The Deep State Versus Donald Trump - New Smears And The Ukrainian Connection
UPDATED (3x) (at end of original)
As remarked on January 6:
When Hillary Clinton was defeated in the U.S. presidential election the relevant powers launched a campaign to delegitimize the President elect Donald Trump.The ultimate aim of the cabal is to kick him out of office and have a reliable replacement, like the Vice-President elect Pence, take over. Should that not be possible it is hoped that the delegitimization will make it impossible for Trump to change major policy trajectories especially in foreign policy. A main issue here is the reorientation of the U.S. military complex and its NATO proxies from the war of terror towards a direct confrontation with main powers like Russia and China.
The deep state campaign against Trump opened new grounds today with the publication of completely fake and thereby unverifiable anonymous assertions which include the smear that Trump had some fun in a Moscow hotel and that Russian secret services is using that to manipulate him.
Like many smears against Trump via proxies of the Clinton presidential campaign these new ones seem to origin from Ukraine related sources and Ukrainian "nationalist" (aka fascist) putsch supporters.
The new assertions about Trump come in 35 pages of "reports" by an anonymous (claimed) former British intelligence operator working for a private U.S. company with dates ranging from June 20 2016 to December 13 2016. They say that Russia has some tapes of Trump watching sex games in 2013, they claim that Trump campaign officials coordinated the Clinton campaign leaks with Russia and that the Russian President Putin was highly involved in all of this.
Here is how the claimed former intelligence operator typically describes his sources in these "reports":
Speaking to a trusted compatriot in June 2016 sources A and B, a senior Russian Foreign Ministry figure and a former top level Russian intelligence officer still active inside the Kremlin respectively, the Russian authorities had been cultivating and supporting U.S. Republican presidential candidate, Donald TRUMP for at least five years. Source B asserted that the TRUMP operation was both supported and directed by Russian President Vladimir PUTIN.
The anonymous former British operator hears from an anonymous asserted compatriot what two anonymous sources, asserted to have access to inner Russian circles, claim to have heard somewhere that something happened in the Kremlin.
They assert that Trump was supported and directed by Putin himself five years ago while even a year ago no one would have bet a penny on Trump gaining any political significant position or even the presidency.
There is a lot more of such nonsense in these new Hitler diaries. It is bonkers from a to z.
Neocon senator John McCain, friend of Ukrainian fascists and Trump enemy, passed (<-details) the "report" to the FBI and thereby made it into an official document.
Even as they are obvious fake the FBI tried to use these "reports" to get a wide warrant from the foreign intelligence surveillance (FISA) court to listen in on Trump campaign officials. The court thankfully denied or at least narrowed down the request.
The first "reports" were created as part of the opposition research paid by a Republican candidate running in the primaries against Trump. They were later produced for and paid by the Democratic campaign. They have been shopped around in Washington for several month. The NYT, the WSJ, CNN and the FBI all investigated the assertions in them. Despite those considerable combined capacities they could verify none of them. All publications refrained from publishing the claims during the campaign because there was no evidence at all that supported them. Buzzfeed now pushed these out despite also saying that they have found nothing verifiable in them.
Even worse, the Director of National Intelligence Clapper (who once claimed Saddam's non-existing WMDs were shipped to Syria) presented these to Congress and the president elect Trump as "annex" to his baseless U.S. Intelligence report of "Russian hacking".
A murky preview of the assertions had been given by David Corn in a Mother Jones piece in October. He talked with the said-to-be author of the "reports":
"It started off as a fairly general inquiry," says the former spook, who asks not to be identified. But when he dug into Trump, he notes, he came across troubling information indicating connections between Trump and the Russian government. According to his sources, he says, "there was an established exchange of information between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin of mutual benefit."
The current publication of this full barrel of bullshit comes a day after members of the Trump cabinet have been successfully confirmed by Congress and hours before his long expected press conference. It is thereby destined to overshadow a successful start of the Trump presidency.
There are signs that the "reports" were written with some Ukrainian nationalist and anti-semitic background. Just consider this passage from the July 26 "report":
In terms of the FSB's recruitment of capable cyber operatives to carry out its, ideally deniable, offensive cyber operations, a Russian IT specialist with direct knowledge reported in June 2016 that this was often done using coercion and blackmail. In terms of 'foreign' agents, the FSB was approaching U.S. citizens of Russian (Jewish) origin on business trips in Russia.
Such tropes are typical of the anti-semitic Ukrainian "nationalist" (aka Nazi) narrative. ("All Soviet/Communist ideologues/functionaries are Jews.") Russian services would, unlike Mossad, not recruit IT hackers conditioned on "Jewish" ethnic relations or believe. They would hire anyone competent who they think they could trust.
We have seen more Ukrainian "nationalists" involved in the "Russian hacks" propaganda claims. A July 2016 Yahoo piece by (Clinton campaign mouthpiece) Michael Isikoff wrote:
Just weeks after she started preparing opposition research files on Donald Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort last spring, Democratic National Committee consultant Alexandra Chalupa got an alarming message when she logged into her personal Yahoo email account.
...
Chalupa — who had been drafting memos and writing emails about Manafort’s connection to pro-Russian political leaders in Ukraine — quickly alerted top DNC officials.
...
“I was freaked out,” Chalupa, who serves as director of “ethnic engagement” for the DNC, told Yahoo News in an interview, noting that she had been in close touch with sources in Kiev, Ukraine, including a number of investigative journalists, who had been providing her with information about Manafort’s political and business dealings in that country and Russia.
Chalupa is also somewhat involved with the ProPornOT list, promoted by the Washington Post, of alleged pro-Russian propaganda websites. This website, Moon of Alabama, is also on that list :-) (see at end of piece). (Unfortunately though we have never received a penny, or anything else, from Russian sources, are critical of Putin's neoliberal economic policies and have been plagiarized by the Russian government financed Russia Today without any compensation.) The ProPornOT Twitter account says it is “Ukrainian-American” and it used the Ukrainian fascist salute of the OUN-Bandera killer gangs "Heroiam Slava!" to hail Ukrainian hackers attacking Russia. The ProPornOT list is designed after a Ukrainian model used to smear Ukrainian anti-fascist media and journalists.
