ken of mortal men AND he is a hyper-nationialist neocon ideologue through and through and in many ways immune to appeals to reason. He surely think thatTrump is a dolt. Look at the picture. He has contradicted the president several times. This is a very dangerous thing to do. Trump is a reality based self-centered hustler who is used to dealing with supercilious p---ks who want to manipulate him.
Now Mikey has John-John Bolton as ally and playmate. Bolton is, IMO, more than a little crazy. Bolton loves his place in an NSC made over into extensions of his neocon craziness. He thinks that he has the Iranians right where he wants them. He believes that we could fight a maritime campaign in the Gulf with next to no losses and that if necessary we can bomb the Iranian people into unleashing their economic deprivation wrath against the mullahs.
Pompeo agrees with him. He is trying to keep the president buttered up while pursuing his shared goals with Bolton both cleverly and surreptitiously. Well, folks, Trump is a master of the art of BS detection. Those who try to fool him are taking a great risk.
Off to one side in this drama, stand the inbred caste of generals and admirals. Trump professes to admire them, but Mattis, Dunford and CENTCOM are steadily losing real power in the contest for the president's attention. IMO there will be a unifying deal between Damascus and the YPG Kurds and Trump knows all about progress toward that goal. Do the generals want that? No. They have their own desired foreign policy. They want to make the casualties of the last 15 years meaningful through victory somewhere, anywhere would do. They also want revenge against Iran for men lost in Iraq. They listen to the Israelis far too much.
IMO Trump has a private line of communication to Russia. This is perfectly legal and probably is conducted over CIA communications links or through the ambassador in Moscow, Jon Huntsman or both.
Pompeo may or may not know what is being said in those channels. pl
if Trump is such a reality-based hustler who knows how to deal with supercilious p--cks" like Pompeo and Bolton, why the heck does he keep bringing those p--cks on board and then waste so much time and energy on dealing with them? Are there no prospective officials around who are not of that stripe? Or is it that Trump is unable to detect them and/or unwilling for some reason to bring them in and put them to work?Pat Lang Mod -> Larry Kart , 19 hours agoI'm reminded of a point made throughout Vol. 1 of Michael Broers' brilliant new biography of Napoleon -- that Napoleon, who despised the talk-talk-talk of parliaments and liked best to work with and through committees, had a near-infallible gift for detecting the best and the brightest, whether or not they had impressive credentials or even if they had opposed or still opposed some of his policies. In these committees, which dealt with both political and military matters, all were expected to speak freely, while Napoleon listened like a hawk. For him the key test, aside from the committee members' intelligence and energy, was whether they were men of honor -- by which he meant that when agreements had been reached after all had had their fair say and Napoleon had put his stamp on them, they would abide by what had been thoroughly vetted and agreed to. An autocrat, for sure, and yet...
He hired people recommended to him by their cronies like Rosenstein, Wray, Pruitt, Coates. There have been many mistakes.like that. He could not appoint the kind of people he had eaten well-done steaks with in NY while hustling them in a deal. He also relies too much on his gut reaction to people he meets.Larry Kart -> Pat Lang , 19 hours agoYes but, if he is that susceptible to dubious advice, isn't that something of a flashing-red-light character flaw -- just as Napoleon deserves blame for taking the advice of the treacherous Josephine on several disastrous occasions (i.e. the decision to invade Haiti)?Pat Lang Mod -> Larry Kart , 18 hours ago"You see," as Auda Abu Tayi said of Lawrence in the movie, "He is not perfect."unmitigatedaudacity -> Pat Lang , 4 hours agoNo, he is not. We all lament The Boltens and Pompeos. However, where is he to find "good people"? The American political class is reflectively myopic and partisan. Find some more Jon Huntsman types (where? IDK) who can serve American interests without all the Sturm und Drang of today's hyperbolic, puerile political warfare.EEngineer , a day agoI would wager that Trump sees both of them as dangerous but useful idiots that willingly play their role in his "good-cop, bad cop" negotiating tactics. They will be gone with the next tacking.Pat Lang Mod -> EEngineer , a day agoYup. Ready about! Ah, they went over the side.EEngineer -> Pat Lang , 19 hours agoI envisioned something closer to being forced to walk the plank.Charles Pettibone , 11 hours agoI was pleasantly surprised at Bolton's behavior in Russia and in his comment that getting rid of Assad was no longer the goal of the US. To be sure, time will tell, but it's clear that at this point Trump is driving foreign policy and is far more self-confident than he was in 2017.chris chuba , a day agoWhatever Pompeo says doesn't matter- if he tries to throw up walls to a summit, Trump will tell him to go to hell. It's a core principle of Trump's that meeting is not a "concession." He knows that "legitimacy" is an utterly meaningless concept, not something that can be granted or withdrawn by the US president. If Iran offers Trump a meeting, he'll meet. No questions asked.
NathalieM , a day ago"Well, folks, Trump is a master of the art of BS detection. Those who try to fool him are taking a great risk."I completely agree with you Col. I hear people call Trump a moron or a genius, I think that what makes him so vexing is that he is both at the same time. He is probably very good at making certain nobody gets the better of him, especially his subordinates.
Except for the belief on Trump´s masterliness on anything, I never would had thought I will be agreeing with you all the way till the last line....of this concrete post....What I most agree with you in is in Pompeo´s overestimating his own capabilities...and I conclude also along with you that is a very dangerous situation...But, if you see it so clear, and we all too, could you provide a convincing explanation on why Trump, being such a master on personal management and business administration, elected Pompeo and Bolton for office in the first place?EEngineer -> NathalieM , 2 hours agoThanks in advance, in case you answer my question and do not find something outrageous enough for your sensibility in my comment so as to delete it.
It frames Trump as the moderate. He uses them to move the Overton Window. Nothing more.
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Mar 06, 2018 | www.zerohedge.com
Associated Press"I am not a person who has sought the spotlight. First in my business and now in public service, I have worked on achieving goals, and have left it to others to work on media and public perception," Kushner told congressional investigators last July.
But it is not immediately obvious what he's achieved. There has been little progress on Mideast peace and relations with Mexico, another top Kushner priority, remain contentious over Trump's proposed border wall. Kushner's much ballyhooed project to reinvent the federal government has gained little traction. And questions persist about his family business's global hunt for cash just a year before a $1.2 billion mortgage on a Manhattan skyscraper must be paid off by the company . -AP
Kushner has come under fire of late, as Special Counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly probing his family's Real Estate dealings - including whether foreign nationals sought to manipulate him over his family's financial position.
The Kushner Co. says it is financially sound, however skeptics point to the company scrambling to raise funds from investors whose country of origin may present a conflict of interest. The Intercept reported that Kushner supported a blockade against Qatar after his father, Charles Kushner, sought and failed to obtain financial support from the Qatari financial minister for the family's troublesome 666 Fifth Avenue property.
"If it's true it's damning, " Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told ABC on "This Week" Sunday. " If it's true he's got to go."
Kushner also lost his ability to access top-secret intelligence last week, as President Trump - who could have granted Jared a permanent clearance - left the decision to Chief of Staff John Kelly.
"I will let General Kelly make that decision," Trump told reporters. "I have no doubt he'll make the right decision."
The couple perceives Kelly's crackdown on security clearances as a direct shot at them, according to White House aides and outside advisers. But one White House official disputed that account, suggesting that Kushner welcomed Kelly's efforts to organize the West Wing, allowing him to more singularly focus on his portfolio.
Kelly, in turn, has been angered by what he views as the couple's freelancing. He blames them for changing Trump's mind at the last minute and questions what exactly they do all day , according to one White House official and an outside ally. - AP
Kushner's clearance was downgraded from "Top Secret/SCI-level" to "secret" - walling them off from the most sensitive information. The decision was the first major shakeup since the dismissal of former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, who was exposed for abusing both of his ex-wives. The FBI insinuated that it had informed the White House of Porter's conduct, appearing to contradict a timeline of events initially offered by Kelly.
"Only a son-in-law could withstand this sort of exposure and not be fired," said former Obama communications director, Jennifer Palmieri " Kushner's vulnerable and in an accelerated fall from grace . Even though his departure would leave Trump even more isolated, a decision could be made that it's just not worth it for him to stay."
That said, Trump has reportedly grown frustrated with both Kelly and over negative press surrounding Jared and Ivanka, according to the New York Times - and has been quietly seeking a solution to remove them from the White House.
Trump denied reports that he was displeased. "As I told Jared days ago, I have full confidence in his ability to continue performing his duties in his foreign policy portfolio including overseeing our Israeli–Palestinian peace effort and serving as an integral part of our relationship with Mexico," said Trump. "Everyone in the White House is grateful for these valuable contributions to furthering the president's agenda. There is no truth to any suggestion otherwise."
The AP reports that Jared and Ivanka have no plans on leaving Washington anytime soon.
Slippery Slope -> SH_Resurrected Mon, 03/05/2018 - 22:42 Permalink
Pandelis -> ACP Mon, 03/05/2018 - 22:46 PermalinkI thought Kushner was solving the Middle East problem by giving Israel everything it wants.
IridiumRebel -> Pandelis Mon, 03/05/2018 - 22:47 Permalinkit is on a need to know basis my friend. you just go and look after the paperwork and clearance bs.
