Organized Campaigns Hit At Trump's Foreign Policy Plans
At the end of his administration Obama implemented a series of anti-Russian moves. The most obvious was the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats over unfounded allegation of Russian interference in the U.S. elections. Other moves included the launching of an Ukrainian offense against the Russian supported resistance in the east Ukraine.
These moves were designed to impede the incoming Trump administration in its announced plans towards more friendly relations with Russia. The incoming Trump administration countered Obama's sanction move. Its designated National Security Advisor Flynn phoned up the Russian ambassador in Washington. He did not promise to immediately lift the sanctions but indirectly asked him to refrain from any harsh response:
The transcripts of the conversations don’t show Mr. Flynn made any sort of promise to lift the sanctions once Mr. Trump took office, the officials said. Rather, they show Mr.Flynn making more general comments about relations between the two countries improving under Mr. Trump, people familiar with them said.
This was arguably a sensible move in line with a smooth transition of government.
In the end the Russian government refrained from any in kind reaction to the Obama sanctions.
This was blow to the promoters of hostilities with Russia. It did not stop their meddling. The effort moved towards kicking Flynn out of his new position as NSC. A concerted media campaign was launched to insinuate an early Flynn failure and to press for his dismissal.
Bradd Jaffy @BraddJaffy
Within the last 30 mins — NYT, WashPost, WSJ and Politico each dropped pieces that have to be alarming for your future if you're Mike Flynn
5:51 PM - 12 Feb 2017
Keep in mind that some 95% of the U.S. media was hostile to Trump during the election campaign. They all peddled the nonsense of "Russian hacks" when an insider leaked emails from the Democratic National Council. They are all willing to support any move that might hinder the Trump administration.
Thus this morning news was filled with these headlines:
- NYT - Turmoil at the National Security Council, From the Top Down
- WaPo - As Flynn falls under growing pressure over Russia contacts, Trump remains silent
- WSJ - Mike Flynn’s Position as National Security Adviser Grows Tenuous in White House
- Politico - Trump reviews top White House staff after tumultuous start
All these stories are based on "inside views" from multiple "former and current officials". All are build around the baseless allegations against Flynn of somehow colluding with the Russian government. All are likely more wishful thinking than fact.
It would be astonishing if Trump falls for this obviously well organized campaign against his administration. Should he fire Flynn or give in to such pressure his enemies will smell blood, find a new target within his administration and intensify their fire.
Indeed a second well coordinated assault on an announced Trump policy, a change of course in Syria, is already in the making. This one aims at further maligning the Syrian government in an effort to make it impossible to argue for cooperation in the fight against the Islamic State.
- A few days ago Amnesty International published an unfounded report about alleged executions in Syrian prisons.
- Today Human Rights Watch claims that the Syrian government systematically used Chlorine in the fight over Aleppo. The sources are solely opposition supporters.
- Based on similar vague "facts" the Atlantic Council, a NATO lobby with financial ties to Gulf governments, launches a huge propaganda report (large pdf) about the "war crime" of liberating Aleppo from Jihadis.
None of these "humanitarian" organization is concerned about the current devastating situation in Aleppo. For 40 days the water has been cut off by the Islamic State at the Euphrates pumping stations. There is no electricity. Fuel is sparse. Medications are difficult to find.
Their hypocrisy stinks to high heaven. These organizations all assert that the Syrian government, for example, attacked hospitals in east-Aleppo solely to hit civilians. At the same time they all applaud a much bigger assault on the Islamic State held Mosul by U.S. and Iraqi troops. There, the head of Human Rights Watch asserts, the hospitals are used by the Jihadis and thus attacks on them are justified:
Kenneth Roth @KenRoth
As battle for Mosul proceeds, ISIS is regularly occupying hospitals & medical facilities, endangering patients/staff bit.ly/2kqXuUR
The anti-Flynn campaign as well as the bad-Assad campaign are aimed at Trump policy changes. These changes move away from the course the borg implemented throughout the Obama reign.
Meanwhile the Trump administration implements regressive economic and social policies without any noticeable resistance in the media, in Congress or from so called Non-Government-Organizations:
President Trump has embarked on the most aggressive campaign against government regulation in a generation, joining with Republican lawmakers to roll back rules already on the books and limit the ability of federal regulators to impose new ones.
The borg or deep state is way more concerned with keeping up its plans of uncontested global dominance than with the welfare of the citizens within the empire.
Trump promised to put "America first", to prioritize the inner well being of the States over the quest for global hegemony. His voters elected him for that purpose. Should he fall for the organized campaigns against his plans predictable foreign policy disasters will dominate his presidency. He will then lose any chance for reelection.
Posted by b on February 13, 2017 at 18:38 UTC | Permalink
next page »"The borg or deep state is way more concerned with keeping up its plans of uncontested global dominance than with the welfare of the citizens within the empire."
This is one of many fundamental truths that American and British mass media absolutely refuse to discuss; instead they serve as active participants in the dishonest propaganda campaigns run by the deep state. For example, the NYT has three headlines up already promoting this line:
"Rights Group Accuses Syria of 8 Chemical Attacks in Aleppo"
"Syria Used Chlorine Bombs Systematically in Aleppo, Report Says"
"Report Rebuts Russia's Claims of Restraint in Syrian Bombing"
Notice the lack of original reporting that they might later be called to account on (they learned that from the Judith Miller Iraqi WMD stories)? So they instead report on a report by a "reliable third party" and if it turns out to be bogus, they are not the ones responsible for the misinformation.
What was the term coined by the Soviet people to describe their official state newspapers?
fishwrap: Slang for any printed journalistic medium (newspaper, magazine, etc.) with such low credibility and standards in acceptable journalism, that its only useful function is to wrap fresh fish in.
Posted by: nonsense factory | Feb 13 2017 18:54 utc | 2
I'm extremely torn about writing this .. I really believe that I am not an anti-Semite or a Jew-hater -- I know, I know that The Protocols are forgeries beyond doubt, but is it not remarkable that so many of the chapters show a clear similarity to the apparatuses used by "the borg" or the "deep state"?
Posted by: confused | Feb 13 2017 19:15 utc | 3
As long as the MSM is allowed to make statements like "The Russians hacked the election" and face no scrutiny whatsoever proves that the group that controls the medias are above question. And above criticism.
What form did this 'hack' take? Did it add or subtract from vote totals? Was this hacking achieved using Russian mind control tactics that allow Russia to control the minds of the voters and or potential voters?
On its face these allegations amount to nothing yet are presented and repeated without any verification or supporting evidence.
Posted by: ALberto | Feb 13 2017 19:15 utc | 4
Honestly b you lose credibility when defending Trump. While there are valid points about US foreign policy for the past couple of decades and its relation to Russia, really pegging your cap on a person who is increasingly acting like a lunatic is not worthy of a great analyst that you indeed are.
Trump is a guy who keeps repeating that there were 5 million illegal votes cast in the election, something that not a single person overseeing the elections, republican or democrat, agrees with in ANY of the 50 states. That he keeps repeating this over and over shows possible mental imbalance.
Add to that his blatant attempts at self enrichment and his use of the term sovereign authority regarding his executive orders is beyond troubling. No western democracy will ever go back to having a sovereign authority. It is doubtful he will last the whole 4 years, without any help from anyone else.