Chalupa is a main promoter of the "Russia hacked the Democratic campaign" allegations based on thin if any evidence. She was named by the same Isikoff of Yahoo as one of 16 people who shaped the 2016 election.
Chalupa is also:
founder and president of the Ukrainian lobby group “US United With Ukraine Coalition”, which lobbied hard to pass a 2014 bill increasing loans and military aid to Ukraine, imposing sanctions on Russians, and tightly aligning US and Ukraine geostrategic interests.
Moreover Chalupa coordinated her anti-Trump/anti-Russian campaign with the Ukrainian embassy in Washington DC:
Ukrainian government officials tried to help Hillary Clinton and undermine Trump by publicly questioning his fitness for office. They also disseminated documents implicating a top Trump aide in corruption and suggested they were investigating the matter, only to back away after the election. And they helped Clinton’s allies research damaging information on Trump and his advisers, a Politico investigation found.A Ukrainian-American operative[, Alexandra Chalupa,] who was consulting for the Democratic National Committee met with top officials in the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington in an effort to expose ties between Trump, top campaign aide Paul Manafort and Russia, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation.
One must thereby categorize Chalupa as a Ukrainian agent or at least as naive manipulated by the Ukrainian government and read her accordingly.
The foreign influence on the presidential race through the Ukrainian (fascist) connection to the Clinton campaign is thereby much more grounded in reality than the alleged but completely unproven Russian connections to the Trump campaign.
We have a Ukrainian-American nationalist Democratic campaign operator promoting anti-Russian and anti-Trump claims in cooperation with the Ukrainian government, a Ukrainian-American ProPornOT blacklist for smearing random website of being "Russian propaganda" and Ukrainian fascist tropes used in fact-less "reports" intended to smear Trump as a Russian puppet. Above all of this we have a U.S intelligence community that is feverishly fighting against a Trump presidency which is likely to cut back its many excrescences and excesses.
The CIA, the MI-6 and the German BND (a CIA controlled service) have pampered and promoted the again very active anti-Russian Ukrainian fascist circles since (at least) the late 1940s. A U.S. National Archive book about Hitler's Shadows - Nazi War Criminals, U.S. Intelligence and the Cold War (PDF) notes:
British operations through Bandera expanded. An early 1954 MI6 summary noted that, “the operational aspect of this [British] collaboration [with Bandera] was developing satisfactorily. Gradually a more complete control was obtained over infiltration operations and although the intelligence dividend was low it was considered worthwhile to proceed....”
...
In June 1985 the General Accounting Office mentioned Lebed’s name in a public report on Nazis and collaborators who settled in the United States with help from U.S. intelligence agencies. The Office of Special Investigations (OSI) in the Department of Justice began investigating Lebed that year. The CIA worried that public scrutiny of Lebed would compromise QRPLUMB and that failure to protect Lebed would trigger outrage in the Ukrainian émigré community. It thus shielded Lebed by denying any connection between Lebed and the Nazis and by arguing that he was a Ukrainian freedom fighter. The truth, of course, was more complicated. As late as 1991 the CIA tried to dissuade OSI from approaching the German, Polish, and Soviet governments for war-related records related to the OUN. OSI eventually gave up the case, unable to procure definitive documents on Lebed. Mykola Lebed, Bandera’s wartime chief in Ukraine, died in 1998. He is buried in New Jersey, and his papers are located at the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University.
There is no open evidence yet of a direct connection between the three anti-Russian/anti-Trump items above, the Ukrainian-fascist movement and John Brennan's deep-state CIA. There are consistencies in tone and message, some common history including the 2014 putsch in Ukraine and a connecting Ukrainian-American person in bowels of the Clinton campaign.
But even that is more than the baseless assertions of "Russian hacking" in the DNI intelligence reports and the now published MI-6 smears. Seen from a distance the "Intelligence Community" is more compromised by these "leaks" than the President elect Trump.
It is not predictable who will win this fight, the "deep state" cabal that wants to keep the U.S. on an anti-Russian course or the somewhat outsider isolationist Trump. My bet is on the bullshit artist Trump.
In the bigger international picture the fight itself, and the publicity it gets, lets the U.S. look like the Banana republic it is destined to become.
UPDATE:
The BBC Washington reporter Paul Wood on BBC radio today:
- has seen the "report" in October
- was told in August by U.S. intelligence that East-European(!) intelligence head claimed Russia had kompromat on Trump
- there are allegedly audio and video tapes made in Moscow and Petersberg which nobody has seen
We are left to guess what "east-European intelligence" service he was talking about ...
2nd UPDATE:
There are claims that the Trump sex story involved in the 35 pages originates from alt-right or 4chan circles.
That does not fit the timeline.
The "reports" have circulated since August. The sex claim is an July part of the report. The 4chan story originated in November (as far as I can tell) and was pushed from 4chan to one political actor aligned with the Democratic party. But that was old news by then and everyone relevant was already aware of the story. It is very likely that the 4chan story was just a rehash of the already known "report" story and has no additional validity.
3rd UPDATE:
BBC's Paul Wood has more on the issue: Trump 'compromising' claims: How and why did we get here?
- Nothing in the 35 pages has been shown to be true
- There are additional claims of Russian (bank) payments to someone (not Trump directly but probably related) in the U.S.
- The payment claims were used to get FISA warrants which were twice rejected(!) but in October signed by a new judge
- The payment claims come from the secret service of "a Baltic State"
Other news services seem to mix up these payment claims with those in the 35 pages. But they are different issues.
Yesterday evening DNI Clapper had a talk with Trump - it is unclear from Clapper's statement what issues exactly were talked about. He seems to allude to the payment claims, not the 35 pages.
Posted by b on January 11, 2017 at 12:39 UTC | Permalink
« previous pageGive it a rest circe. all this shit has been disected, bisected and fucked in circels.
It is only the actions that count. We have to wait on that.