Kushner is there for some very good reasons ... trump cannot remove him even if his life depend on it ...
booboo Mon, 03/05/2018 - 22:42 PermalinkProbably fake news, but then again, I don't know what they do. There are droves of useless fucks in government.
Juggernaut x2 -> booboo Mon, 03/05/2018 - 22:57 Permalinkcan't be any worse than the Clinton Foundations pay to play scheme ... By the way, I don't know what general Kelly does all day either but I will put money he will go to work for the MIC industry capitalizing on his position so fuck that pot says the kettle.
Freddie -> Juggernaut x2 Mon, 03/05/2018 - 23:28 PermalinkTrump will do nothing to the Clintons or their Foundation so you don't need to worry about it.
Mzhen Mon, 03/05/2018 - 23:06 PermalinkJared and Ivanka are good friends with Soros and the Clintons. So much for draining the swamp.
Mustafa Kemal -> Mzhen Mon, 03/05/2018 - 23:12 PermalinkSince Jared and Ivanka aren't getting paid, maybe General Kelly can find something else to worry about.
"Since Jared and Ivanka aren't getting paid, maybe General Kelly can find something else to worry about."
Or maybe since they aren't doing anything they could get out of the way.
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Dec 04, 2017 | turcopolier.typepad.com
"Jared Kushner failed to disclose his role as a co-director of the Charles and Seryl Kushner Foundation from 2006 to 2015, a time when the group funded an Israeli settlement considered to be illegal under international law , on financial records he filed with the Office of Government Ethics earlier this year.
The latest development follows reports on Friday indicating the White House senior adviser attempted to sway a United Nations Security Council vote against an anti-settlement resolution passed just before Donald Trump took office, which condemned the structure of West Bank settlements. The failure to disclose his role in the foundation -- at a time when he was being tasked with serving as the president's Middle East peace envoy -- follows a pattern of egregious omissions that would bar any other official from continuing to serve in the West Wing, experts and officials told Newsweek ." newsweek
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Syria is quiescent at the moment, North Korea hangs in the balance as a possible scenario for a major war. Some people would like to steer me away from the subject of the Mueller investigation but the story is far too interesting for me to accept that.
I would think that Flynn's guilty plea is about developing leverage with regard to Kushner's oddness.
- - He did a poor job of filling out security clearance forms. He did that repeatedly. Too good to obey the law? I have filled out the same tedious forms many times and I can understand his reluctance, but, people can be hired to interview you and fill them out for you.
- - He thinks that he and his perfect group of experts (identities?) can bring the Palestinians and Israelis to an agreement over what I long ago came to see as a problem without a solution. The difficulty is that the two groups' deeply felt desires and aims are mutually exclusive and not really subject to compromise. The truth is that they both want ALL of the land between the sea and the Jordan River and in Israel's case a good many of them want a piece of Jordan as well. Kushner will learn that both Bibi and the Palestinians are lying to him about their willingness to compromise. But, his blindness to that is not a crime. It is simply the result of his conceit and actual ignorance of these people.
- - IMO he is an agent of the Israeli state or the Jewish Agency who is unregistered under FARA.
- - It now appears that Kushner sent Flynn (perhaps the dumbest Irishman in the world - I am part Irish) to seek in the president elect's name Russian government cooperation in blocking a resolution at the UN that was unfavorable to Israel. Did Trump know that Flynn was so dispatched or did Kushner take it upon himself to use his father in law's influence to send Flynn on this errand on behalf of a foreign state? Is this a crime? I know not as yet. pl
Eric Newhill , 04 December 2017 at 03:37 PM
Sir,The Beaver , 04 December 2017 at 04:27 PM
It's hard to imagine anyone who carries water for Israel taking a big hit. It will be interesting. Kushner's relationship with Trump makes him vulnerable - nay, a target - to Borgist machinations. His relationship with Israel should make him invulnerable to the same.The Borg faces a quandary? Perhaps a rift in the Borg develops? I can't see Israel throwing Kushner under the bus and incurring Trump's wrath. I can't see Israel allowing it's name to be very publicly associated with underhanded behavior.
Colonel,The Beaver , 04 December 2017 at 04:36 PMThe irony: From the guy in charge of peace process in the Middle East
In addition, yesterday at the Saban17 Forum, Kushner described the Trump Middle East peace team as made up of "3 orthodox jews and a coptic Egyptian". Since Haim Saban was the moderator , he thanked the Whiz Kid for trying to derail UNSC resolution on settlements. "as far as I know there's nothing illegal there" he told Kushner.
Will try to locate the You Tube video and post it later on
ColonelAlaric , 04 December 2017 at 05:35 PMAnother article :
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/1.826751and the video of yesterday:
Well said:Yeah, Right said in reply to Eric Newhill... , 04 December 2017 at 05:44 PM"IMO he is an agent of the Israeli state or the Jewish Agency who is unregistered under FARA."
He also seems to lack any common sense when it comes to geopolitics. Him, Netanyahu, and MBS together.....oh my
"It's hard to imagine anyone who carries water for Israel taking a big hit"Keith Harbaugh , 04 December 2017 at 06:02 PMI suspect it might be the reverse i.e. once someone does take a big hit then everyone who carries water for Israel will be in serious trouble.
Once the floodgates open there may be no stopping it.
Some sad news about Ireland (IMO):outthere , 04 December 2017 at 06:06 PM"How Ireland Moved to the Left: 'The Demise of the Church' "
By LIAM STACK. 2017-12-02
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/02/world/europe/ireland-abortion-abuse-church.htmlJOSEPH CAMPBELL: that wonderful Irish saying, you know, "Is this a private fight, or can anybody get into it?"confusedponderer said in reply to Eric Newhill... , 04 December 2017 at 06:41 PM
me tooEric Newhill,Huckleberry , 04 December 2017 at 06:50 PM
I strongly doubt that Israel will ' throw Kushner under the bus '.They won't be asked for their advice, view or preference in the matter whether Kushner is to stay in the whitehouse or whether he is to be kicked out. They have no saying in that matter, despite their considerable influence in the US.
IMO, what will count is simply domestic - that is, to what extent Kushner is a problem for Trump, and that'll be what solely counts in the question whether Kushner will get the boot or not.
It speaks for itself, in its own way, that the role and tasks of Kushner have been greatly reduced recently.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/11/jared-kushner-horizons-are-collapsing-within-the-west-wing
That's likely to for one to limit the damage the man can or could cause in addition to the damage he has caused, and, if there is someone else doing his former tasks, a boot won't create a great gap if he gets the kick.
So, why that reduction of Kushner's role, I wonder? Well, actually, I don't wonder. I daresay it's because what Kushner has advised as policy has and is gnawing at the reputation of Trump.
Trump by himself is, well, what he is, but in addition to the advice he got and likely still gets from Kushner he isn't exactly getting 'well considerated advice'.
Kushner's poor and ill advice is no problem for Israel, rather they see it as an advantage, but poor and ill policy resulting from such advice is a political and a poll problem for Trump. That IMO is all that'll count here.
Kushner was after all the genius recommending Trump to fire Comey, Kushner was responsible for 'middle east peace', and Kushner was rather friendly to the Saudis and all that.
Now, how well again did firing Comey do Trump? How far is that middle east peace? I haven't seen it yet. And what about the Saudis and what they do? What about Yemen and Quatar? In sum, all of that is hardly a series of successes, a series successes for America that is.
Pissing into Trumps policies Kushner may have done just what Israel and/or the Saudis wanted. But then: What for the US? Where is US, or, naturally, Trump's grand success based on Kushner's briliant advice? Is there any such succes?
Nope, there isn't anything like that and that's the problem for Kushner as an advisor and for Trump as well.
Firing Comey likely wasn't a wise thing to do, and middle east peace is far away, etc. pp. Trump may not be wise or smart but he probably understands when he is getting poor advice from Kushner.
Just to sum it up: ISIS is being kicked by the Syrians, Hezbollah, Iran and Russia - not by the US or Iraq, or by Turkey or Saudi Arabia. What a success. The Turks play their own 'post-NATO' games, with post-osmanian terriotorial ambitions and their support of so far by and large friendly sunni jihadis in Syria and likely in Lebanon. What a success.
The Israelis for their part don't succeed in 'breaking the Shia highway from Iran to Hezbollah', nor did they succeed in overthrowing Assad. What a success for America.
The Saudis, despite being absurdedly rich, cannot get their act together in Yemen. The Saudis got US backing, US aid in their siege of Yemen and likely they get US recce or air refuelling but still fail in Yemen, and fail also in getting Egypt or Pakistan doing the dirty work that the Saudis alone cannot do and fail doing when they try.
What the Saudis excel at in Yemen is besieging and blockading and blowing up a lot of things from the air. Oh yes, and then there is that nasty Cholera desease in Yemen with something like 400.000 being sick and some 2000 or so having died last time I looked.
Yemen's cholera is likely one of the worst human cathastrophies in recent time. The UN speaks of 'a cholera outbreak of unprecedented scale'.
http://www.who.int/dg/speeches/2017/security-council-yemen/en/
I suppose that for Saudis, Israelis and Kushner likely the cholera is ... hmm ... oh yes, it is Iran's and Houthi's fault and certainly not the fault of some neighbour blowing up water cleansing facilities, infrastructure, hospitals and/or bridges and the like ...