Respectfully,
Khalid
Posted by: Khalid | Feb 13 2017 19:16 utc | 5
"Global dominance" is way out of America's rapidly diminishing capabilities. The country is literally falling apart at the seams. As pessimistic as I was about the future of the USA, it keeps surprising me on the downside. The rot is so deep and so widespread, I don't think the country's total disintegration is more than a decade or two away. Please disregard all of the phony bellicosity, there is emptiness behind it.
Posted by: telescope | Feb 13 2017 19:19 utc | 6
Another troubling sign is the gradual reappearance of the "Sunnis in Anbar support Islamic State" line. The latest example is a NYT report from Falluja. This line is repeated to reinforce the idea that Iraq is ungovernable under its Shia majority and that the Sunnis are entitled to some form of self- rule. It was a constant refrain in 2014 during the ISIS blitzkrieg. It went hand in hand with a Syrian no-fly zone.
Posted by: Mike Maloney | Feb 13 2017 19:27 utc | 7
If ninety five percent of the media were against Trump, they would have treated his campaign for the Republican nomination the way they treated Bernie Sanders campaign. That is, they would have minimized it and their coverage, instead of giving billions in free publicity. If ninety five percent of the media were against Trump, they would have given his opponents a free ride. Instead the media pretended for years that Benghazi, emails and Clinton Foundation donations were somehow treasonous, a position just as absurd as the belief the Russians stole the election.
Trumpery, not analysis.
Here is a good analysis about what Tramp chances or willingness or ability really are written a week befor elections.
Almost on the point that he will be blocked all the way, allowing only what Hillary would have been allowed as pure neocon.
Posted by: Kalen | Feb 13 2017 19:29 utc | 9
Thank You b.
The people of the USA had one moment in four years to give their opinion.
The rest of those four years MSM gives their opinion.
And their fake news.
And their total ignoring of news (I did know of the water problems of Damascus, but I knew nothing about the water problems of Aleppo).
Posted by: From The Hague | Feb 13 2017 19:39 utc | 10
Treason is when a Syrian asshole asks the U.S. Ambassador for a No-Fly Zone, not when an American patriot asks Russia not to retaliate.
...unless the real aim of Obama's sanctions was to solicit retaliation, thus further eroding U.S.-Russia relations.
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Feb 13 2017 19:42 utc | 11
"Trump promised to put "America first", to prioritize the inner well being of the States over the quest for global hegemony"
In the short amount of time that Trump has been in office he has:
* Threatened or possibly put in motion war with Iran
* Proposed the very same 'safe zones' for the foreign terrorists in Syria that neocon wackjob Hillary Clinton was calling for
* Handing out medals and arms to murderous gulf dictatorships like Saudi Arabia
* Has given every indication that he puts the murderous regime Israel before America
So Trump lied. Absolutely shocking!
Posted by: VaginaHat | Feb 13 2017 19:50 utc | 12
b,
The Anti Trump trolling is getting extremely heavy unt tiring. FAILURE, blahblahblah with no supporting evidence. A trademark of the forces of darkness since the days in the Garden. Very sad.
Trump has the US military behind him 100%. A military who have been used as beasts of burden since Bu$h I. A military used to further the aims of foreign countries and entities at the expense of or fighting men and women.
The hoped for Civil War II will never happen. But there will be blood in the Streets and in the Boardrooms.
Just me opinion
Posted by: ALberto | Feb 13 2017 19:56 utc | 13
"It's all the Democrats fault", "every ones out to get us" just doesn't fly any more when the Republicans hold the White House, Senate, Congress most of the states and soon the Supreme Court. Stick to that story thru the Mid Terms and the Republicans will get slaughtered like the Democrats did this time.
Posted by: BraveNewWorld | Feb 13 2017 20:10 utc | 14
>>>> nonsense factory | Feb 13, 2017 1:54:36 PM | 2
Report Rebuts Russia’s Claims of Restraint in Syrian Bombing Campaign
By MICHAEL R. GORDON, FEB. 12, 2017
You do remember that Michael R. Gordon co-authored with Judith Miller some of the articles in the NY Times that were used to justify the invasion of Iraq, such as the one about aluminium tubes:
THREATS AND RESPONSES: THE IRAQIS; U.S. SAYS HUSSEIN INTENSIFIES QUEST FOR A-BOMB PARTS
By MICHAEL R. GORDON and JUDITH MILLERSEPT. 8, 2002
More than a decade after Saddam Hussein agreed to give up weapons of mass destruction, Iraq has stepped up its quest for nuclear weapons and has embarked on a worldwide hunt for materials to make an atomic bomb, Bush administration officials said today.
Posted by: Ghostship | Feb 13 2017 20:19 utc | 15
The reason the media gave Trump so much coverage was not that they favored him, but that they were out to make a buck. More viewers and readers tuned in to stories about Trump.
The hostility to Trump of a great majority of the media didn't really become apparent until after Trump and Hillary had clinched their nominations. After that, the hostility was apparent for all to see.
I subscribe to the Washington Post, so I very much saw this. Every issue in the last couple of months before the election ran several anti-Trump articles. I had never seen anything like it. (Maybe Goldwater also got that treatment, but I was too young at the time for me to have much of a memory of how they handled him.)
Posted by: lysias | Feb 13 2017 20:24 utc | 16
Yes, more and more the U.S. is looking to me like the old Soviet Union, whose collapse came much more quickly than virtually anyone expected (Andrei Amalrik was one of the few who got it right).
Conceivably, Donald Trump is already the new Gorbachev who will bring the whole system crashing down because he attempts reforms that turn out to be impossible.
But whether or not he's the one who brings it down, I give the system only a few more decades at most.
Posted by: lysias | Feb 13 2017 20:32 utc | 17
I still have yet to figure Trump out. I don't like the increased hostility towards Iran. It seems like Israel is controlling his foreign policy. But that doesnt change the obvious corruption in Washington that seems desperate to cause WW3 against Russia. That needs to be avoided at all costs.
Posted by: Danny801 | Feb 13 2017 21:00 utc | 18
A number of years back I recall Charlie Rose interviewing Vladimir Putin on The Charlie Rose Show and Putin stated (I paraphrase here) I always visit Henry Kissinger when I'm in New York City.
All is a game.
I could not locate the transcript of this interview but I vividly recall the verbal exchange.
Posted by: ALberto | Feb 13 2017 21:32 utc | 19
Even if one is in the process of changing the world one must maintain certain niceties. Flynn has crossed a few lines and now he's gotta go. He's a liability. Doesn't sound like he's terribly bright anyway. Trump's got enough problems.
Stephen Miller is one scary mother. He's stone fucking cold. He cut off Flynn's nuts on the talk shows on Sunday. After that performance only one of them can stay and my money's on Stevie. Unless it was all just an illusion compliments of the MSM.
Posted by: peter | Feb 13 2017 21:36 utc | 20
with keeping up its plans of uncontested global dominance
There is a lot of wrong with this statement on very many levels. What "global dominance"? US can not win a single war since WW II. Who said that US is capable to win any conflict against peers such as Russia or China? I am talking conventional conflict. Can US "occupy" India? There are doubts that US can fight and "win" in Iran. I just mentioned half of humanity and about 40% of globe's territory. If even Marine Corps Gazette had to admit and I quote:"Let us first begin with the fundamental underpinnings of this delusion: our measures of performance and effectiveness in recent wars. It is time that we, as professional military officers, accept the fact that we lost the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Objective analysis of the U.S. military’s effectiveness in these wars can only conclude that we were unable to translate tactical victory into operational and strategic success".
https://www.mca-marines.org/gazette/2017/02/innovation
What "domination" are we talking about? In media? Sure. I clearly understand distinction between "plans" and "reality" but already today US is simply out of resources to fight a single regional war--what kind of "domination" is that. I also have plans to own a real estate in Monte-Carlo and have several yachts (nah, I don't, but for the sake of argument), does this make these plans realistic? We all know the answer. So "keeping up" is a wrong term for a very wrong time. The only issue which the United States "elites" must (most of them are not capable, though) discuss today is how to "land" a ship of a state more or less softly, without totally destroying it. If to assume, that plans of "keeping up" will be implemented (I doubt it, but who knows) the probability of US collapse will increase dramatically. In general, the combined "West" is done or, rather, gone. Most importantly, it is not capable anymore to produce real statesmen--elites are completely rotten and corrupted. Military aspect of that is too large of an issue to discuss here.