Posted by: Peter AU | Jan 13 2017 4:15 utc | 302
@meta mars 299, 'Charles Krauthammer, who I find to be the most insightful commentator on Fox New'
went along with your greenwald ... skipped the rest - tl;dr - after that line on krauthammer ... skimming shows Yet Another Attemp to keep this show going, dragging vladimir putin in himself, no less ...
The Deep State Goes to War with Trump, Using Unverified Claims, as Democrats Cheer
The serious dangers posed by a Trump presidency are numerous and manifest. There are a wide array of legitimate and effective tactics for combatting those threats: from bipartisan congressional coalitions and constitutional legal challenges to citizen uprisings and sustained and aggressive civil disobedience. All of those strategies have periodically proven themselves effective in times of political crisis or authoritarian overreach.But cheering for the CIA and its shadowy allies to unilaterally subvert the U.S. election and impose its own policy dictates on the elected president is both warped and self-destructive. Empowering the very entities that have produced the most shameful atrocities and systemic deceit over the last six decades is desperation of the worst kind. Demanding that evidence-free, anonymous assertions be instantly venerated as Truth — despite emanating from the very precincts designed to propagandize and lie — is an assault on journalism, democracy, and basic human rationality. And casually branding domestic adversaries who refuse to go along as traitors and disloyal foreign operatives is morally bankrupt and certain to backfire on those doing it.
... and certain to backfire on those doing it.
greenwald is trying to talk to the 'progressives' - all of whom seem now to have realized that their livelihood depends on death, devastation, and destruction abroad and spying, dirty tricks and deceit at home - and engage their self-interest in the day after tomorrow.
i don't give a damn about any of them, will be glad to see their heads slip below the waves - better all of them than another single iraqi, afghan, libyan, syrian, ukrainian ... but i take glen greenwald's last line to them and apply it to wall street and its nic/mic amalgam ... may this be the straw that breaks their collective back.
Posted by: jfl | Jan 13 2017 4:26 utc | 304
Peter AU @ 302: You're right, we'll have to wait and see, but, the road signs are up.
Posted by: ben | Jan 13 2017 4:29 utc | 305
One thing that's gone unmentioned/unquestioned is whether any part of this "dossier" were shared with the two sets of operatives" who paid for/commissioned it and/or if they received copies.
The Daily Mail timeline does not match at all reports of people hearing about (or seeing?) various components of the report as long ago as August and -- very suspiciously -- says that "no one" in the halls of power had ever ever every heard of such a report or even rumors. McCain, according to this version, only learned of the report AFTER the election, sent a courier to pick up a copy and then promptly turned it over to the FBI on DECEMBER 9 ... so nobody in government or law enforcement, i.e. with the power to do something, knew nuffing about the dossier until it voting was over and done with ... oh, and MCain apparently never met with Steele, but never said he didn't know him ... About that courier...
The aide was instructed to look for a man with a copy of the Financial Times and that's how the individuals met, with the source taking McCain's emissary back to his house and giving the American a copy of the documents.
Various elements in mysterious contradiction of the Guardian's tick-tock ... but all occurring at a later point in time, after the election. With McCain's temper, I bet few are willing to express doubt or ask for clarification
Republicans (and Democrats) paid a retired Brit spook to solicit dirt on Trump from Russians they paid for information .... Apparently Brit spook did this remotely
Paul Wood of the BBC saw the claims a week before the election and has said so in print. He had heard of them before that
And the former MI6 agent is not the only source for the claim about Russian kompromat on the president-elect. Back in August, a retired spy told me he had been informed of its existence by "the head of an East European intelligence agency".
Later, I used an intermediary to pass some questions to active duty CIA officers dealing with the case file - they would not speak to me directly. I got a message back that there was "more than one tape", "audio and video", on "more than one date", in "more than one place" - in the Ritz-Carlton in Moscow and also in St Petersburg - and that the material was "of a sexual nature".
bbc but he thinks that Steele gave the report to the FBI (against the wishes of "the firm" he worked for) ... lot and lots of careful ass-covering.
I wonder how cliched "golden showers" stories and legendary videos are at this point when the target is a man of a certain age and background.
Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Jan 13 2017 4:34 utc | 306
From Black Agenda Report & Glen Ford:
http://blackagendareport.com/left_must_demand_peace_transformation
Posted by: ben | Jan 13 2017 4:52 utc | 307
@ Posted by: nonsense factory | Jan 12, 2017 8:41:26 PM | 295
Also, I'd guess all of Trump's Cabinet picks are just telling Congress whatever they think Congress wants to hear, and that their statements have almost nothing to do with the agendas they will pursue after being appointed.
Probable 100% correct. IMHO.
They have to, must, are required to, give the appropriate ritualistic responses to the 'Agenda', simply in order to achieve appointment, to be 'confirmed'. what they actually DO, their actions, after confirmation, in a new administration, is a whole 'nother matter.
Most of these picks are Independent, determined, driven 'individuals', and they all know how the 'game' is played. Having said that, only the actions of the new administration and their appointee's is all that counts ... everything else by all, is, mere words.
@ Posted by: Debsisdead | Jan 12, 2017 9:57:55 PM | 296
Please consider viewing interview at 275.
@ Posted by: ToivoS | Jan 12, 2017 11:07:58 PM | 300
Have you viewed 123 sequence & 236 ?
@ Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Jan 12, 2017 11:34:04 PM | 306 &
@ Posted by: juliania | Jan 12, 2017 12:01:53 PM | 252 further followup
The timelines are a false, invalid construct, ass-covering, and polluting dis-information, as 'fed' to the UK press, by Head MI6 IMHO ... see 123 sequence & 236 ...
Peace all
Posted by: Outraged | Jan 13 2017 4:52 utc | 308
Posted by: Circe | Jan 12, 2017 10:20:23 PM | 297
Well, according to Circe, at least.
The trouble with people who deploy multiple paragraphs, each containing dozens of words, to express an idea which could be clearly articulated in a single, short sentence is that they're usually, if not always, attempting to distract, scare, and bamboozle their audience.
Trump and the rest of humanity have just endured 8 long years of extraordinarily disappointing Hopey Changey-ness from a very sincere liar. Despite the Liar-in Chief's best efforts, a lot of people have noticed that whilst Obama says lots of hopey stuff, the Deep State has been doing, and continues to do, the complete opposite. And the Liar-in-Chief pretends not to notice.