IMO if Kushner gets the boot, good riddance.
While I like the Colonel's "Borg" notion, this all strikes me as ZOG.jdledell , 04 December 2017 at 06:51 PMI've talked with Israelis who have met with David Friedman, the Trump bankruptcy lawyer, hard right Jew and now U.S. Ambassador to Israel. Quietly, he has told important Israelis to pay no attention to Kushner's ideas about Israel, the mideast, and a peace agreement but treat him nicely so not to P.O. Trump. The consensus is Kushner is in way over his head in many of his foreign affairs ideas.JohnH , 04 December 2017 at 07:32 PMIt is interesting that media reports leave out the purpose of Flynn's contacts with Russia. Had he just been upfront and said, "I contacted Russia on behalf of the Israeli lobby," I suspect that he would never have been fired or indicted...since violating the law on behalf of Israel seems not to be considered illegal.notlurking , 04 December 2017 at 09:07 PMNever a good idea to have family members serving in government positions when you are the president...Daddy Trump does not want to hurt the feelings of darling Ivanka....Fred -> Keith Harbaugh... , 04 December 2017 at 10:14 PMKeith,Eric Newhill said in reply to Yeah, Right... , 04 December 2017 at 10:25 PMNext time turn the bold off when you are done.
Yeah Right,FB Ali -> Keith Harbaugh... , 04 December 2017 at 11:27 PM
Well "everyone who carries water for Israel" would be, well, just about everyone. So, ok, maybe it's not totally Israel's call, but it sure will be the Borg's call. I agree that once they take the lid of that box, unspeakable furies will be released. So they won't.Whatever Trump thinks of Kushner and whatever his loyalties may be (or not be), Trump isn't running the investigation. Mueller is. Mueller appears to be an assimilate. Ergo, I say that Kushner has nothing to worry about.
Keith Harbaugh,Laura , 05 December 2017 at 12:25 AMFor SST, the "sad news" is that you don't know how to close Bold Lettering after using it.
I would suggest you don't try such fancy stuff until you have discovered how to use it properly.
I have tried to close it off.
Trump is a micro-manager on stuff he thinks 1) he is interested in 2) might know something about and 3) affects him directly. There are actually very few people he interacts with...so it seems to me that if you are "White House," you are following Trump's dictates. Everyone is so afraid of ticking him off (legendarily nasty temper and abusiveness) that they just go with his flow.WJ , 05 December 2017 at 12:30 AMOf course, this only works for a while...we may be coming up on the point at which it rather spectacularly stops working.
In my opinion Kushner will be passed over and the move will be directly against Teump on an obstruction of justice charge, which I believe is constitutionally-speaking an impossible charge to prosecute but which can and will be used to pressure Congress to open impeachment proceedings with the aim of either (1) actually removing Trump from office or (2) so thoroughly discrediting his administration that he loses all political wiggle room, esp on foreign policy and trade, for the remainder of his term. Are there enough neocon and establishment Republican types in Congress open to pursuing this? I don't know. There is little Trump can do at this point except to find a way of calling the FBI's bluff more convincingly than he has done, although the media's absolute refusal to do anything but parrot FBI/CIA talking points on the issue has made that task an almost impossible one to achieve. The whole damn FBI investigation into Flynn from the beginning must be shown to be thoroughly empty of real content and entirely politically motivated, as it is; but it is hard to show this when the entire narrative of corporate media has established (by the empty repetition of the same unsubstantiated assertions) that just the opposite is the case.confusedponderer said in reply to Keith Harbaugh... , 05 December 2017 at 02:25 AM... let's kill the bolding ;)dogear , 05 December 2017 at 02:42 AMEntertaining yarn with running bearconfusedponderer said in reply to Huckleberry... , 05 December 2017 at 02:46 AMWe are all je seus jimmy
Huckleberry,Adrestia , 05 December 2017 at 02:56 AM
likely it's more than the ZOG, but simply a grand-standing cross party consensus on nonsense.Recently I almost spilled my coffe trying not to laugh loud when I read Trump's EPA head, iirc tellingly a guy from industry and a guy hostile to environmental protection, tell me and America why Trump kicking the Kyoto protocoll is a brilliant idea and won't harm the environment.
Why? Well, that's because, so he said, because American coal is very special and very different from the coal found on the rest of the world.
According to him, unlike the coal of the jealous rest of the world, American coal doesn't produce CO2 when being burnt, so it poses no environmental risk. And that the rest of the world only is jealous about that and they want to curb CO2 emissions only to harm America. See? No problem.
IMO that's a hard case of hard idiocy at work. If you don't like what science tells you, speak of 'fake news' and make it up as you like while you go along?
I had chemistry as a focus class in school and thus I very strongly doubt the assertion of the 'EPA head' on how special all that super American coal is.
But isn't that a brilliant leader for a enviromental protection agency? I'd bet that the advice from that genius is about as brilliant as what Kushner offers.
It is so idiotic that I even see the possibility of a Trumpian subversive destruction course: What I mean? Well, not filling so many agency seats is a deliberate policy IMO.
Deliberately don't fill open job slots at agencies, get rid of all these unwanted and unwilling scientists telling you all these bad things and have reliably hostile but reliably happy loons ruin an unwanted agency, to then close it 'because it doesn't work'?
stops the boldLondonBob said in reply to confusedponderer... , 05 December 2017 at 04:39 AMTrump's mistake was not firing Comey sooner, and appointing Rosenstein, the idea Comey could have stayed on as FBI Director is fantastical.Dubhaltach said in reply to Keith Harbaugh... , 05 December 2017 at 04:50 AMIn reply to Keith Harbaugh 04 December 2017 at 06:02 PMJohn_Frank , 05 December 2017 at 06:02 AMAttempting to fix your HTML
Turning to the substance of your post. How is "How Ireland Moved to the Left: 'The Demise of the Church' " even remotely relevant to
My dad was born in 1960 and reared in 1960 - 1970s Catholic Ireland. His description of the viciousness with which the institutional church behaved is chilling. His description of the way in which children were beaten so savagely in the first school he attended that they needed several days to recover sufficiently to be physically capable of attending school is downright horrific. The way in which he and other Irish people of his generation describe the way in which the Catholic church actively promoted sectarianism is horrific. His entirely matter-of-fact description of how he personally was repeatedly singled out because his mother was a protestant is horrific. The revelations of institutionalised sexual abuse are horrific. The revelations of the suffering of children who underwent forced adoptions are horrific. The revelations of mass graves of orphans are horrific. The role of the Catholic hierarchy in preventing the introduction of a healthcare programme for low income children and their mothers at a time when in Ireland TB was killing Irish children in their droves is revolting. If ever there was an institution that illustrates the dictum that "absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely" the Catholic church in Ireland is it.
And you think the decline of the Catholic church's power in Ireland is a pity? In my private life I'm a conservative Catholic and I don't think the decline of the Catholic church's institutional power is a bad thing. On the contrary I think it's a very good thing. Fewer raped and abused children for a start. There was an Irish trade union leader called Jim Larkin who coined the slogan "You'll crucify Christ in this town no longer." conservative Catholic though I am I have to agree that he had a point.
Finally this pattern of institutionalised savagery wasn't just in Ireland. Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales, all have statutory Tribunals of Enquiry running at present and all of them are revealing the same pattern of systematic savagery and sexual abuse. From what I've read and been told by Americans whose word I trust the same appalling and revolting pattern is far from unknown in your country.
Was the decision to make contact with various foreign governments, including Russia, to seek to a delay in the UN SC vote on the Palestinian question illegal?LeaNder said in reply to Keith Harbaugh... , 05 December 2017 at 06:51 AMAccording to Professor Dershowitz, No.
If it was, what about what Reagan did with the Iranians while Carter was President, or what Carter did with Arafat, while Clinton was President?
Also, as others have noted, what about what Obama did in 2008 with Iran, Russia and Syria?
Returning to the topic at hand, what if one can show that Obama's decision making process was motivated by his personal animosity towards the Israeli Prime Minister?
An interview with Alan Dershowitz
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/interrogation/2017/12/an_interview_with_alan_dershowitz_on_trump_and_the_mueller_investigation.htmlThat written, people may find the following piece by Byron York of interest:
Byron York: In Trump-Russia probe, was it all about the Logan Act?
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/byron-york-in-trump-russia-probe-was-it-all-about-the-logan-act/article/2642434If individuals within the outgoing administration deliberately contrived to start an investigation, based on an Act that is arguably no longer enforceable, by leaking highly classified intercepted communications, given everything else that has transpired, including allegations of corrupt practices within the Justice Department and the FBI concerning the conduct of the Hillary Clinton investigation and the Russian counter-intelligence investigation, (or if you prefer the Donald Trump investigation), Mr. Mueller's conflicts of interest and legitimate questions about his authority, a defendant with funds, who was determined to fight any allegation by Special Counsel, could quite possibly "tip the whole process over."
let's close this.confusedponderer said in reply to LondonBob... , 05 December 2017 at 08:16 AMLB,b , 05 December 2017 at 08:18 AM
well, I think I disagree.IMO Comey was a problem because he investigated things that Trump didn't want to get public and didn't weant to see investigated.