Posted by: SmoothieX12 | Feb 13 2017 21:44 utc | 21
b - i have to agree with @5 Khalid
"Honestly b you lose credibility when defending Trump. While there are valid points about US foreign policy for the past couple of decades and its relation to Russia, really pegging your cap on a person who is increasingly acting like a lunatic is not worthy of a great analyst that you indeed are. Respectfully,
Khalid" and james.......
Posted by: james | Feb 13 2017 21:54 utc | 22
Chickens at home to roost!..regime change?...anyone?
Posted by: Nur Adlina | Feb 13 2017 21:56 utc | 23
Very true, SmoothieX12 (22) "Global dominance" is propaganda to conceal renting the military to Israel and KSA for campaign bribes.
The US has won no wars since WWI. Even WWII was won by the USSR as 95% of German division-months were there: the US just sneaked in via Italy and France at the last moment. The US can destroy things but cannot hold territory or improve on what it destroyed.
The US is not a democracy, and democracy cannot be restored because the mass media and elections are controlled by money. The plutocracy must be destroyed by all means, and the sooner the better. All we have is technology, which cannot be lost, and any demo cratic government would be far better than this pile of sewage.
Posted by: jbrant | Feb 13 2017 22:03 utc | 24
@Alberto, 20
A number of years back I recall Charlie Rose interviewing Vladimir Putin on The Charlie Rose Show and Putin stated (I paraphrase here) I always visit Henry Kissinger when I'm in New York City.
And significance of this fact is? Kissinger is the "best" what US foreign policy had in 20th century. Which tells pretty much all one needs to know about it, when Kissinger is considered a big deal. And why not to visit him when in NYC? It never hurts to hear what an old fox has to say. Certainly makes more sense than to communicate with Russophobic paranoid such as Zbig, let alone with other small fish (such as war criminal Albright) who is dumb as a stump. James Baker? Well, sure--one of few more or less sane people, but very old now.
Posted by: SmoothieX12 | Feb 13 2017 22:12 utc | 25
#25 jbrant
Nice patriotism, but some technology is better lost, and very few governments ever come near democratic (and every long lasting sub-democratic government bribes enough stakeholders into having too much skin in the game to let the system go), and even fewer stay democratic and reasonably uncorrupted, so good luck with the pile of sewage.
Posted by: Quadriad | Feb 13 2017 22:19 utc | 26
#24 Noor
I guarantee you that a violent regime change, a US Maidan, is not just possible but almost 50/50 likely now, and that any "National Liberation/Unity/What-damn-ever" government that may come as the result of the Coup will be even worse than the current one, likely even worse than the Clinton's one, but mainly focussed on hurting its own citizens first.
The US plebs will be punished for excercising too much free will.
Posted by: Quadriad | Feb 13 2017 22:23 utc | 28
Since when is reporting on the facts a loss of credibility?
Flynn isn't going anywhere - Conway has already come out and stated for the record 'Flynn has the full confidence of the President'.
The losers on some side, I'm not even sure if it's left, up, down or what, but the LOSERS keep losing. They have their always reliable dinosaur media fronts to release whatever the latest spew may be typically after 6pm ET on Friday nights b/c they know their loser followers will yak it up over the weekend (see any weekend thread here at MoA as Exhibit A since November).
b rightly calls the latest crap about Flynn and a rather congenial call with the Russian Ambassador what it is - A CAMPAIGN, b/c that is what it is. A losing PR campaign to undermine the Trump presidency no matter by a bunch of LOSERS. Flynn is in the LOSERS sights for one reason and one reason only - he won and he now wields power. They can't control him and that just pisses these entitled LOSERS off to no end.
And when LOSERS keep LOSING they become desperate and do stupid stuff they will come to regret. So maybe, just maybe, alt news sites like MoA who bother themselves to study the lay of the land, connect the dots and then dare report on those facts may be doing a service greater than some here may realize.
Keep up the great work, b! You nailed today's post and I for one appreciate both your time and effort to shining a bit of light where the LOSERS like to hide.
Those saying "global dominance" is propaganda need to look at a world map depicting the "Empire of Bases," and then read the #1 policy goal of the Outlaw US Empire--Vision 2020, which was preceded by Vision 2010. The PNAC was attempted and resulted in the deaths of several millions in Iraq and elsewhere plus the destruction of several MENA nations and Imperial incursions into Africa is the name of fighting terrorism.
As for tRump and the Propaganda System, IMO they deserve each other--neither has the interest of the Common Wo/Man at heart whatsoever or that of the entire planet and its denizens. There's a very good reason tRump hung a portrait of Andrew Jackson in the Oval Office, a hint being his attack on the judicial system. I suggest to those curious that they begin by reading this Pepe Escobar item, https://sputniknews.com/columnists/201702091050509314-trumpology-bannon-doctrine/
Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 13 2017 22:31 utc | 30
Khalid & al
I remember a chat with an ex-Delta Force acquaintance. He said always to watch out for presumably intelligent people acting crazy or highly contradictory/irrational, as they are as likely as not to be feigning madness before a very well planned offensive against the hostiles - if you might be part of their "hostile force".
Even though I am not much of an optimist anymore, I don't always take face value irrationality too seriously.
Having said this, the power of the dark side is extremely strong in the US and Trump's win is a slap in the face that won't go unpunished.
Posted by: Quadriad | Feb 13 2017 22:31 utc | 31
Khaled @ 5, James @ 23:
I don't see that Bernhard here is defending Trump. I see though that the corporate media establishment is escalating its hysteria and repeating a particular narrative about Trump being mentally unbalanced.
I've noticed that there are now articles appearing in the MSM (and also the non-MSM) purportedly written by psychologists who claim to know Trump's inner mental state and motives than he does, and state that he is suffering from one or other narcissistic delusion disorder.
You have to be careful reading anything about Trump and his leadership style in the media. Everyone who thinks s/he's an expert and knows all there is to know about Trump - and that goes for all the trolls who flood the MoA comments forums with rubbish about Trump that has the effect of derailing everyone away from the subject of B's posts - will be overlaying her/his narrative over Trump's speeches and actions and interpreting them according to her/his narrow mental paradigm.
There is also the possibility that O'Bomber's government left behind a lot of honey-pot legislation that O'Bomber should have signed in his last two months of the Presidency but deliberately left unsigned once he knew the election results were in and Killer Clinton had lost. This legislation now has to be signed and whether Trump knows he has walked into a trap with this legislation, and what the consequences would have been had he not signed all these orders, probably should be the issue.
Posted by: Jen | Feb 13 2017 22:33 utc | 32
Khaled, James, Quadriad:
"... I remember a chat with an ex-Delta Force acquaintance. He said always to watch out for presumably intelligent people acting crazy or highly contradictory/irrational, as they are as likely as not to be feigning madness before a very well planned offensive against the hostiles - if you might be part of their "hostile force" ..."