Imo, Trump was probably the first person on Earth to notice what a fraud Obama was proving to be and decided, just for fun, to imagine a Less Bad World, and to cook up a plan to do something about it.
The question which doomsayers like Circe seem not to have asked themselves is "How would a reformer navigate his way into the role of POTUS without being involved in a painful collision with the Deep State, on the way to the White House?"
One possible answer to that question is "Exactly what Donald Trump is doing."
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jan 13 2017 5:06 utc | 309
@ all
Believe this has been overlooked AND NOT properly reported throughout MSM. Mis-quoted and mis-represented by the MSM. So, for the record:
US Intelligence chief's statement on Donald Trump Russia dossier leak IN FULL'I expressed my profound dismay at the leaks that have been appearing in the press and we both agreed that they are extremely corrosive and damaging to our national security,' states Mr Clapper
James Clapper said he told Mr Trump the leaked private security company document was “not a US Intelligence Community product”, and described media reports on the allegations as 'corrosive and damaging' AP
The US director of National Intelligence has issued a statement revealing a conversation he has had with Donald Trump about the unsubstantiated report claiming Russia had compromising personal and financial information about him.
Outgoing head of US intelligence James Clapper said he expressed his "profound dismay" about the leaked private security company document, and described media reports on the allegations as “corrosive and damaging”.
He added he told Mr Trump it was “not a US Intelligence Community product” and that the intelligence community had "not made any judgement that the information in this document is reliable".
Below is DNI Clapper's statement in full:
This evening, I had the opportunity to speak with President-elect Donald Trump to discuss recent media reports about our briefing last Friday.
I expressed my profound dismay at the leaks that have been appearing in the press, and we both agreed that they are extremely corrosive and damaging to our national security.
We also discussed the private security company document, which was widely circulated in recent months among the media, members of Congress and Congressional staff even before the IC became aware of it.
I emphasised that this document is not a U.S. Intelligence Community product and that I do not believe the leaks came from within the IC. The IC has not made any judgement that the information in this document is reliable, and we did not rely upon it in any way for our conclusions.
However, part of our obligation is to ensure that policymakers are provided with the fullest possible picture of any matters that might affect national security.
President-elect Trump again affirmed his appreciation for all the men and women serving in the Intelligence Community, and I assured him that the IC stands ready to serve his Administration and the American people.
James R. Clapper, Director of National Intelligence
UNEQUIVOCAL. UNAMBIGUOUS.
Beyond question Formal official declaration by the Head of all IC, Director ODNI
Ponder for a moment & let that sink in ...
Recommend referred to, re discussions with any mis-informed, unaware, or nutjobs/trolls misrepresentations.
I say again : The Official Formal declared statement of the ODNI Director, Tzar of the 17 agency Intelligence Community.
The Dossier, and associated claims, are NOT and NEVER were an "Intelligence Report" formally produced by the IC.
It is a purposely misrepresented fraud and concocted managed Slander in partnership with the MSM, at least rogue elements of the CIA Clandestine Service, corroborated senior & various factions of the DNC, Dems & GOPs, with others such as OUN assets & MI6 UK government, etc, etc
It has been done, as well as the ongoing wider Psyop and covert action campaign on behalf of the Oligarchs and Military-Industrial-Complex of the US, demonstrably irrationally terrified of what may happen to their unbroken ~71 year run at stripping the US of A bare, for profit & power, and the sheeple be damned, or the nation itself for that matter.
Also see sequence starting at 123 & recommend 275 (Succint).
Stepping back from the minutiae of specific events or details, that's my 'holistic' assessment.
Peace
Posted by: Outraged | Jan 13 2017 5:26 utc | 310
@ Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jan 13, 2017 12:06:37 AM | 309
Concur. However consider ...
Simply review the tag-team self-referencing and mutually-supporting posts all the obvious IDs following the same wilful, purposeful, dissembling slanders and partisan mis-representative rhetoric ... they are conducting their own, mini-me-Psyop campaign within MOA, as a subset of the larger campaign, IMHO. And blatantly so ... :(
Posted by: Outraged | Jan 13 2017 5:33 utc | 311
Thanks ben!
@300
Steele also worked with the FBI investigating FIFA corruption.
dailymail MI6 spy FIFA corruption
@309
Trump wasn't the first to notice Obama was a fraud; there were people in line before him. If you bothered to read; I was critical of the Obama administration as well and have been since Obama took office as Dubya-lite.
Trump; the same Trump who chased the birther issue down a dead-end rabbit hole is taking on the deep-state while he's rolling in Adelson's money. Sure. Just don't let your lying eyes deceive you when he proves me right. I'll be around to read your spin when he confirms who his masters are.
Posted by: Circe | Jan 13 2017 5:55 utc | 312
@300 toivo.. your quote " He is also noted for his close contacts with Russian oligarchs that have "retired" to London and Israel in the last 15 years. This makes Steele an unassailable source." that last sentence was a joke right?
Posted by: james | Jan 13 2017 5:59 utc | 313
Ben: Kudos for seeing from the beginning that Trump is more of the same. Also kudos to Circe and to others-- for not converting wishes to reality.
Chipnik: What a terrific summation you made-- "MoAns may now return to fastidious deconstruction of the latest Grand Shiney Object to drop." Made me laugh out loud.
I suppose the powers that shouldn't be needed a distraction sufficientky titillating to smother Pizzagate. Prior to the current titillation I thought I'd already seen the most trivial & sordid at Clarence Thomas' confirmation hearings-- to do with a pubic hair stuck to a returned exam paper.
--
How's this for lawlessness? New rule passed by Congress:
"The tweak allows politicians to conceal any information members produce — even suspicious expenditures and budgets — if the Office of Congressional Ethics or the Department of Justice investigates them for criminal activity, the Center for Responsive Politics reports.