My point is this:
I simply assume there were things Trump didn't want to see investigated or discussed openly, and that's why and how Comey became a problem for Trump.
It's IMO not that Comey was evil or vile or a nasty democrat, but that it was the nasty things he was looking at and into.
Was not Paul John Manafort, Trump's campaign manager, engaged in doing odd policy things in Ukraine and getting money for that from ukie oligarchs? Assuming that the oligarchs likely got that money not entirely legally, it suggests that that was something that was unwanted to get public. And so on.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/19/us/politics/paul-manafort-russia-trump.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/us/politics/paul-manafort-ukraine-donald-trump.html
Or how did Trump get all that money to build all these golf sites when banks were down? That wasn't cheap. And then banks were not lending money, and Trump had a bad rep for being banktrupt a few times - so who did lend him money? And so on.
That's the sort of things I assume Trump didn't want to see investigated or being talked about publicly.
Kicking out Comey was saying: " Oh, well, why not let us talk about something else and do that quickly?
Slight correction:turcopolier , 05 December 2017 at 08:20 AM
"It now appears that Kushner sent Flynn to seek in the president elect's name Russian government cooperation in blocking a resolution at the UN that was unfavorable to Israel."Kushner sent Flynn to talk to ALL UNSC countries. Russia was just one on that list and to make this about Russia is thereby not adequate.
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/12/01/politics/jared-kushner-michael-flynn-russia/index.html
(CNN)Jared Kushner is the "very senior member" of President Donald Trump's transition team who directed incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn to contact the Russian ambassador to the United States and other countries about a UN Security Council vote on Israeli settlements, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.confusedpondererturcopolier , 05 December 2017 at 08:25 AMYes, you are confused. The great majority of unfilled "slots" in the executive branch are for bureaucratic managers and various other kinds of drones. pl
confusedpondererturcopolier , 05 December 2017 at 08:28 AM"That's the sort of things I assume Trump didn't want to see investigated or being talked about publicly." That is quite an assumption in the absence of any evidence. pl
The Beaver said in reply to jdledell... , 05 December 2017 at 08:48 AMThanks. IMO that actually makes Kushner's action as an unregistered Israeli agent worse. pl
@ jdledellturcopolier -> dogear... , 05 December 2017 at 08:56 AM
an à propos observation:As for how Kushner's potential legal exposure in the Mueller probe might complicate the administration's peace efforts, the former Israeli security official said it might be able to survive his distraction or even absence. Kushner's function has largely been "to translate the Greenblatt product to the president and when [needed], to show up with Greenblatt and be the message" that the Greenblatt team speaks for the president.
"If you want to look for a silver lining, this administration has been accumulating pro-Israeli credentials," the former Israeli official said. "When they table a deal, it will be very hard for this [Netanyahu] administration to say no."
dogearex-PFC Chuck , 05 December 2017 at 09:01 AM
"je seus jimmy?" What is it that you are trying to say? plHere's the URL for The Intercept story:Greco said in reply to notlurking... , 05 December 2017 at 09:04 AM
https://theintercept.com/2017/12/04/trump-white-house-weighing-plans-for-private-spies-to-counter-deep-state-enemies/The Kushner family is very influential and holds some sway in Democrat circles. I don't know if Trump could have become president without him. And he played the key role in bringing in men like Gary Cohn.LeaNder said in reply to jdledell... , 05 December 2017 at 09:15 AMjdledell, what's your take on Trump's campaign promise and so far only postponed decision to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem?Greco said in reply to confusedponderer... , 05 December 2017 at 09:17 AMThe consensus is Kushner is in way over his head in many of his foreign affairs ideas.
Whoever wasn't before including Clinton?
I read Powers complete statement or her explanation of why the Obama admin choose abstention versus the usual veto on The Times of Israel. Published by the TOI staff.
Because cheaper energy prices in China, who use coal to fuel their country, makes them a more attractive alternative for setting up production than in the US, where they're banning coal. Lower energy prices in the US means its more affordable for manufacturing in the US.ex-PFC Chuck said in reply to Dubhaltach... , 05 December 2017 at 09:20 AMYou want to see the economy sputter and eventually collapse on the weight of its own welfare commitments to a jobless public? Ban coal, it will get the US there all the quicker.
SR Wood said in reply to Dubhaltach... , 05 December 2017 at 09:35 AMIf ever there was an institution that illustrates the dictum that "absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely" the Catholic church in Ireland is it.When Lord Acton uttered this famous quote, he was referring specifically to Pope Pius IX and his minions as they were ramming through the approval of doctrine of papal infallibility at the Vatican I Council. In violation of the precedents of Canon Law, free expression on the part of the bishops and other clergy who opposed it was suppressed and the lay Catholic Acton was the de facto leader of what opposition there was.
You mean the popular BBC series Ballykissangel was just looking at 60's Ireland through rose colored glasses. Darn!Greco , 05 December 2017 at 09:47 AMHe's set to leave according to rumours, but I think Flynn will give up Kushner in exchange. Kushner's lawyers will attack Flynn's credibility, since Flynn plead guilty to lying. Unlike Flynn, Kushner can afford very good lawyers and beat the case. I imagine Kushner will take the flack for ordering Flynn, thus "exonerating" Trump of any potential wrongdoing regardless of whether Trump did in fact order Flynn or not. And I don't see Kushner being exposed as some kind of Israeli operative, not while Zucker, Lack, Rhodes and others head major corporate news networks.LeaNder said in reply to John_Frank ... , 05 December 2017 at 09:50 AMThanks Frank, have been missing "the Dersh". Bias alert: I was highly pleased that a South African case in which he seems to have been involved as legal adviser has taken a different turn recently.Steve G said in reply to Dubhaltach... , 05 December 2017 at 11:19 AMBut strictly in our present context, I wondered too. My nitwit take: Considering we live in a 'democratic' society wouldn't we either as simple humans or collectively representing some interest groups have been quite free to lobby to change the vote too?
If we at least 'theoretically' are, then neither Flynn nor Kushner can have done anything wrong.
Dubhaltachjsn -> confusedponderer... , 05 December 2017 at 12:50 PM
Grew up in a Polish Catholic neighborhood. I attended
public school where as the majority of the kids went
to the now renamed Pope John Paul II school within
the church. Had to fight my way home and on the
local school yard a half a block where I lived too
many times to remember. The boys seemed the meanest
group I had ever encountered. Later learned the nuns
were ruthless disciplinarians as well as the " brothers"
who taught high school.
And yes the Pope did visit the school.Confusedponderer,John_Frank , 05 December 2017 at 03:03 PM
I agree with almost all of what you wrote here, in addition, entrapment was Muellers expertise at FBI: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-fbi-entrapment-is-inventing-terrorists-and-letting-bad-guys-off-the-hook-20120515 Which looks to be what he is up to now for an obstruction charge against the Donald: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/454311/mueller-strategy-obstruction-justice-investigation-leading-impeachmentWhat information Trump has on Clinton with regards to Russian uranium stock purchase and the Clinton Foundation is critical here as this Clinton Cluster**** happened on Mueller's watch at FBI and could make him look both partisan and corrupt.
On a somewhat related basis, this morning the media was reporting that Mueller had subpoenaed records from Deutsche Bank.Croesus said in reply to LeaNder... , 05 December 2017 at 03:23 PM1. Read for example this piece by Reuters:
Deutsche Bank gets subpoena from Mueller on Trump accounts: source
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-deutsche-bank/deutsche-bank-gets-subpoena-from-mueller-on-trump-accounts-source-idUSKBN1DZ0XNHowever, according to John Roberts of Fox News:
Fox News John Roberts: Mueller has NOT issued a subpoena for Deutsche Bank
https://t.co/vy6NRdvi77According to the Reuters report, the reason that Mueller wanted to see certain records are two fold:
"A U.S. official with knowledge of Mueller's probe said one reason for the subpoenas was to find out whether Deutsche Bank may have sold some of Trump's mortgage or other loans to Russian state development bank VEB or other Russian banks that now are under U.S. and European Union sanctions.
Holding such debt, particularly if some of it was or is coming due, could potentially give Russian banks some leverage over Trump, especially if they are state-owned, said a second U.S. official familiar with Russian intelligence methods.
"One obvious question is why Trump and those around him expressed interest in improving relations with Russia as a top foreign policy priority, and whether or not any personal considerations played any part in that," the second official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
A source close to Deutsche Bank said the bank had run checks on Trump's financial dealings with Russia.
During his election campaign, Trump said he would seek to improve ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which were strained during President Barack Obama's administration.
There was no immediate response to the Deutsche Bank subpoena from Trump's lawyers.
The subpoena was earlier reported by German daily Handelsblatt."
To repeat, according to one unnamed US official, Mueller wants to know:
"One obvious question is why Trump and those around him expressed interest in improving relations with Russia as a top foreign policy priority, and whether or not any personal considerations played any part in that," the second official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
So, wanting to have better relations with Russia is now a crime?