Quadriad, thanks for reminding me of William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" in which the protagonist acts against a government against him by feigning craziness. The only problem is his girlfriend ends up being the real crazed deal.
Posted by: Jen | Feb 13 2017 22:40 utc | 33
Jackson didn't just defy the judiciary, he got rid of the Second Bank of the United States, which was replaced in its economic function by several state banks.
Posted by: lysias | Feb 13 2017 22:41 utc | 34
Kalid @5, james @23
b I honestly don't know how anyone can interpret b's commentary as "hanging his hat" on Trump.
A fundamental change in relations with Russia would be ground-breaking. b's support of such a possible change, and his taking note of the vile forces arrayed against that change is not "hanging his hat" on Trump. It is simply the view of a realist and humanist.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Feb 13 2017 22:47 utc | 35
s @8
If ninety five percent of the media were against Trump, they would have treated his campaign for the Republican nomination the way they treated Bernie Sanders campaign. That is, they would have minimized it and their coverage, instead of giving billions in free publicity.
WikiLeaks Reveals DNC Elevated Trump to Help Clinton
And these clowns still want to be taken seriously? (The DNC, not you)
Posted by: Tobin Paz | Feb 13 2017 22:55 utc | 36
I doubt that they can keep up the anti-Trump hysteria for long before people start to see through it.
By that logic, we should expect a move against Trump sooner, rather than later.
We can brainstorm what might that look like. I'll go first:
A false flag in Ukraine leads to calls to crazy calls for NATO to arm/occupy Ukraine. Trump rejects those calls and a move is made (by Congress and/or Pence) to remove Trump.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Feb 13 2017 22:59 utc | 37
Every single topic being debated or argued about over the past few days is the direct result of the US mainstream media deciding to throw all professional responsibility out the window and pick sides in a presidential election.
The fallout of the US MSM is enormous:
* Instead of Hillary being dumped early on for is sickening shadow government selling access to secret US intelligence, arming terrorists, etc. they covered it up or spun it as some 'vast rightwing conspiracy' to take down yet another qualified person just because she has a vagina. And it's Her Turn, after all.
* And, of course, that meant the rampant DNC corruption was almost entirely ignored. Meaning no significant changes will be made to cleanup the corrupt mess it is today.
* That meant that no reasonable Democratic was picked. Even a moderately conservative one that both the left and right would have embraced over Trump in a landslide.
* The right, rightly, feels under attack by the US MSM for pick sides in the election and it is impossible to have any reasonable discussion because everything is seen as an fraudulent attack on Trump.
* The left and a good portion of the US MSM, disgustingly, have embraced the sickening SJW/Feminist 'no bad tactics - only bad targets' garbage where they feel they are completely in the right and nothing they do or say is wrong because...Trump.
For the sole world super power to have its political system completely break down to a point where there is simply no discussion and debate is scary.
The US MSM has created this environment where the two sides have been reduced to treating the other side as 100 pure evil and nothing no matter how small can ever be yielded because it will be seized upon as total victory.
I hope that this complete breakdown of a functioning news media in the US will lead to large numbers of Americans starting to get their information from unfiltered sources.
Posted by: VaginaHat | Feb 13 2017 22:59 utc | 38
How to understand Trump or what is actually going on?
Excerpt from:
https://syrianwarupdate.wordpress.com/2016/10/31/us-elections-a-farcical-spectacle-of-blood-and-imperial-hubris/
posted a week before elections.
Trump candidacy was nothing but a placeholder for somebody, anybody not worse than ghastly Hillary who is so repulsive as a person and character that often cause people to puke. A placeholder what disgusting cartoonish character like Trump fits well in and was the only thing, she advocated fiercely in primaries, that went for Hillary in this entire popularity contest called campaign.Tons of lipstick have been put on Clinton’s pigs and still people rejected her and Clinton’s mafia wholesale as abhorrent characters exceeding, by their utter lack of credibility and psychotic viciousness, even that of Trump himself.
In fact my gut feeling is telling me that if anybody tried to really count the votes Trump would have been a “winner” of this beauty contest, but traditionally this is not even done in the US [no independent auditing or monitoring is allowed under penalty of prison], why even bother, since the outcome will always be the same.
The US emporium will continue unabated in perpetuity and all the policies will continue to aim solely to serve imperial interests defined by the ruling elite.
But it addition to the utter futility of participation in this electoral farce, in fact Trump campaign did not even try to win, and simple was a joke and insult to the last shred of intelligence of American voter.
In fact Trump has no grass-roots organization, no real campaign organization and instead a hostile Republicans .. since party leadership utterly rejected Trump ..
It is nothing but surrealistic to believe that anything run by Ivanka and his sons and co-opting old dying brain-damaged Reaganites can be called a anything like political campaign at all and Trump incoherent tweets really meant nothing toward such an end.
His so-far “success” is based on the fact that he was nothing but a “not Hillary again”, or no more the same imperial mafia rule, in other words the “none of the above” vote, a missing alternative from the ballots.
But most important reason why the event of Trump "presidency" [i.e realization of his campaign platform]is a near impossible is because he would have faced nothing but hostile establishment, who would have squashed all of his more reasonable utterances like peace with Russia or stopping, slowing globalization etc., by actions of congress filled with hateful and angry Reps and Dems in unity, ready to impeach him if he does not conform to imperial policies.
Also Trump would face un-governable, mutinous the US Imperial military elite that repudiated Trump entirely except for lower ranks grunts, or surveillance and security apparatus leadership ready to kill him with pleasure.
The “President Trump” would not have had a real power to change wall paper in oval office, he would have been relegated to a TV personality POTUS in a surrealistic reality show, what US politics really is. In fact this would have been the very role and only role he is experienced in and talented enough to fulfill.
Simply Trump will not be able to exercise any kind of influence over the deep state which will continue their deeds unaffected.
November 9 will be just another day and those who for the last time were standing in queue to voting booths a day before, will be fucked up the same again as 150 millions Americans who retained their dignity, integrity and restrained themselves from participating in the pathetic, cruel farce, an insult to millions of victims of US imperial hubris in Syria and elsewhere.
Posted by: Kalen | Feb 13 2017 23:27 utc | 39
Meanwhile a Hugh story is starting to surface that makes and amount of Russian hacking
pale in comparison .in this thread titled Meet the Real (Not Russian) IT Staff That Spied On and Hacked The U.S. Congress http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread1160067/pg1
There are other links inside that thread .
Posted by: terry | Feb 13 2017 23:27 utc | 40
Let's keep in mind just how extremely manipulative the media was during the campaigns. It is important not to forget the full picture and so it is misleading to say "some 95% of the U.S. media was hostile to Trump during the election campaign" when the full timeline shows that at the start the media were ADVERTISING Trump to an extreme degree and that MOST of that coverage was POSITIVE in tone. Why the media did that at the beginning is probably in very large part do to the DNC agenda to "elevate" Trump in order to undermine the Republicans. From the evidence we have, the plan was was to build Trump up and THEN knock him down. So let's not forget the whole situation of what happened. I show in detail in this video what the DNC and the media did: https://youtu.be/dfPTAf4uPiU (You can start watching that video about 1 minute into it to see what I am talking about and continue to show in the rest of the video)
Posted by: Tom Murphy | Feb 13 2017 23:31 utc | 41
nonsense factory 2 And who is The Atlantic Council? And why can we trust them or their sources?