The change essentially makes a member of Congress the owner and sole controller of any records he or she creates, regardless of whether those documents touch on a public interest, such as use of taxpayer funds or the commission of a crime." https://willyloman.wordpress.com/
Posted by: Penelope | Jan 13 2017 6:03 utc | 314
@ Posted by: james | Jan 13, 2017 12:59:02 AM | 313
Being ironic or /snark, one thinks ? Almost certainly ;)
For broader picture, see sequence starting at 123 & recommend 275 (Succint) & 310.
Cheers
Posted by: Outraged | Jan 13 2017 6:11 utc | 315
@ Penelope who wrote about the recent move by the Congress Critters to exclude public scrutiny of any records.
Occasionally I agree with your emphasis on a recent action by our spinning world. That beginning stench of rubber you show us the smell of is from the tires on the American experiment vehicle that is furiously breaking, has just been thrown into reverse, with the gas pedal to be applied on January 21, 2017.
Get in, sit down and buckle up. You won't be driving and it will be a wild ride that probably won't end well.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 13 2017 6:23 utc | 316
Posted by: Circe | Jan 13, 2017 12:55:21 AM | 312
You seem to have forgotten that the Deplorables who voted Trump into power did so because they realised they'd been tossed unceremoniously into the "fool me twice, shame on me" dumpster by Obama.
It doesn't matter much whether Trump was the first, second, or third to notice that Obama was a fraud. He noticed early enough to give himself almost 8 years to plan his SUCCESSFUL campaign to become POTUS - and made it look easy...
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jan 13 2017 6:46 utc | 317
@ Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jan 13, 2017 1:46:37 AM | 317
Touché.
Posted by: Outraged | Jan 13 2017 7:28 utc | 318
@310 or, '... a purposely misrepresented fraud and concocted managed Slander in partnership with the MSM, at least rogue elements of the CIA Clandestine Service ...'
how can you tell the 'rogue elements of the cia clandestine service' from any other element of the cia? the root business of the cia is 'purposely misrepresented fraud and concocted managed Slander' ... well, when they're not running coups and assassinating presidents.
Posted by: jfl | Jan 13 2017 8:11 utc | 319
With bipartisan support, Trump defense nominee outlines plans for global war
General James “Mad Dog” Mattis, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, used his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday to outline an aggressive war policy, designate Russia and China as enemies and call for a dramatic expansion of military spending, including the “modernization” of nuclear weapons and expansion of cyberwarfare.All of those present—Democrats and Republicans alike—heaped praise on Mattis during the three-and-one-half hour hearing. Not a single senator asked the nominee how he might scale down US wars, which are currently raging in several countries. Instead, senators vied with each other in appealing to Mattis to identify threats to “national security” that will be immediately confronted by the Trump administration.
No senator, including the supposedly “left” Democrat Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, asked the retired Marine General about his record in the occupation of Iraq, where he was implicated in war crimes. Mattis led the savage Marine counteroffensive that retook the Iraqi city of Fallujah in December 2004, and he ordered an air strike that year against a wedding party in which over 40 civilians were killed. Nor was he challenged about a public speech he made in which he stated it was “fun” to kill some people.
Until Thursday, Mattis was not legally eligible to be defense secretary. Federal law prevents selecting any individual who has been out of the military for less than seven years, a rule designed to protect the democratic principle of military subordination to the elected civilian government. Immediately after the hearing, the Armed Services Committee voted 24-3 to waive the law for Mattis, who retired from active command only three years ago, after which he assumed a seat on the corporate board of defense contracting giant General Dynamics. The US Senate quickly followed, voting 81-17 in favor of the waiver.
tee-rump's peacemaker. just like a colt-45.
Posted by: jfl | Jan 13 2017 9:24 utc | 320
@ Posted by: jfl | Jan 13, 2017 3:11:03 AM | 319
at least rogue elements of the CIA Clandestine Service
Nuance, dear jfl, one tries to avoid absolutes or monolithics, when not rushed ...
Do you have any familiarity with the structure & roles/responsibilities ? The Clandestine Service is where all the covert/action lads are. Being especially fond, since the days of the OSS and thence the CIA, of, action ...
See sequence of posts starting at 123 ...
Posted by: Outraged | Jan 13 2017 9:28 utc | 321
@ Posted by: jfl | Jan 13, 2017 4:24:18 AM | 321
If he had stated anything else, would he have been confirmed, his legal invalidity waived ?
The actions post 20th will be what matters ... not acceding to the ritualistic 'required' declarations ... in order to attain confirmation, and therefore leaving that particular hurdle forevermore, behind, no ?
The 100 days post 20th will tell the tale, for good, bad, or neutral, depending on perspective ...
Posted by: Outraged | Jan 13 2017 9:38 utc | 322
"Baltic, Polish, Swedish and other european neocons trying to divide Russia/US in open letter to Trump"
Posted by: Anonymous | Jan 13 2017 9:55 utc | 323
@322 or,
the 'clandestine', operations wing of the cia is the only one that counts. 'analysis' is just there as window dressing. the people who run the 'intelligence community' pay no attention them, knowing they are there just for us rubes, for show, a potemkin village ...
Journalism and Pornography: Real Crime is Always Organized
[I]n 1945, the US government had demobilized its military and having emerged from the Second World War unscathed was trying to determine how to save its economy from a return to the pre-war depression. The intellectual elite of the US regime had already begun to warn that both domestic stability and US dominance in the world would be jeopardised if the regime did not maintain at least the level of armaments expenditure required during the war that had just ended. However, there was no publicly defensible reason for permanent wartime footing. There were no more Native Americans to annihilate; despite the abolition of slavery Negroes were still well under control. The only country even approaching the US in military strength — the USSR — had been so devastated by the war that it would be decades before it could pose a genuine competitive threat. In other words, having pacified the world with atomic weapons and the blood of 30 million Soviet citizens, the US elite had no honest justification for the policy they were about to undertake.The National Security Act of 1947 created the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, and what was first called the “National Military Establishment” — later renamed the Department of Defense. Given the fact that the international criminal court constituted to try war crimes in Nuremberg proclaimed the commencement of a war of aggression to be the ultimate war crime under international law, it ought to be clear that the legislation passed by the Congress in July of 1947 was tantamount to the establishment of a permanently organized war crimes establishment in the United States of America. The creation of the three executive instruments by which the US corporate elite in Congress delegated the powers to declare war under their own charter (aka US Constitution) made the entire US regime an organized criminal conspiracy because the permanent state of war thus created in and of itself was an act of aggression in the very form condemned at Nuremberg — and for which those not particularly favored by that regime were hanged or imprisoned.