2. As to Bloomberg, this morning, Jennifer Jacobs tweeted:
Deutsche Bank management is ready to share information about the lender's dealings with Trump, a bank executive told Bloomberg.
https://twitter.com/JenniferJJacobs/status/938033568198033413She did that after posting a link to this article with the headline in her tweet:
Mueller investigation goes after Trump's bank records.
https://twitter.com/JenniferJJacobs/status/938018356476727296Mueller Subpoenas Trump Deutsche Bank Records
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-05/deutsche-bank-is-said-to-have-received-subpoena-on-client-trump3. Also, if John Roberts is correct, (and I suspect that he is) that no subpoena has been issued, has not the reputation of Reuters and Bloomberg been blown up by their reporting?
It looks like someone is seeking to "shape the narrative" with misleading reporting.
Perhaps "nitwit" is not the word you're looking for; that word is demeaning. You might be looking for something more like, "from my limited understanding," or, "as clearly as I can figure it out . . ."Laura said in reply to Greco... , 05 December 2017 at 03:50 PM"Nitwit" just means, "i'm scatterbrained and dumb," and you are not that.
Greco -- I'll bet Kushner is the one they love to hate...someone is going to give him up because of who he is married to. They can't go after her, but they can sure do him in.Babak Makkinejad said in reply to Croesus... , 05 December 2017 at 04:07 PM"Sacraficial zink."
I agree with this.Fred -> Dubhaltach... , 05 December 2017 at 04:30 PMBut I have my doubts about her being a German; or else they do not teach anything useful in the gymnasia.
Dubhaltach,Fred -> John_Frank ... , 05 December 2017 at 04:33 PM"this pattern of institutionalised savagery ..."
I am reliably informed by multiple US Senators that 1 in 5 women on college campuses in the US are sexually assaulted. There are zero warnings posted on any of them; zero university presidents have been fired because of this particular version of "instutionalized" savagery. Zero of these senators nor the president from the same political party have called for a "statutory Tribunal of Enquiry" - yet. However there is a fine campaign to create a narrative about male sexuality. "Toxic Masculinity". Today's edition of USA Today has a page and a half contribution to same. I am shocked, just shocked, that the author, Jessica Guynn, made zero mention of Senator (((Franken))) or Harvey (((Weinstein))) or just what political party they belong to. Who - Whom is still a question forbidden in the mainstream media. All of which has nothing to do with the topic of the thread.John Frank,John_Frank -> Fred... , 05 December 2017 at 04:49 PMDid you miss that ABC News suspending Brian Ross for his last fake news report about the Trump investigation?
No.John_Frank -> John_Frank ... , 05 December 2017 at 04:52 PMMore from John Roberts of Fox News:Keith Harbaugh said in reply to Fred... , 05 December 2017 at 07:21 PMOn the record from @realDonaldTrump attorney @JaySekulow - NO SUBPOENA TO DEUTSCHE BAN
https://twitter.com/johnrobertsFox/status/938144926956695552
How difficult is it for members of the press to trot on down to the Federal District Court in Washington, D.C. and check the court records?
Fred, and others:LeaNder said in reply to Croesus... , 06 December 2017 at 09:38 AM
As usual, I intended to "Preview" that comment before posting it.
I was working fast, and after entering the draft text,
with a number of embedded carriage returns,
(like those in this comment),
I entered my name and email address,
then intended to Preview the message.
Unfortunately, working fast and without thinking, I again hit "Enter" (on the keyboard) after entering the email address,
rather than clicking on "Preview".
That keyboard "Enter", outside of the text entry box,
posted the offending comment.
Very sorry; I apologize.
Thanks to FB Ali for closing the guilty HTML tag
(his reply is where the bolding currently ends).
And thanks to Col. Lang for accepting the comment.
Croesus, thanks for the linguistic support, appreciated.LeaNder said in reply to Babak Makkinejad... , 06 December 2017 at 09:47 AMFact is, I love the word wit. For longer now, for reasons that would take to long to explain. Wit, (Witz), nitwit? Thus almost naturally I love nitwit too. Just as I like Shakespeare's fools or jesters. ... Dimwit? Fool? Stupid (as noun)?
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nitwit
But yes, absolutely no doubt it could be an insult or at least demeaning. But also if I use it as signifier for myself?
Strictly, it would be more complex to explain but this partly triggered it, a part of a comment I stumbled across here was at the back of my mind to. Thus a bit scatterbrained? Not always completely focused. Without any doubt. The evidence:
The Big Dersh: "I predicted the deal with Flynn," he said, offering an example of his predictive capacities. "Not because I am smarter, but because I am more objective."
Did you follow John Frank's links to Slate's Isaac Chotiner, the linked Slate article The Dersh mistook as written by Isaac too and beyond? Was an interesting journey.
Babak, remember not my fault, the Diocletian Line! Useful, useless.Babak Makkinejad said in reply to Fred... , 06 December 2017 at 09:47 AMYou live in Michigan, how many such cases are there at Ferris, Grand Valley, MSU, Oakland, Wayne, UofM, Central, Mich Tech, Western Michigan?
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Aug 27, 2017 | www.informationclearinghouse.info
Trump is fond of boasting about "his" generals. But over the short course of his presidency's first months, the possession and control have reversed themselves. Mattis, McMaster, and Kelly have banished all opposition and now pour the neo-con agenda straight into Trump's ear.By Whitney Webb
August 27, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - WASHINGTON – The U.S., long known for its meddling in the affairs of other nations, also has a long and sordid history of supporting military juntas abroad, many of which it forced into power through bloody coups or behind-the-scenes power grabs. From Greece in the 1960s to Argentina in the 1980s to the current al-Sisi-led junta in Egypt , Washington has actively and repeatedly supported such undemocratic regimes despite casting itself as the world's greatest promoter of "democracy."
Finally in 2017, karma appears to have come back to roost, as the current presidential administration has now effectively morphed into what is, by definition , a military junta. Though the military-industrial complex has long directed U.S. foreign policy, in the administration of President Donald Trump a group of military officers has gathered unprecedented power and, for all intents and purposes, rules the country.
Three generals at the center of power
In a recent article in The Washington Post , titled "Military Leaders Consolidate Power In Trump Administration," Post reporters Robert Costa and Philip Rucker noted that "At the core of Trump's circle is a seasoned trio of generals with experience as battlefield commanders: White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and national security adviser H.R. McMaster. The three men have carefully cultivated personal relationships with the president and gained his trust."
"This is the only time in modern presidential history when we've had a small number of people from the uniformed world hold this much influence over the chief executive," John E. McLaughlin, a former acting director of the CIA who served in seven administrations, told the Post . "They are right now playing an extraordinary role."
This role, however, appears to reach beyond "extraordinary". Although Trump is fond of calling them "my generals," they now, Costa and Rucker report, "manage Trump's hour-by-hour interactions and whisper in his ear – and those whispers, as with the decision this week to expand U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, often become policy." Another Washington Post article, published last Tuesday, led with the headline "The Generals Have Trump Surrounded."
Also notable is the fact that this trio of generals has overseen the firing of more independent, "outsider" voices, notably Derek Harvey and Steve Bannon. Bannon, in particular, was a thorn in the side of the generals, in light primarily of his staunch opposition to the American "empire project" and new wars abroad. Bannon had opposed Trump's strike against Syria, troop surges in Iraq, and the dropped hint of a "military option" to deal with the crisis in Venezuela. The New York Times referred to McMaster as Bannon's "nemesis in the West Wing," precisely due to McMaster's commitment to American empire building.
With Bannon's relatively recent departure, the tone of the Trump administration – now unequivocally ruled by "the generals" – has changed significantly -- as illustrated by Trump's decision to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan, a measure both Bannon and Trump himself once opposed.
In addition, last Thursday, Politico published a report detailing the control exercised by Kelly over the president, as he personally vets "everything" that comes across Trump's desk. Politico referenced two memos that laid out a system "designed to ensure that the president won't see any external policy documents, internal policy memos, agency reports and even news articles that haven't been vetted."The Hill further noted that Kelly is also "keeping a tight leash" on who gets to meet directly with the President in the Oval Office, which is now strictly appointment-only and also dependent upon Kelly's approval.
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Aug 24, 2017 | www.moonofalabama.org
48"...At the core of Trump's circle is a seasoned trio of generals with experience as battlefield commanders: White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and national security adviser H.R. McMaster...."
These three basically complete the militarization of the executive branch and the Political Elites. They've all pushed for or have been intimately involved in wars in which the US has lost or never been able to 'win'. This is Trump's best and the brightest
Kelly: In 2002, Kelly again served with the 1st Marine Division, this time as the assistant division commander. Much of Kelly's two-year assignment was spent deployed in Iraq. In March 2003, while in Iraq, Kelly was promoted to brigadier general..... later, he served as the commanding general of the Multi-National Force West in Iraq from February 2008 to February 2009....Mattis: During the initial planning for the War in Afghanistan, Mattis led Task Force 58 in operations in the southern part of the country; In May 2004, Mattis ordered the 3:00 a.m. bombing of a suspected enemy safe house near the Syrian border, which later came to be known as the Mukaradeeb wedding party massacre, and which resulted in the deaths of 42 civilians; Mattis played key roles in combat operations in Fallujah, including negotiation with the insurgent command inside the city during Operation Vigilant Resolve in April 2004, as well as participation in planning of the subsequent Operation Phantom Fury in November; responsible for American military operations in the Middle East, Northeast Africa, and Central Asia, from August 11, 2010, to March 22, 2013; etc etc
In other words, Mattis is responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity during the destruction of Fallujah.....