I just hit that version of the story from IBT which used claims from The Atlantic Council for indiscriminate bombing and chemical weapons use.
IBT Times - Aleppo
Posted by: Curtis | Feb 13 2017 23:33 utc | 42
It's pretty funny listening to [DNC/RNC's-neolibs-neocon/colonials-"liberals"] trolls take to their fainting couches in mock outrage over Flynn asking the Russians not to react to Obama's lame-duck attempts to start a war as he left office*.
The mock outrage [DNC/RNC's-neolibs-neocon/colonials-"liberals"]have over their "concern" that this was a national security violation of highest importance is easily shown to be a complete falsehood when you compare to their complete acceptance of Hillary transmitting national security documents over unsecured lines for a period of years just a few weeks ago.
The[D/R's-neolibs-neocon/colonials-"liberals"] troll represents the political operative class...always looking to fellate their way up the ladder by betraying the good people of this country.
*Which is truly "historical"
Posted by: S Brennan | Feb 13 2017 23:39 utc | 43
@ Khalid # 5:
Keep an eye on what the Trump Administration is doing behind the smokescreen of ridiculous executive orders that are intended to deflect attention from their real plays. See e.g., http://www.voltairenet.org/article195196.html (.) That's not to say that I endorse everything the Administration is doing; I do not. But it's important to cut through the fog Trump is deliberately creating with provocative stances to watch closely what he is actually pushing hard for. The provocative executive orders are sucker punches.
Posted by: Paul E. Merrell, J.D. | Feb 13 2017 23:40 utc | 44
"Their hypocrisy stinks to high heaven."
So very true. Normally, Americans would be mad at hypocrisy and demand the plain unvarnished truth ... even though it is constant and in our face.
Corbett hit the hypocrisy aspect of the Saudi CIA Award for the War of Terror.
https://www.corbettreport.com/?p=21807
HRW complaints of IS use of hospitals is hypocrisy. And the PR against Flynn is a psyop like all the others.
Posted by: Curtis | Feb 13 2017 23:43 utc | 45
lysias @35--
By not allowing the rechartering of the bank, Jackson's policy ushered in the Economic Crisis of 1837, which laid the groundwork for the financial causes that led to the Civil War. The #1 reason for Jackson's success was organizing the first truly national political party--American Democracy--which almost got him elected in 1824, the first election decided by Congress giving us JQ Adams. The jackass was used as a negative caricature of Jackson; but he embraced it, and it later became the symbol of the Democrat Party. It's difficult to imagine a man with Jackson's background being seen as a populist, but many historians have framed him that way. I think he was just a very shrewd politico who capitalized on the nature of his times. Oh, and the relationship between him and the days press was somewhat similar to that of tRump.
Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 13 2017 23:47 utc | 46
A few days ago Trump has put the blame on Flynn for the haste of execution of the Executive order ban.
Now Flynn is accused of lying to Pence.
Flynn will now be forced to resign. He is a thug and a liar. He is also behind the surprisingly violent accusations to Iran
Good riddance! Thank you Trump!
Posted by: virgile | Feb 13 2017 23:48 utc | 47
@47 - too bad you're wrong -
“General Flynn does enjoy the full confidence of the president,” Conway said. “It’s a big week for General Flynn. He’s the point of contact for many of these foreign visits. Obviously the national security advisor is a very important point person.”
karlof1 @46 The first presidential election decided by Congress was in 1796, when Aaron Burr tied Thomas Jefferson in the Electoral College. Jefferson's supporters were outraged at talk that Congress, Constitutionally ordained to decide when the Electoral College can't, talked about ignoring the popular vote. The reason for the tie was party discipline over electors. Obedience to popular vote rather than the independent will of the electors was a big thing Jefferson's party had committed to after the outrage at Hamilton making an effort to have the Electoral College elect Pinckney instead of Adams. My guess is Pinckney could have done just as well. But since that election is in the safely dead past, no one is fool enough to pretend the Electoral College is the only vote that counts.
Re the theories that the massive support for Trump in the campaign was due to profit seeking or DNC...well I'm inclined to disagree but at least they acknowledge the facts, unlike the Trumpery in the OP.
Got to admit that I am very tired of hearing about this fearsome "deep state" that is going to take down this administration.
Perhaps the "deep state" might contemplate the possibility of an 'American Night of the Long Knives" with Trump launching a devastating surgical attack using the military against the rogue elements in the intelligence community.
I am quite sure that the American people would back the president if such an event did occur.
No matter how the press reported it.
Posted by: Morongobill | Feb 14 2017 0:15 utc | 50
'It would be astonishing if Trump falls for this obviously well organized campaign against his administration. ...'
it would be crippling, but not astonishing. the buck stops well before the "president's" desk in the tee-rump administration. this bankrupt 'businessman' has not the mettle of the failed haberdasher.
President Trump has embarked on the most aggressive campaign against government regulation in a generation...
'Trump promised to put "America first" ...'
and that's what he's trying to do ... for years he's thought what was good for our country was good for his cronies, and vice versa.
'... His voters elected him for that purpose. ... Should he fall for the organized campaigns against his plans predictable foreign policy disasters will dominate his presidency. He will then lose any chance for reelection.'
the best tee-rump and 'his voters' could hope for would be a single, swamp-draining term. already looking beyond that is a recipe for disaster, not only for tee-rump.
Posted by: jfl | Feb 14 2017 0:16 utc | 51
h @52
Estonia is a possibility too: US troops posing in front of a Russian fortress of Ivangorod just across the river, about as far east as they can go without actually invading. The fortress was used as a prison by the Nazis during WW II.
Posted by: Anonymous | Feb 14 2017 1:16 utc | 53
"What "global dominance"? US can not win a single war since WW II. What "domination" are we talking about?"
@SmoothieX12 @22
The US controls the world economy via the world's reserve currency, the US dollar. The US taxes the whole world via the dollar. The country can print trillions of dollars without much inflation, because everybody uses the dollar, so the whole world pays for that inflation instead of the US. In other words, the US imposed inflation tax on the whole world.
China estimates the the US stole 700 billion dollars from the world via money printing only for the last several years. So yes, the US is the globally dominant power as everyone is paying them a tax.
As Rotchild said: "give me control of a nation's (worlds) money and i care not who makes its laws."
Only after the US dollar is rejected as the world's reserve currency one should be able to say that the US is not the globally dominant power.
Posted by: Observer | Feb 14 2017 1:17 utc | 54
Some think b's post is defending Trump. I didn't read it that way. I read it as an explanation for how, if not why, the opposition to Trump functions.
In my view Trump is anathema (less so than Clinton probably would have been) yet the opposition to Trump is based on the myth that is America. Obama was a mass murderer fully engaged in making the deep state agenda work. He was a glib, half white, double - dealing cad on his very best days. Clinton was his designated inheritor - and Trump was made president either by the deplorables of fly over country or by a portion of the deep state wishing to shift directions.
Trump is similar to FDR in that he is appealing to the notion that Americans should have exceptional lives, even if not being exceptional themselves. FDR put in place the so-called safety net to avoid an honest to goodness revolution. Trump plays, in my useless opinion, a similar role. FDR had Pearl Harbor to ultimately 'make America great.' We'll have to wait to see what Trump will use.
But b is not defending Trump and anyone who thinks he is a clearly a mouthpiece for the BushI, Clinton, BushII, Obama, (almost ClintonII) status quo. Trump, thus far, is not changing that agenda. He seems to be less anti-Russia but is focusing on a dust up with either Iran or China. And that is why I suspect the deep state is still in charge.