It is within this legislatively mandated criminal enterprise that one has to understand the origins, purpose and function of the Central Intelligence Agency. The 1947 legislation chartered the CIA as an instrument of the National Security Council. On the tacit assumption that the US regime is in a permanent state of war — despite occasional suggestions to the contrary — the National Security Council constitutes something like a permanent war cabinet. The war cabinet has its weapons of mass destruction (the armed forces) but because this “cabinet” is composed of bureaucrats, academics, professional politicians, businessmen and assorted charlatans in the train of the reigning president there is need for an espionage organization which, in theory, tells these ministers when, where and how to wage war most advantageously. That is the official reason why the criminal cabinet needs spies.
@323
if it looks like a duck, and talks like a duck, and walks like a duck ... it's a duck. i'll wait to be shown otherwise, but it's a duck as far as i can see.
there is not a dime's worth of difference between the two wings of the war party ... get a load of elizabeth warren ...
“Russia wants to promote its security through instability…trying to create a sphere of unstable states along the periphery,” Warren said. “As defense secretary, when it comes to the threats posed by Russia, will you advocate for your views frankly and forcefully to the president to speak about these threats and the need to take them seriously?” Mattis affirmed that he would. “We are counting on you,” pleaded the liberal senator.
... totally inverting reality. from massachusetts, home of the Mic Institute of Technology.
the sign over the gates to ac/dc says, "abandon ye all hope who enter here". and that's the answer. our salvation, should we elect it, will come from everyplace in the usa but ac/dc. the question is, will we elect it?
Posted by: jfl | Jan 13 2017 10:28 utc | 324
@325,
... from the same link ...
Also Thursday, the Senate Intelligence Committee held hearings for Trump’s nominee to head the Central Intelligence Agency, Mike Pompeo, a former Tea Party Caucus Congressman from Kansas with close ties to the multibillionaire Koch brothers. It is also expected that the Pompeo nomination will be ratified with little resistance from Democrats.Pompeo’s testimony was notable for its belligerent posture toward Russia. He upheld the US spy agencies’ report of hacking, though that report contained not a shred of evidence and was previously questioned by Trump.
“With respect to this report in particular, it’s pretty clear about what took place here, about Russian involvement in efforts to hack information and to have an impact on American democracy,” Pompeo said. “This was an aggressive action taken by senior leadership inside of Russia.” Pompeo also accused Russia of “invading and occupying Ukraine, threatening Europe, and doing nothing to aid in the destruction and defeat of ISIS.”
Pompeo is a chipher. like obama. a suit to front the fantasy cia to the congress and to us rubes.
Posted by: jfl | Jan 13 2017 10:31 utc | 325
Glenn Greenwald: Democrats hoping intelligence agencies will 'undermine and subvert' Trump presidency
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/01/13/glenn-greenwald-democrats-hoping-intelligence-agencies-will-undermine-and-subvert-trump-presidency.html
Shout out to Gleen Greenwald too, making a big favor to us all fake-news days.
Posted by: Anonymous | Jan 13 2017 10:41 utc | 326
I am not so sure of the veracity of the Trump "Russian Dossier", but I wouldn't be surprised if a dossier existed sourced from Jeffrey Epstein's "teen paradise" in the Caribbean and perhaps shown to Trump.
Posted by: mrm | Jan 13 2017 11:14 utc | 327
RESIGN, YOU BLOODY SCOUNDREL!
I would have expected Sir Alex Younger, boss of MI6 to have resigned by now. Or at least offered a public apology to president-elect Donald J. Trump, stating that the "dirty dossier" of fake reports by MI6 agent Christopher Steele is disinformation and a fabrication.
It is unlikely that MI6 would have started this disinformation operation without the approval of CIA. It is impossible that Steele would have acted without orders from Sir Alex. Other sources hint that Christopher Steele has lead the disinformation campaign against Russia and Putin for years.
***
Key points from an article in the Daily Mail today:
Sir Andrew Wood 'who revealed dirty dossier' an ex-MI6 man made about Trump defends his role• The former British spy behind the 'dirty' Donald Trump dossier has been cut off by MI6 and bosses believe he is an 'idiot'.
• Current MI6 boss Sir Alex Younger is said to be livid that Steele agreed to take on the work and has caused worldwide embarrassment to British secret services.
• Other spies believe that he has fallen into a Kremlin trap and was fed false information about Trump and extraordinary claims he was filmed paying prostitutes to do a 'golden shower' sex game on a presidential suite bed once slept on by Barack Obama.
• One senior intelligence source called him 'an idiot' and told The Sun: 'Chris should never have accepted this bit of work.
'It was always going to come out at some stage, as was his involvement with it, and that is deeply embarrassing to the service.'
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Jan 13 2017 11:30 utc | 328
@ Posted by: Petri Krohn | Jan 13, 2017 6:30:07 AM | 329
Our sub-contracted Ex(?)-MI6 operative, Christopher Steele, is a life long MI6 career colleague and personal friend of the current Head of MI6. The Head of MI6, if anyone has followed old news (his Public Press conference, 1st ever for MI6) is an unreconstructed rabid Cold War 1.0 Warrior who wants War with Russia.
For further details see my 202 & 236 previous posts ...
Posted by: Outraged | Jan 13 2017 11:43 utc | 329
Operation Mass Appeal.
How MI6 spies planted false reports in the press (as of Iraq war)
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/819707186620276736
Posted by: Anonymous | Jan 13 2017 11:50 utc | 330
Circe@ 297 says:
In other words we literally traded the devil’s advocate for the devil himself
your twisted logic ignores the fact that Donald Trump has no political history, that he's not responsible for a single death, the destruction of any country, or the suppression of human rights...