H.R. McMaster: Director of the Combined Joint Interagency Task Force-Shafafiyat at the International Security Assistance Force Headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan... He is known for his roles in the Gulf War, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. From August 2007 to August 2008 McMaster was part of an "elite team of officers advising US commander" General David Petraeus on counterinsurgency operations (perhaps known as how to kill Iraqis who resisted the US invasion and occupation)
Carol Davidek-Waller | Aug 24, 2017 3:13:23 PM | 30
What you are saying is that General Jack D Ripper is now president and Dr. Strangelove is Trump's top security advisor?
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Aug 23, 2017 | original.antiwar.com
The Mini-Skirt Deception: How McMaster Got His Afghan 'Surge'
A photo of Soviet era Afghanistan won Trump over
by Justin Raimondo Posted on August 23, 2017 August 22, 2017 According to reports , Gen. H. R. McMaster convinced President Trump to give up his longstanding opposition to the Afghan war by showing him this photograph, below, of Afghan women in what the media are describing as "miniskirts." As the Washington Post put it:"One of the ways McMaster tried to persuade Trump to recommit to the effort was by convincing him that Afghanistan was not a hopeless place. He presented Trump with a black-and-white snapshot from 1972 of Afghan women in miniskirts walking through Kabul, to show him that Western norms had existed there before and could return."
The irony is that, in 1972, when this photo was taken on the grounds of Kabul University, Afghanistan was firmly in the orbit of the Soviet Union, as it had been since 1953, when Prime Minister Mohammed Daoud Khan rose to power and instituted a series of progressive reforms, including equal rights for women. The next year, Khan deposed King Mohammed Zahir Shah, and Soviet aid poured in, alongside the Red Army.
More irony: it was the United States, alongside Washington's then-ally Osama bin Laden, that overthrew the communist regime, and conducted a guerrilla war against the Afghan government and their Soviet sponsors. The last Soviet troops left in 1989 -- and there were no more miniskirts to be seen anywhere in Afghanistan.
Gen. McMaster knows all this: our President does not. Does McMaster think he can bring communism back to Afghanistan? I jest, but with serious intent. Because the commies attempted what our President has vowed not to do in Afghanistan: they sought to create a nation out of a collection of mountain-guarded valleys, isolated bastions untouched by time or the vaunted ambitions of their many would-be conquerors.
Here is Trump , trying to justify the prolongation of the longest war in our history:
"I am here to talk about tonight, that nearly 16 years after September 11 attacks, after the extraordinary sacrifice of blood and treasure, the American people are weary of war without victory.
"Nowhere is this more evident than with the war in Afghanistan, the longest war in American history – 17 years. I share the American people's frustration. I also share their frustration over a foreign policy that has spent too much time, energy, money, and most importantly, lives trying to rebuild countries in our own image instead of pursuing our security interests above all other considerations."
How to reconcile this abjuration of hubris with that photo of mini-skirted Afghan women? It can't be done, but then again Trump is all about contradictions:
"Shortly after my inauguration, I directed Secretary of Defense Mattis and my national security team to undertake a comprehensive review of all strategic options in Afghanistan and South Asia.
"My original instinct was to pull out, and historically I like following my instincts. But all my life, I have heard that decisions are much different when you sit behind the desk in the oval office. In other words, when you are president of the United States."
Has such a confession of betrayal ever been uttered by a public figure? For years he told us Afghanistan was a waste of lives and treasure, and that we had to get out. And now he's flip-flopped because McMaster showed him a photo of Afghan women in mini-skirts! Oh, how easy it was – too easy!
"So I studied Afghanistan in great detail and from every conceivable angle," he claims. Really? Did he study it enough to realize that no one has ever conquered Afghanistan? Did he contemplate the storied history of that unforgiving land, which caused even Alexander the Great to turn back? Did he study the provenance and context of that photograph, in which Afghan women dared to show their knees?
Of course not!
"After many meetings over many months," Trump continued,
"[W]e held our final meeting last Friday at Camp David with my cabinet and generals to complete our strategy. I arrived at three fundamental conclusions about America's core interests in Afghanistan.
"First, our nation must seek an honorable and enduring outcome worthy of the tremendous sacrifices that have been made, especially the sacrifices of lives. The men and women who serve our nation in combat deserve a plan for victory. They deserve the tools they need and the trust they have earned to fight and to win."
What is the moral meaning of this? That lives wasted in a futile crusade must be matched by yet more sacrifices on the altar of the war god? We are told that Trump met with five enlisted soldiers before making his decision to go along with the generals' war plan: I'd like to know what they said. The White House won't tell us.
From this moral inversion Trump descends into an inversion of the facts:
"Second, the consequences of a rapid exit are both predictable and unacceptable. 9/11, the worst terrorist attack in our history, was planned and directed from Afghanistan because that country by a government that gave comfort and shelter to terrorists. A hasty withdrawal would create a vacuum that terrorists, including ISIS and al Qaeda, would instantly fill, just as happened before September 11."
The 9/11 terrorist attacks were planned and directed from Hamburg, Germany , and right here in the United States – indeed, not too far from Mar-a-Lago -- not Afghanistan. This "safe haven" argument is so tattered and overused that it comes apart under the most cursory inspection. And what are we to make of someone who describes ending a 16-year war as "a hasty withdrawal"?
We are then treated to the myth of "victory denied in Iraq," which attributes the rise of ISIS to US withdrawal from Iraq – when it reality ISIS was created by our "ally" Saudi Arabia and the Arab sheikhs of the Gulf states who have funded and encouraged their co-co-religionists in the Sunni-versus-Shi'ite civil war that has sundered the Muslim world. And of course there would be no ISIS if not for the invasion of Iraq – but even Trump knows this quite well.
Drifting off into vague threats against Pakistan, Trump reiterates his determination to solve "big and intricate problems." But how? How will it be different, this time?
"As a result of our comprehensive review, American strategy in Afghanistan and South Asia will change dramatically in the following ways: A core pillar of our new strategy is a shift from a time-based approach to one based on conditions. I've said it many times, how counterproductive it is for the United States to announce in advance the dates we intend to begin or end military operations.
"We will not talk about numbers of troops or our plans for further military activities. Conditions on the ground, not arbitrary timetables, will guide our strategy from now on. America's enemies must never know our plans or believe they can wait us out."
A child could see through this rodomontade. Because unless we intend to stay in Afghanistan forever, what is to prevent the Taliban from simply waiting us out? We have to leave sometime. So what is the purpose of this vow of silence? It is simply to keep the truth from the American people. We won't know how many troops are in Afghanistan, nor will we know when more are sent in: it's all to be conducted under the radar, so that Trump's voters – who took seriously his tirades against foreign wars – won't know the extent to which he has betrayed his mandate, and them.
The absurdities accumulate like refuse during a garbage strike:
"We are not nation building again. We are killing terrorists." Yet Gen. McMaster, a disciple of Gen. David Petraeus and his " COINdistas ," are the original nation-builders – aside from the Soviets, that is, from whom they cadged their "strategy."
"We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars, at the same time they are housing the same terrorists that we are fighting. But that will have to change. And that will change immediately." No it won't. Remember when Sen. Rand Paul tried to end US aid to Pakistan? It didn't happen then and it won't happen now.
"As the prime minister of Afghanistan has promised, we are going to participate in economic development to help defray the cost of this war to us." So Afghanistan is going to pay for this war, just like Mexico is going to pay for the Great Wall of Texas! In your dreams, Mr. President.
"Our commitment is not unlimited, and our support is not a blank check." The history of the past 16 years refutes this, as does the content of the President's peroration. Of course we're giving them a blank check: that's because the Afghan government only has such resources as we give to it. And since Trump is refusing to say when or even if we're leaving, then our commitment is indeed potentially unlimited. Does he imagine our Afghan puppets, who are happily stealing us blind, don't know this?
I can't bear to go on cataloging the lies, the contradictions, the flip-flops – it pains me to even think about it, much less write about it. The "America First" foreign policy Trump promised during the campaign is just a memory, and his baffled supporters are left to contemplate the most brazen betrayal in modern American political history.
Yet there are some benefits, here, for anti-interventionists to reap, which may not be readily apparent. Because Trump's supporters, who took seriously his anti-interventionist rhetoric, are now wondering what hit them. They had to go through this experience: betrayal can be enlightening. And we here at Antiwar.com are ready, willing, and able to enlighten them. That is, after all, what we're about.
On step forward, two steps back – this is how progress, however agonizingly slow, is made.
AN IMPORTANT NOTE TO MY READERS
Take heart: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Trump's brazen reversal on Afghanistan and the triumph of the generals is provoking a movement in the opposite direction – the anti-interventionist movement is growing and getting more visible. Many of Trump's supporters are in open rebellion , and we here at Antiwar.com are getting more visibility: check out this Washington Post piece which reads like it was taken from our front page.