Posted by: C del Toro | Feb 14 2017 2:27 utc | 55
b said: "Keep in mind that some 95% of the U.S. media was hostile to Trump during the election campaign."
Not true b. The U$A media gave Mr. Trump Billions in free advertising. The media loves to build people up, just to tear them down later. Which is what they're doing now. The outrageous comments Mr. Trump made, earned the media millions of viewers filling their coffers full. Now they're doing the same, only in reverse. For the MSM it's theater. Gotta' fill the seats.
IMO, the attempt at detente with Russia is his one redeeming quality. But, it still early.
We'll see what's around the bend.
Posted by: ben | Feb 14 2017 2:40 utc | 56
Guy's like Khalid are irrational and hysterical just like the LAME STREAM MEDIA. B's analysis are fair and balanced much unlike BBC (Barak's Buddys Channel) or CNN (Clinton News Network). So chill the heck out Khalid go read some Suras or Hadiths or go drink some coffee in a souk. We'll read MOA in peace.
Posted by: Fernando Arauxo | Feb 14 2017 2:50 utc | 57
Thanks to TM @ 42 for the link.
Here it is again, thanks Tom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfPTAf4uPiU&feature=youtu.be
Posted by: ben | Feb 14 2017 2:51 utc | 58
@55 "IMO, the attempt at detente with Russia is his one redeeming quality"
And it doesn't appear to have occurred to his opponents that the viciousness of their attacks over this issue actually makes it more and more imperative that Trump sees this through to the bitter end.
Talk about scoring an own-goal....
If the MSM paid-for-comment hacks had simply shrugged and said "A Russia Reset? Nah, even Obama said that" then nobody would consider this to be a big deal. I mean, even Obama tried it and just walked away, fer' cryin' out loud, which would have meant that Trump would have been free to do the same.
But now? No, no way can Trump walk it back now.
Trump has to consummate his bromance with Putin, and it will be his worse opponents who will be responsible for making that a necessity.
Great plan, dudes. What's your next smarter-than-smart move? Double-dog-dare Trump to build a whoppin' big wall?
Posted by: Yeah, Right | Feb 14 2017 3:03 utc | 60
Just a bit of explanation about the criticism since many people seem to miss the point. There is only one guiding principle to Trump: WIIFM (whats in it for me). There is nothing else there. This has been true all his life. His three significant personality features are 1. he is a bully and 2. He seems to have a almost pathological need to be liked and 3. He is vindictive and holds a grudge for a long time. Everything he does can be explained based on these 4 things.
The neo-cons openly opposed him during the election and for that they were out in his administration. Mideast and especially for Syria that turns out to be good but that is just a unintended benefit. He is pro Russia because he expects to gain financially from that (one can think of many ways he can gain financially). If that changes he will turn on a dime.
In all the years of reading b I have found his analysis to be excellent, second to none...except for one thing. He has a blind spot when it comes to Russia, which sometimes lets him down. But we all have blind spots that we need to be aware of. My comment was to say that analysis of Trump's 'policy' is a waste of good energy. There is no policy except WIIFM.
This is a good forum b manages, allowing us to express our opinions and sometimes have intelligent debate.
@56 if you disagree or have a point to make there were many who did that in a intelligent way. There is no need for rudeness and name calling. Doing that is a disservice to whatever 'side' you think you belong on.
Posted by: Khalid | Feb 14 2017 3:12 utc | 61
to those who commented on my support for khalids comment - jackrabbit, jen and others..
is b defending trump? maybe that's too strong a characterization.. b is holding out a lot of hope in trump for a positive solution with regard to russia and syria.. based on my read some optimism towards russia seems warranted, but i wouldn't count on it at this point... with syria by extension - a weak maybe...
b is saying the media for all intensive purposes has been quite hostile towards trump.. i mostly agree with this view.. saying the media is hostile to trump is defending trump to an extent, as i see it.. if i'm given the choice of giving support to the msm or trump at this point, i would pick trump too, in spite of all the signs from trump to date that are not very assuring.. i agree with what some others here have said - it may still be too early to tell.. regardless of this, i have to agree with some of khalid's comments again @60..
trump as i read him, is a pretty vacuous character lacking higher ideals or virtues that would command greater respect for the position he holds of '''serving the people of the usa''' as president of the usa.. aside from looking after his own self interests (which strikes me at the top of his list), he seems intent on serving the same special interest groups that have been feeding at the gov't trough for what seems like forever - wall. st, military industrial complex, oil corps and on down the line.. reading the list of those he's put in positions of power is the reason i say this.. i suppose his economic plan is supposed to function like 'trickle down economics' reagan style.. obama also served the same interests.. that didn't work out too well either.. at this point, trump looks like more of the same and potentially worse.. i hope i am proven wrong..
Posted by: james | Feb 14 2017 3:46 utc | 62
@BraveNewWorld | Feb 13, 2017 3:10:42 PM | 14
"It's all the Democrats fault",...
Of course it's all the Democrats fault, whose fault if not the freaking Democrats...? The best ways to sum up freaking DNC, watch Jimmy Dore and Samuel Ronan a millennial generation candidate for DNC Chairman.
You should first watch Guess Who Really Votes In The DNC? and back to
Millennial Truth Teller Is Shaking Up The DNC?:
Guess Who Really Votes In The DNC?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkX56YPaEz0
Millennial Truth Teller Is Shaking Up The DNC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_awr8CGqsmY
OJS-> The Original Jack Smith
Posted by: OJS | Feb 14 2017 3:50 utc | 63
@61 James I agree in that some of Trump's policies may have benefit atleast in Foreign policy matters. But I won't go so far as to 'choose' him. He does have a rare talent for smelling opportunity and the games being played by both parties created a perfect situation for someone like him to tilt the table and win it all. But his narcissism in appearing to be pathological and may still come to haunt us. Good to know there is someone out there looking at this beyond the hype coming from all directions.
Posted by: Khalid | Feb 14 2017 3:57 utc | 64
Breaking News!!!!
Michael Flynn has resigned. I'm going to comment on this but I will do it later. I need to prepare my comment and reread the opinion here.
Posted by: Circe | Feb 14 2017 3:58 utc | 65
Just turned 70. From experience I can safely state that economically the citizens do best when our crooks are equal to or better than their crooks. Reagan, Bu$h I, Slick, Bu$h II, O, all major pussies. Don't bend over in front of The Don.
Posted by: ALberto | Feb 14 2017 4:06 utc | 66
Circe - this news is just plain sad. As you craft your celebratory missive keep in mind the neo's just won and those who earnestly wish to change the war trajectory the U.S is on is lost. No more peace with Russia. No more peace in Syria. No more peace... With Petraeus potentially heading the NSC you and your ilk just screwed every thinking individual who is championing peace. Thanks a lot!!!
"According to CNN, Gen. David Petraeus will be “coming in” Tuesday to discuss the position. Retired Gen. Keith Kellogg, a national-security official with the Trump transition team, is acting as national security adviser for now, CNN reported." - http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/feb/13/michael-flynn-resigns-trumps-national-security-adv/
Oh goodie, the SOB that brought four dead and an Ambassador dead in Benghazi. What fools you people are...
Trump accept and appointed Kellogg as temporary head of NSC - http://publicpool.kinja.com/subject-president-donald-j-trump-names-lt-general-jo-1792327947
The Washington Times is reporting Petraeus as the new head of the NSC.