...unlike your advocate whose stench of sulphur has already rendered this early phase of the 21st century uninhabitable.
so maybe you could spare us your relentless and churlish soothsaying...we'll all know a lot more soon enough.
and anyway, at least barring apocalyptic conditions, the idea that things could get much worse seems, at the moment, kind of trivial.
Posted by: john | Jan 13 2017 12:33 utc | 331
It does seem somewhat curious that a privatised intelligence and security firm would not have some links with a paymaster, particularly if they were assigned the job of 'aggregating' the information being bandied about. The English are not known for their lax record keeping, particularly when the Treasury is involved. Bright lights and shovels may be required though.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Jan 13 2017 12:58 utc | 332
The CIA & Soros, etc, are working their NGO front agencies now as part of the wider Psyop campaign, expect more NGO's to vomit something up:
Donald Trump, European populists are a 'profound threat' to human rights, Human Rights Watch reports
The election of Donald Trump as president of the United States and the rise of populist leaders in Europe pose a "profound threat" to human rights, the US-based Human Rights Watch has warned in its annual global report.
World Report 2017 | Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch
Posted by: Outraged | Jan 13 2017 14:10 utc | 334
oui -- @183
more Crowdstrike investor info to add to yours --
https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/crowdstrike#/entity
1) Accel Partners partner Rob Glaser owns http://PutinTrump.org
2) the latest investor, Rackspace, is now owned by Apollo Global Management (Leon Black).
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/bill-clinton-gave-six-figure-speech-vulture-fund-apollo
Posted by: tom pain | Jan 13 2017 14:56 utc | 335
Circe @312:
the same Trump who chased the birther issue down a dead-end rabbit hole is taking on the deep-state while he's rolling in Adelson's money
Sheriff Joe Arpaio: Obama's Birth Certificate a Forgery.
Zullo showed video of Obama's birth certificate alongside one of a person named Johanna Ah'Nee. Zullo said that the forensic experts found "nine points of forgery" from which parts of Zullo's birth certificate was copied to the one purporting to be Obama's.Arpaio's investigation was the only governmental investigation of the birther issue. Whatever one may believe about Obama's birth (to me it's merely a curiosity as it is essentially irrelevant), Circe's characterization is anti-Trump hyperbole.Among them was a stamped date that had the exact same angle. By comparison, a set of twins born five minutes apart had birth certificates where the stamp did not align exactly.
. . .
[Arpaio]:"If you can hold hearings on underinflated footballs, why can't you hold hearings on this?" he said. "Look at our evidence."
Casino Mogul Sheldon Adelson Tells Trump to Dial It Down
Adelson has only contributed $10 million to the Trump campaign (as of Oct 19), and continues to focus his efforts on aiding GOP candidates in Senate and House of Representatives races.I've previously pointed out these facts to Circe but he continues to mischaracterize Adelson's support for Trump.To date, Trump has raised just $200 million, compared to more than $500 million raised by the Clinton campaign.
Note: Trump accepted additional funds from Adelson in the last week or two of the campaign. The race was virtually over by then. Money changed hands only because both Adelson and Trump (by accepting) were merely hedging their bets.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 13 2017 15:36 utc | 336
@333
Well, you could have commented on what Trump's henchmen are saying under oath. However, you seem not to want to touch the inconvenient truth that indicates this administration will be worse than the Bush administration. What you prefer is to continue in denial donning the Trump blinders that are a figurative accessory to the hat, even though Trump has already taken steps that prove he will be worse like, for instance, trying to sabotage the U.N. Resolution condemning illegal settlements.
Sure Trump is a neophyte in Washington; but that doesn't make him innocent, moral or even a decent person even if he has no record; he's already harmed people financially in his career. Politically, his intent indicates much worse, that he will unleash justified revolt and unjustified death and destruction. He wants to fill up Guantanamo, he wants to tear up the Iran deal, he wants to move the Embassy to Jerusalem. All those intentions will unleash blowback and hell for starters. I would call them crazy bordering on lunacy.
There's nothing trivial about forming a serious opinion, about awareness and insight drawn from staying alert, especially considering what Bush and Obama put us through already. That experience should have taught us not to be fooled by catchy epithets like making America great, not to be complacent, and to cut through the bullshit, listen to what he and his nominees say and oppose a troubling agenda that portends more war and destruction before its set in motion rather than allowing him free reign unchallenged.
What's trivial and even stupid is to refuse to face reality and pretend this man is not dangerous and give him unchecked authority without the slightest criticism to take us down a path that will cause suffering for millions. That's real trivial, naïve, irresponsible and delusional.
Posted by: Circe | Jan 13 2017 16:01 utc | 338
@340 Circe,
Your continued insistence on that a "war with Iran" is brewing is not doing your credibility any good. Rex Tillerson, for example, wants Exxon to have access to Iranian oil deals, and a war with Iran is not the route to that - lifting the sanctions and renegotiating the nuclear deal to give U.S. oil companies priority is. And look at Boeing's multibillion-dollar plane sale to Iran - war would upset that.
In addition, Exxon has extensive oil deals with the Kurds, who were being threatened by ISIS, so I fully expect Trump to coordinate with Russia over crushing ISIS in northern Iraq, and that means working with the Iraqi government, which is using Iranian military advisors in their fight against ISIS, so come on, a war with Iran? That is ludicrous.
Trump's foreign policy is certain to be far better than Hillary Clinton's or GW Bush's; but his domestic policies are likely to be backwards on energy (coal?) and his "public-private" infrastructure deal is likely to be ineffective and full of corrupt deals, like a domestic Iraq reconstruction program - but he's made some promising moves on trade and jobs, at least.
But on foreign policy, I think this is the way to look at it:
“The belief is obviously that a Trump victory would be negative for asset markets, for the US market, and that a Hillary victory would be positive. But I am not so sure about this belief for the simple reason that Hillary is basically a neocon and a warmonger,” Faber, editor of the Gloom, Boom Doom Report, told CNBC-TV18.“She has invaded or supported the invasion of variety of countries already. So, that may lead to more international tension. Whereas Trump is more aware of the fact that the U.S.' superpower standing is gradually waning and that other countries are coming up and that U.S. cannot fight and be the policeman of the whole world,” he said.