We're making progress – but we can't do it without your help. We need your tax-deductible donations to keep Antiwar.com going. Donate today!
Read more by Justin Raimondo The Revolution Betrayed – August 20th, 2017 'Russia-gate' Hoax About To Be Exposed? – August 17th, 2017 Which Way for the Trump Administration? – August 15th, 2017 Don't Say We Didn't Warn You – August 13th, 2017 What Are We To Believe? – August 10th, 2017
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Jul 31, 2017 | www.theamericanconservative.com
Rex Tillerson, formidably accomplished in global business, was nevertheless as much a neophyte as his boss when it came to navigating the policy terrain of the D.C. swamp. As is well known, in building his team he relied on those two neocon avatars, Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice, who had originally promoted his own candidacy for secretary of state. But Rice had been a vocal part of the neocon Never Trump coalition. Her anti-Trump pronouncements included: "Donald Trump should not be president .He doesn't have the dignity and stature to be president." The Washington Post greeted her 2017 book, Democracy: Stories from the Long Road to Freedom , as "a repudiation of Trump's America First worldview."
Thus it wasn't surprising that Rice would introduce Elliott Abrams to Tillerson as an ideal candidate for State's No. 2 position. This would have placed a dyed-in-the-wool neocon hardliner at the very top of the State Department's hierarchy and given him the power to hire and fire all undersecretaries across the vast foreign policy empire. Rice, one of the architects of George W. Bush's failed policies of regime change and nation building, would have consolidated a direct line of influence into the highest reaches of the Trump foreign policy apparatus.
Not only was Abrams' entire career a refutation of Trump's America First foreign policy, but he had spent the previous eighteen months publicly bashing Trump in harsh terms. Cleverly, however, he had not signed either of the two Never Trump letters co-signed by most of the other neocon foreign policy elite. Abrams almost got the nod, except for a last-minute intervention by Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who was armed with every disparaging anti-Trump statement Abrams had made. Examples: "This is a question of character. He is not fit to sit in the chair of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln .his absolute unwillingness to learn anything about foreign policy .Hillary would be better on foreign policy. I'm not going to vote for Trump ."
But Abrams' rejection was the exception. As a high profile globalist-interventionist he could not easily hide his antipathy toward the Trump doctrine. Others, whose track records and private comments were more easily obscured, were waived in by gatekeepers whose mission it was (and remains) to populate State, DoD, and national security agencies with establishment and neocon cadres, not with proven Trump supporters and adherents to his foreign policy.
But how did the gatekeepers get in? Romney may have disappeared from the headlines, but he never left the sidelines. His chess pieces were already on the board, occupying key squares and prepared to move.
Once the president opened the door to RNC chairman Reince Priebus as his chief of staff, to Rex Tillerson at State, to James Mattis as defense secretary, and to H. R. McMaster at NSC, the neocons just walked in. While each of these political and military luminaries may publicly support the president's policies and in some instances may sincerely want to see them implemented, their entire careers have been spent within the establishment and neocon elite. They don't know any other world view or any other people.
Donald Trump ran on an America First foreign policy, repeatedly deriding George W. Bush for invading Iraq in 2003. He criticized Clinton and Obama for their military interventions in Libya and their support for regime change in Syria. He questioned the point of the endless Afghan war. He criticized the Beltway's hostile obsession with Russia while it ignored China's military buildup and economic threat to America.
Throughout the campaign Trump made abundantly clear his foreign policy ethos. If elected he would stop the policy of perpetual war, strengthen America's military, take care of U.S. veterans, focus particularly on annihilating the ISIS caliphate, protect the homeland from Islamist radicalism, and promote a carefully calibrated America First policy.
But, despite this clear record, according to Politico and other Beltway journals, the president has been entreated in numerous White House and Pentagon meetings to sign off on globalist foreign policy goals, including escalating commitments to the war in Afghanistan. These presentations, conducted by H.R. McMaster and others, were basically arguments to continue the global status quo; in other words, a foreign policy that Clinton would have embraced. Brian Hook and Nadia Schadlow were two of the lesser known policy wonks who participated in these meetings, determining vital issues of war and peace.
Brian Hook, head of State Department policy planning, is an astute operative and member in good standing of the neocon elite. He's also a onetime foreign policy adviser to Romney and remains in close touch with him. Hook was one of the founders, along with Eliot Cohen and Eric Edelman, of the anti-Trump John Hay Initiative. Hook organized one of the Never Trump letters during the campaign, and his views are well-known, in part through a May 2016 piece by Julia Hoffe in Politico Magazine. A passage: "My wife said, 'never,'" said Brian Hook, looking pained and slicing the air with a long, pale hand. .Even if you say you support him as the nominee," Hook says, "you go down the list of his positions and you see you disagree on every one."
One might wonder how a man such as Hook could become the director of policy planning and a senior adviser to Rex Tillerson, advising on all key foreign policy issues? The answer is: the Romney network.
Consider also the case of Margaret Peterlin, assigned as a Sherpa during the transition to guide Tillerson through the confirmation process. Another experienced Beltway insider, Peterlin promptly made herself indispensable to Tillerson and blocked anyone who wanted access to him, no matter how senior. Peterlin then brought Brian Hook onboard, a buddy from their Romney days, to serve as the brains for foreign policy while she was serving as the Gorgon-eyed chief of staff.
According to rumor, the two are now blocking White House personnel picks, particularly Trump loyalists, from appointments at State. At the same time, they are bringing aboard neocons such as Kurt Volker, executive director of the McCain Institute and notorious Russia hawk, and Wess Mitchell, president of the neocon Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). As special representative for Ukraine negotiations, Volker is making proclamations to inflame the conflict and further entangle the United States.
Meanwhile, Mitchell, another Romney alumnus and a Brian Hook buddy from the John Hay Initiative, has been nominated as assistant secretary of state for European and Erurasian affairs. Brace yourself for an unnecessary Cold War with Russia, if not a hot one. While Americans may not really care whether ethnic Russians or ethnic Ukrainians dominate the Donbass, these guys do.
Then there's Nadia Schadlow, another prominent operative with impeccable neocon credentials. She was the senior program officer at the Smith Richardson Foundation, where her main job was to underwrite the neocon project by offering grants to the many think tanks in their network. For the better part of a decade she pursued a PhD under the tutelage of Eliot Cohen, who has pronounced himself a "Never Trumper" and has questioned the president's mental health. Cohen, along with H.R. McMaster, provided editorial guidance to Schadlow for her book extolling nation-building and how we can do more of it.
Relationships beget jobs, which is how Schadlow became deputy assistant to the president, with the task, given by her boss H.R. McMaster, of writing the administration's National Security Strategy. Thus do we have a neocon stalwart who wrote the book on nation building now writing President Trump's national security strategy.
How, we might ask, did these Never Trump activists get into such high positions in the Trump administration? And what was their agenda at such important meetings with the President if not to thwart his America First agenda? Put another way, how did Trump get saddled with nearly Mitt Romney's entire foreign policy staff? After all, the American people did not elect Mitt Romney when they had the chance.
Trump is a smart guy. So is Barack Obama. But even Obama, Nobel Peace Prize in hand, could not prevent the inexorable slide to violent regime change in Libya, which resulted in a semi-failed state, tens of thousands killed, and a foothold for Al Queda and other radical Islamists in the Maghreb. He also could not prevent the arming of Islamist rebels in Syria after he had the CIA provide lethal arms strictly to "moderate rebels." Unable or unwilling to disengage from Afghanistan, Obama acquiesced in a series of Pentagon strategies with fluctuating troop levels before bequeathing to his successor an open ended, unresolved war.
Rumors floating through official Washington suggest the neocons now want to replace Tillerson at State with Trump critic and Neocon darling Nikki Haley, currently pursuing a one-person bellicose foreign policy from her exalted post at the United Nations. Not surprisingly, Haley and Romney go way back. As a firm neocon partisan, she endorsed his presidential bid in 2011 .
As UN ambassador, Haley has articulated a nearly incoherent jumble of statements that seem more in line with her own neocon worldview than with Trump's America First policies. Some samples:
"I think that, you know, Russia is full of themselves. They've always been full of themselves. But that's – its more of a façade that they try and show as opposed to anything else."
"What we are is serious. And you see us in action, so its not in personas. Its in actions and its what we do."
"The United States calls for an immediate end to the Russian occupation of Crimea. Crimea is a part of Ukraine. Our Crimea-related sanctions will remain in place until Russia returns control over the peninsula to Ukraine."
One must ask: Is Ambassador Haley speaking on behalf of the Trump administration when she says it is official U.S. policy that Russia, having annexed Crimea, must return it to Ukraine? Is the Russo-American geopolitical relationship to be held hostage indefinitely because in 2014 the people of Crimea voted for their political reintegration into Russia, which they had been part of since 1776?
Since there is as much chance of Russia ceding Crimea back to Ukraine as there is of the United States ceding Texas back to Mexico, does this mean there is no possibility of any meaningful cooperation with Russia on anything else? Not even in fighting the common ominous threat from Islamist radicalism? Has Haley committed the American people to this dead-end policy on her own or in consultation with the President?