@ Posted by: b | Feb 13, 2017 11:29:29 PM | 67
Yes.
17m ago (as of this post)
White House statementAn emailed statement from the White House leads on news that Keith Kellogg is new acting national security adviser, relegating the key news headline that Flynn is gone to second mention.
It reads:
President Donald J. Trump Names Lt. General Joseph Keith Kellogg, Jr. as Acting National Security Advisor
Accepts Resignation of Lt. General Michael Flynn
President Donald J. Trump has named Lt. General Joseph Keith Kellogg, Jr. (Ret) as Acting National Security Advisor following the resignation of Lt. General Michael Flynn (Ret).
General Kellogg is a decorated veteran of the United States Army, having served from 1967 to 2003, including two tours during the Vietnam War, where he earned the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with “V” device, and the Air Medal with “V” device. He served as the Commander of the 82nd Airborne Division from 1997 to 1998.
Prior to his retirement, General Kellogg was Director of the Command, Control, Communications, and Computers Directorate under the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Posted by: Outraged | Feb 14 2017 4:33 utc | 70
@james | Feb 13, 2017 10:46:28 PM | 61
...is b defending trump? maybe that's too strong a characterization.. b is holding out a lot of hope in trump for a positive solution with regard to russia and syria..
Without any doubt, I do not believe b is defending Trump. b even handed, treats politicians’ equal for what they are (more or less). My opinions between Trump and Hillary, they are equally bad. If Hillary POTUS today we would now prepare war with Russia. But with Trump, not likely - maybe later war with China, if Trump doesn't back off.
China is no pushover, will defend herself with full force. China can and will do it with or without Russia. Trump as a businessman understands China's cards. Remember freaking WHITE and fucking Japanese humiliation China over a century. China will get Diaoyu islands back regardless treaties with Amerika. BTW China’s 2nd and 3rd aircraft carriers are on schedule and Spratly Islands continue to expand and China fortify her own door’s steps.
Posted by: OJS | Feb 14 2017 4:43 utc | 71
Flynn just resigned, by the way. Bad move by President Trump, it will only encourage the media war on him and peace with Russia. Major victory for the Neocon deep state, their functionaries the mass media, and the power of Beltway fake hysteria.
Major loss for democratic control of government, such as it is. Our crippled democracy, already thoroughly under the control of Wall Street, now clarifies that it may also be thoroughly under control of a nuclear-armed CIA/military-industrial-complex deep state hell bent on complete world domination. No dissent, no independence (hear that China and Russia?) allowed.
But, we'll see. There's still an excellent (from a peace with Russia perspective) Secretary of State. And let's see who Trump appoints as next NSA.
Still want to read some more opinions here before I comment, but just to let you know that for now Flynn is being replaced by KEITH KELLOGG as acting National Security Adviser. Here's an in-depth look at Kellogg written before Mattis got the Defense post.:
But so far, little attention has been paid to a retired Army lieutenant general, Joseph “Keith” Kellogg, one of Trump’s closest military and foreign-policy advisers. Kellogg is a former contracting executive who is considered a front-runner for a senior position at the Pentagon. He has been among the small group of advisers seen entering and leaving Trump Tower this week.Kellogg is in a prime spot to select the officials to run Trump’s military policies at the Pentagon.
Kellogg played a critical role in the disastrous US occupation of Iraq as the director of operations of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), which ran the country after the 2003 invasion. Since leaving the military, he has been deeply involved in the high-tech, computer-driven style of warfare that has spawned the enormous business complex of contractors and suppliers that ring Washington, DC, from the CIA to the National Security Agency.
Kellogg is in a prime spot to select the officials to run Trump’s military policies. In that position, Kellogg brings 20 years of experience as an executive for some of the nation’s largest and most notorious military contractors.
Until recently, Kellogg worked as vice president of strategic initiatives for Cubic Corp., which provides ground combat training and other technical support to the Pentagon. Before that, Kellogg was the president of Abraxas, a highly secretive subsidiary of Cubic that was founded by retired CIA operatives.
From 2005 to 2009, Kellogg was a top executive with CACI International, one of the companies that supplied interrogators who abused and tortured Iraqi prisoners at the US military prison at Abu Ghraib.
He ended his military career in 2003 as the Pentagon’s director of command, control, and communications for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Kellogg was a top executive at CACI International, which supplied interrogators who tortured Iraqi prisoners.
There, Kellogg worked on using information technology for what military planners called “network centric warfare”—the precursor to the sophisticated combination of electronics and intelligence that drives today’s air and drone wars. His work in that area made him a favorite of Donald Rumsfeld, who was secretary of defense at the time and a big supporter of the network centric concept, according to the Los Angeles Times.Yet, as a top CPA official, Kellogg played a critical role in the disastrous occupation that helped spawn the insurgent army that later morphed into ISIS. At the CPA, he was the chief operating officer for reconstruction for Paul Bremer, the associate of Henry Kissinger appointed by Bush and Rumsfeld to run the occupation. In that post, Kellogg hired dozens of contractors and staffers—many of them young right-wing ideologues from Washington—to award construction contracts.
This guy is the MIC Inc.
Posted by: Circe | Feb 14 2017 4:45 utc | 73
Khaled @ 5,
Honestly b you lose credibility when defending Trump. (...) pegging your cap on a person who is increasingly acting like a lunatic is not worthy of a great analyst that you indeed are.
s @ 8
Trumpery, not analysis.
James @ 23
...
Agree with all of you. I've relied on MoA for over a decade, one of most insightful and reliable sources on the Web.
But with all due respect B, I'm finding the bar unreadable since you began carrying water for Trump. I hope you do some soul searching, this stuff is unlike you.
On subject of this article alone, Flynn lied to Pence about this conversation: someone in Flynn's position, right out of the chute lieing to his boss... this is making for disaster.
Jen @ 33
I don't see that Bernhard here is defending Trump. I see though that the corporate media establishment is escalating its hysteria and repeating a particular narrative about Trump being mentally unbalanced.
Trump is demonstrating himself "unbalanced"... seriously so.
@ Posted by: fairleft | Feb 13, 2017 11:44:52 PM | 72
Indeed.
This was potentially fatal early weakness/lack of nerve, by Trump faction. Will only spill blood in the water and further encourage Deep State/MICC/5-Eyes sharks ...
One of the three replacements under consideration is Petraeus. IF that soulless rat bastard is appointed, then any hope for much positive from the Trump-faction re foreign policy would be over, IMV.
Posted by: Outraged | Feb 14 2017 4:55 utc | 75
Cool. From one of the few who stood up during the Obombu administration about arming jihadists to David "I've got an ugly wife and a hot biographer" Petraeus. Gotta give a standing ovation to those decrying Trump's administration so far. You won this round. Looks like we are getting the man we all deserve after all for allowing unchecked empires running roughshod over women and children for too long.
That'll do Pig.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Feb 14 2017 5:05 utc | 76
Trump can't afford to look soft on Russia. As I wrote @37, Trump's opponents have set the stage for a dramatic event. By accepting Flynn's resignation, Trump may well have prevented a disaster.
And I'll take Kellogg over Abrams anyday.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Feb 14 2017 5:10 utc | 77
b,
..Trump promised to put "America first", to prioritize the inner well being of the States over the quest for global hegemony. His voters elected him for that purpose. Should he fall for the organized campaigns against his plans predictable foreign policy disasters will dominate his presidency. He will then lose any chance for reelection.