Posted by: nonsense factory | Jan 13 2017 17:21 utc | 339
Circe says:
There's nothing trivial about forming a serious opinion,...
a concerned opinion is one thing, an obsessive rant repeated ad nauseum based on unverifiable conclusions from a reality that has not (yet?) unfolded is, by definition, trivial.
try as you will, you won't make the ugliness of our present administration's legacy any less palpable.
Posted by: john | Jan 13 2017 17:49 utc | 340
@342, john 'try as you will, you won't make the ugliness of our present administration's legacy any less palpable'
circe; you've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir/madam? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?
at least beat a different dead horse. just let the flies settle. their maggots will see to this one.
Posted by: jfl | Jan 14 2017 2:51 utc | 341
@ Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 13, 2017 10:45:33 AM | 339
Thank you. It is always extremely important to always step back from the minutiae and re-asses the whole. It 'tis too easy to get lost up in detail and chasing rabbit holes.
Case in point, if one but looks, the key points of post 111 are being extremely aggressively targeted by any who raise them on the Twits/Comments/Social Media, etc. A key indicator, in fact resounding confirmation.
@ jfl 343
You've been catching up on your reading/viewing ... 'Point of Order!' ;)
An extremely powerful scene and the start of the rapid implosion of McCarthy himself and Mccarthyism
The old school Senators of those days, those with some integrity, are long since dead, extinct ...
You will know them by their associations. Not just by what they post, but which ID's then repeat, support, re-affirm and duplicate the content.
Peace
Posted by: Outraged | Jan 14 2017 3:14 utc | 342
Me in the post: The ultimate aim of the cabal is to kick [Trump] out of office and have a reliable replacement, like the Vice-President elect Pence, take over. Should that not be possible it is hoped that the delegitimization will make it impossible for Trump to change major policy trajectories especially in foreign policy.
Putin in today's press availability:
What are we seeing in the United States? We are seeing the continuation of an acute internal political struggle despite the fact that the presidential election is over and it ended in Mr Trump’s convincing victory. Nevertheless, in my opinion, several goals are being set in this struggle. Maybe there are more, but some of them are perfectly obvious.The first is to undermine the legitimacy of the US president-elect. By the way, in this regard, I would like to point out that whether deliberately or not, these people are causing enormous damage to US interests. Simply enormous. The impression is that, after a practice run in Kiev, they are now ready to organise a Maidan in Washington to prevent Trump from taking office.
The second goal is to tie the new president’s hands as he works to fulfil the campaign promises he made to the American people both at home and abroad. Well, think, how can anything be done to improve Russian-US relations if red herrings such as interference by hackers in the election campaign are trotted out?
First plagiarized by RT-German, now used as script by Putin - MoA is evolving ...
;-)
that's impressive b.. moa is catching on, even if you don't get the credit or money you deserve for all your hard work.
Posted by: james | Jan 17 2017 18:34 utc | 344
This comment I made in the Open Thread is very appropriate here. It questions whether the Orlando nightclub attack was intended to further Hillary's campaign.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 17 2017 18:39 utc | 345
@ b
Bravo, Bernhard! Bravo!
Well deserved indeed. Kameraden :))
Now if only they were to acknowledge through just remuneration for your work or funding ;)
Posted by: Outraged | Jan 17 2017 18:44 utc | 346
@b
When I saw Putin's statement, I also wondered if he had read it at MoA.
Kudos!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 17 2017 20:05 utc | 347
Ben@308
Thank you for the link. I was rather disappointed that Glenn Ford phrased his comments, accurate though they were about the Democratic war machine, in terms of the answer of the Left to said machine. To me, his opportunity could have been better exploited if he had made the points he made as an American citizen appealing to the new president. He's very well respected as a Left writer, indeed, but really, this is not a time for factions. That time certainly may come, but I wish he'd been a bit more inclusive.
Posted by: juliania | Jan 17 2017 23:56 utc | 348
it was pretty much a given at the outset that trump in the oval office would be the catalyst for some historic times. and starting 'at home' is where it needed to occur anyway. didn't exactly require a crystal ball...
what's not to like? would make it damn near impossible to sit on the fence if trump became prez. could spur seismic reactions both domestically and internationally. light a fire under a broad spectrum of actors to finally extinguish this empire's twilight. no other candidate will provoke a reaction like trump. nor reveal so openly the rot and cynicism behind the political structure.Posted by: b real | Aug 9, 2015 11:19:32 AM | 56
for the entrenched establishment players, this guy's an outsider in politics, untested & unpredictable. he's a businessman first & foremost, likely to place wheeling & dealing for profit ahead of traditional national security interests & plans. liable to sell others the rope to hang us with. they didn't waste any time trying to bring a trump administration under control.
for maybe half of the population in the states, whom largely identify in some degree, however removed, to an ideal of big D democrats (working ppl, unions, social safety net, human rights, etc), he's a con man, a liar & megalomaniac, disgusting, arrogant, ignorant, a buffoon - not at all the type of symbol they could respect in a position of authority. coalitions upon coalitions -- of which only a few are party-driven -- buzzing right now, not sitting still, itching for confrontation. gonna be a hot time in d.c. this week, no doubt.
not getting a good read on what the rest of world, apart from russia, think of a trump-led pax americana, but the legitimacy test is really only crucial for the u.s. citizenry anyway - if things become ungovernable at home, the rest of the world has the luxury to carry on w/ their own affairs. and better off for it, we should expect.
Posted by: b real | Jan 18 2017 4:40 utc | 349
@345 b
i think it's a case of 'great minds think alike', b ... rather than plagiarism. a lot of people have described exactly those two apparent goals of the neo-con destructionists.
Posted by: jfl | Jan 18 2017 14:21 utc | 350
The comments to this entry are closed.
Circe @ 297 said: "This so-called conspiracy against Trump is a distraction from the real collusion that is going on in plain sight in Washington:"
My take also, as bottom line. The rape and pillaging of the American working class will begin on the 21st.
Posted by: ben | Jan 13 2017 4:10 utc | 301