On July 14, the Washington Examiner wrote that "Haley's remarks set the tone for Trump's reversal from the less interventionist, 'America First' foreign policy he campaigned on." Little wonder, then, that in a little-noticed victory lap of her own, coinciding with the release of her book, Condoleezza Rice acknowledged the near complete takeover of Trump's foreign policy team. "The current national security team is terrific," she said. She even gave Trump her anointed blessing following their recent White House meeting, during which the septuagenarian schoolboy received the schoolmarm's pat on the head: " He was engaging," she said. "I found him on top of his brief .asking really good questions." That's a far cry from her campaign-season comment about Trump that he "doesn't have the dignity and stature to be president."
American foreign policy seems to be on auto-pilot, immune to elections and impervious to the will of the people. It is perpetuated by an entrenched contingent of neocon and establishment zealots and bureaucratic drones in both the public and private sector, whose careers, livelihoods, and very raison d'etre depend on an unchallenged policy of military confrontation with the prestige, power, and cash flow it generates. Those who play the game by establishment rules are waived in. Those who would challenge the status quo are kept out. This is the so-called Deep State, thwarting the will of President Trump and the people who voted for him.
This isn't merely a story of palace intrigue and revolving chairs in the corridors of power. Brave Americans in the uniform of their country will continue to be sent into far-off lands to intercede in internecine conflicts that have little if anything to do with U.S. national security. Many will return physically shattered or mentally maimed. Others will be returned to Andrews Air Force Base in flag-draped coffins, to be saluted by serial presidents of both parties, helpless to stop the needless carnage.
Ron Maxwell wrote and directed the Civil War trilogy of movies: Gettysburg, Gods and Generals, Copperhead.
Andrew , says: July 30, 2017 at 11:04 pm
This is all very convincing, but the point remains: Trump won and is the one responsible for allowing all these neocons through the door. Had Pat Buchanan won the nomination and the Presidency back in the nineties, does anyone believe he would make the same blunders, and not be equipped to find the right traditional conservatives instead of the establishment DC neocons that try and swamp every GOP Administration now since Reagan? Trump is simply too naive and doesn't have any feel for the political ideologies of all of these people, being not much of a political animal himself. And replacing Priebus with General Kelly isn't likely to change all that. He should be talking to Ann Coulter and Buchanan as unofficial advisers or something.Fran Macadam , says: July 31, 2017 at 12:36 amGlobalism is the twenty-first century euphemism for old fashioned imperialism, now on Wall Street propelled nuclear steroids.KaneV , says: July 31, 2017 at 1:15 amGood God how shallow is the Trump foreign policy bench that the American Con has a director writing in its defense?reelectclaydavis , says: July 31, 2017 at 4:43 amInteresting argument, though you ignore other factors besides the conspiratorial-sounding "Romney network" that account for American interventionist neo-conservatives finding their way back into power: 1) that they are by far the largest group of people available to staff the government because of a) the dominance of aggressive liberal internationalism over more restrained realism in graduate schools which educate these foreign policy specialists; b) an inherent bias of these specialists not to admit that America cannot influence world events (that would be like a social worker who didn't believe s/he could usually mediate conflicts). Also, 2) Trump's alleged non-interventionist beliefs are less well-formed than you imply, you just project on him what you wish to see; a) you ignore his comments about taking the oil of other countries, an idea the neo-conservatives had as a way to pay for operations in Iraq; and b) Beliefs closer to Trump's core: that others not paying their fair share and that America is being taken advantage of, are not incompatible with the American interventions you oppose.polistra , says: July 31, 2017 at 8:13 amYou can't hijack an executive's policy unless the executive is either hopelessly weak or a faker. Doesn't matter which.Dan Stewart , says: July 31, 2017 at 8:23 amThe only good part is that the fake image of a somewhat less warlike "Trump", stirred up by the media to destroy Trump, is actually DOING what a real non-interventionist Trump would have done. EU is breaking away from US control, just as a real antiwar Trump would have ordered it to do.
Great piece. Thank you, Mr. Maxwell. Reading this, I burn with anger -- then a sense of utter futility washes over me. I think history will show that the Trump era was the moment the American people realized that the Deep State is more powerful than the presidency.For Virginia , says: July 31, 2017 at 8:23 amIt's good to see Ron Maxwell published in these pages. I watch Gettysburg at least once a year. And don't think Virginians aren't grateful for Maxwell's role in helping put paid to Eric Cantor's political career.Johann , says: July 31, 2017 at 8:27 amThe rogues' gallery of neocons and apprentice neocons described above is really disturbing. We didn't vote for this. And we don't want it.
Re Nikki Haley, she's already an embarrassment, an ignorant neocon-dependent. She's dragging us down the same old road of anti-Russia hysterics and Middle East meddling. The best that can be said of her presence at the UN is that by putting her there Trump promoted one of his allies into the SC governor's mansion. I don't think he was under any illusions as to her foreign policy knowledge, competence, or commitment to an America First policy. But she's become a vector for neocons to reinfect government, and she needs to be removed.
Neoconism and neoliberalism is like a super-bug infection. None of the anti-biotics are working. We have only one hope left. Rand Paul, the super anti-neocon/neoliberal.SDS , says: July 31, 2017 at 8:46 am"Trump is a smart guy" ..Kurt Gayle , says: July 31, 2017 at 9:03 am
??
If so; why does he not see this happening all around him? Except for his pompous, ignorant, hands-off method of governing, that is . The Emperor has no clothes but doesn't seem to know, nor care that he doesn'tChristopher Layne, Robert M. Gates Chair in National Security, Texas A&M at the American Conservative Conference "Foreign Policy in America's Interest" (Nov 15 2016) said:Kevin , says: July 31, 2017 at 10:13 am"In this country we can talk about resenting elites all we want, but when it comes to making American foreign policy there still is an American foreign policy elite – and it's very powerful. Why has there been no debate? Actually, Michael Mandelbaum, an author with whom I seldom agree on anything, but in his book "The Frugal Superpower" he actually tells you why there's no debate in the foreign policy establishment.
You see, debate is – basically goes from here to there [Dr. Layne puts his two index fingers close together in front of his face], like from the 45-yard-line to the 45-yard-line. And why does it stop there? Because people who try to go down towards the goal line have their union cards taken away. They're kicked out of the establishment. They're not listened to. They're disrespected.
And to be part of the establishment you have to buy into it – to its ideology, to its beliefs system, and that is a very hard thing to break. And so before we all jump up and down and say, "Wow! Donald Trump won! NATO is going to be changed. Our commitments in East Asia are going to change. The Middle East may change!" We'd better take a deep breath and ask ourselves, and I think Will Ruger raised this point on the first panel, where is the counter-elite?
Where is a Trumpian counter-elite that not only can take the senior positions in the cabinet like Defense Secretary and Secretary of State, but be the assistant secretaries, the deputy assistant secretaries, the NSC staffers.
I think that elite doesn't exist right now, and that's a big problem, because the people who are going to be probably still in power are the people who do not agree with the kinds of foreign policy ideas that I think most of us in this room are sympathetic to. So, over time maybe that will change.
Over time maybe a counter-elite will emerge. But in the short term I see very little prospect for all the big changes that most of us are hoping to see, and so for me the challenge that we face is really to find ways to develop this counter-elite than can staff an administration in the future, that has at least what we think are the views that Donald Trump holds."
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/watch-foreign-policy-in-americas-interest/
We're in a new period – a period of learning for President Trump and for those in the administration who back his anti-establishment foreign policy view. And while it is true that (as Chris Layne said) "in the short term I see very little prospect for all the big changes that most of us are hoping to see," as we move into the medium and long term, many of us are hopeful that these big Trumpian foreign policy changes can begin to be made.
Shorter Ron Maxwell: good tsar, evil advisors --Bill Smith , says: July 31, 2017 at 10:24 amThis article is sharply contradicted by an earlier and more informed article in Conservative Review, an outlet with a considerably larger audience than American Conservative. You might want to read that as a corrective to this one. You can find it here: https://www.conservativereview.com/articles/trump-nat-sec-strategy-to-translate-maga-into-foreign-policyHenri James , says: July 31, 2017 at 10:44 amMoney quote:
A senior administration official familiar with the work of Nadia Schadlow, a national security expert brought on to help draft the National Security Strategy, tells CR that she will attempt to produce an NSS as "iconoclastic as our new commander in chief," adding, "the era of milquetoast boilerplate is over."
I do love that in all of these scenarios, Trump is just some innocent moon-eyed man child who can't possibly be expected to think on his own.Charlie , says: July 31, 2017 at 11:27 amThe problem with the neocons is that their ambition vastly exceeds their ability. Neocons developed their minds in the Cold war dealing with a western power, the USSR. The problem is that once one enters the Middle East and Asia one is dealing with languages and cultures of which they [knew] next to nothing. How many speak Arabic, Farsi, Turkish and Urdu such that they understand every nuance of what is said and unsaid?David Skerry , says: July 31, 2017 at 11:51 amWhen dealing with the arabs and many in Afghanistan everything is personnel and this can go back 5 generations and includes hundreds if not thousands of people.
Trump has the common sense not to become involved in that he does not understand.
They come back in boxes while those who sent them to their deaths remain in the bags of the "America Second" group which highjacked our Congress. It's no longer "God Bless America"; it's "God Help America."
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