Extremely well thought b, Thank you. If I'm Trump, I'll do the same satisfied my freaking base and continue to clear swamp with his filthy rich friends.
Everyone should by now knows Trump and Obomo are no friends of the working poor. Democrats and Republicans are the same. Even against my own self interests, repeats against my own self interests I'll vote all Republicans in the coming midterm election. Unless, there are creditable 3rd party candidates, make sure Republicans retain both Houses of Congress continue to punish fucking Democrats.
Posted by: OJS | Feb 14 2017 5:13 utc | 78
Jackrabbit @77 - caution when it comes to Kellogg over Abrams. Abrams was never truly in the game. If you followed the storyline closely you would know that Trump did to Abrams what he did to Romney...carrot/stick. Abrams was never going to be brought back into the game. Kellogg isn't a 'white hat' he's all 'black hat' which is dangerous enough.
Yes circe - Kellogg is neocon inc. As would anyone else who replaces a 'white hat' b/c the depth of choices is so shallow there are so few who don't want more war; especially in Syria and the big one - Russia. Please understand, the chances of peace with Russia are now gone. Puff. Gone. There is no one retired or in the chain of command who doesn't want war with Russia. Flynn was the only one paddling against the tide who had a smidgen of a chance to turn this train wreck around, and the man was never given the chance.
So now, all of your pontifications from on high will come true. Our foreign policy/national security state is now set on a trajectory for war...syria, russia, iran. Take your pick.
Boxing Trump in is to no one's advantage, but that's what has been achieved by this coup. Congratulations! I'll be certain to remind you of your blindness when the first bombs drop b/c they will for sure now b/c the black hats have their man at the head of the NSC.
If Petraeus gets in, we might as well forget about significant foreign policy changes under the Trump Admin. Did I just hear that Netanyahu is visiting Trump tomorrow? Ugh. We're screwed.
Posted by: RUKidding | Feb 14 2017 5:20 utc | 80
JFK may @74I'm find the bar unreadable since you began carrying water for TrumpSo says the guy that carried water for Hilllary - insisting that her emails were a nothingburger. And that's not all, jdmckay, you've made other comments that have revealed your pro-Democratic Party leanings.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Feb 14 2017 5:25 utc | 81
#77 Jackrabbit
Without prejudicing your main-man Donaldo, and without any need to give ammo to the derranged looks who think Hillary WW3 would have been a better idea, here's an honest question from me, so try to answer it honestly:
Are you, by now, shi**ing your pants at the awesome Power of the Dark Side, in the Deep State as well as in its physical executive units eg. CIA, NSA...
I don't mean the riff-raff poster boy and postergirl Neocons/Neolibs/Ziocons in specific, but the real Dark Powers behind them?
Posted by: Quadriad | Feb 14 2017 5:26 utc | 82
My god what stupid thing to do by Flynn. It feels strange to say this about someone I for the most part despise, but I hope Trump stays strong and doesn't buckle and appoint someone to appease the insane anti-Russian climate in the US right now.
What is so bizarre and frightening about this who idiotic anti-Russia fever is I literally saw your average liberal/Democratic voter go from being concerned about Putin's silly anti-gay policies and some vague and completely baseless beliefs that Russia had banana republic style elections almost overnight turn into foaming at the mouth versions so George C Scott in the final scenes of Doctor Strangelove just from the DNC and Hillary's 'teh Russia's did it' excuse and attempts of distracting from the massive corruption the leaks revealed.
Right now the Democrats have equated jingoistic hatred of Russia as hatred of Trump.
Trump needs to stop playing defense on Russia and come out and address the nation that Russia is not our enemy.
Posted by: VaginaHat | Feb 14 2017 5:29 utc | 83
Abrams is a neocon tool.
Kelllogg is merely an opportunist. And he's temporary.
Trump has a habit of "considering" people that don't wind up getting the job.
Commenters here are not giving due weight to the precarious situation that this Flynn episode placed Trump in. Good that Trump acted quickly to defuse it.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Feb 14 2017 5:33 utc | 84
Trump is a puppet. The USA is like III Reich. The only difference is that America's fuhrer has many faces. Obama, Bush, Clinton, Trump..
Posted by: ashke nazi | Feb 14 2017 5:39 utc | 86
@77 Jackrabbit
You do make a good point about this possibly diffusing something that could have been brewing. Perhaps Flynnwill still have Trump's ear. And we have Tillerson which is a plus. But the fact remains that the precedent has been set, and as Outraged puts it: blood in the water.
I have talked to westerners who have visited Russia. They have spoken of their cold demeaner, especially when compared to the happy Dutch, Swedes, etc. My thinking is that centuries of western invasion and so much blood has led to that defensiveness, that apprehension. They seem quite jovial when lowering their guard with the truth serum. My point is that they will look at this ousting along the lines that h has laid out. More apprehension. More worry.
Trump could easily convince Americans that Russia is not to be feared but he won't so long as he doesn't take a stand. But it looks like D.C. is a prison cell, Trump doesn't even get a bunk, and he's gonna be drinking out the toilet.
Alpha dog? Visionary deal-maker? Jury is still out, but one can see who is on the defense.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Feb 14 2017 5:44 utc | 87
Quadriad @83
Short answer: no.
As a realist I don't shit my pant, I eat popcorn while I wait for the gravity driers to shit theirs.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Feb 14 2017 5:47 utc | 88
An Administration source is saying that Flynn's resignation (actually it appears he was asked to resign) was in motion heading this way for about 3 days. The source says it was more than whether he really had a conversation with the Russians about sanctions; the key issue internally was whether he told the truth to the Vice-President. The source says that the White House concluded at the very least that Flynn didn't mean to mislead Pence, but he may have, because he couldn't remember what he said to the Russians; not remembering is not a quality that we can have for the National Security Adviser, according to the source.
This is word for word from CNN, except brackets.
Okay, first of all I disagree with 'b's opinion. Flynn lied...period. Would Trump appoint someone to a position where details, facts, intelligence matter that's suffering from amnesia? Come on. He can't remember what he said to the Russian Ambassador? Bullshit. He remembers alright and that's why he didn't put up a fuss. Flynn has a combative nature; so you know that if the call was innocent, IF, there is nothing more that Flynn is hiding, he wouldn't have gone quietly into the sunset without fighting for the position.
There's more here, people. I suspected this outcome a MONTH AGO, January 14/17! I wrote a comment on another blog, and ended it with a gut feeling that Flynn was a problem for the President. I had a gut feeling that Flynn was hiding something and would become a problem for the Administration.
Is Flynn the fall guy for Trump? There's more to this. This has legs. There's something being obscured here; I can feel it. Something's off with Flynn's sudden resignation. Flynn really wanted this position. Something's wrong with this picture.
Look, when Obama imposed the sanctions and expelled the Russian delegates, Trump sent this tweet:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/814919370711461890
Trump is pretending he knows nothing about the call; while the White House is admitting Pence was misled by Flynn. That can't be. This doesn't make sense. The tweet demonstrates he knew something. The lapse of memory is a bullshit excuse. Trump was involved in the making of that call. The question is WHY? Here's what I think happened. Trump or Flynn suggested the call and here's what I think the main message they agreed on looked like, although it could be worse; there could have been some assurance of making the sanctions go away after the first meeting with Putin. At the very least this is what they might have agreed on.:
Ask the Russian Ambassador to tell Putin not to worry about Obama's sanctions and especially not to overreact and do something stupid that'll tie my hands later. Something to this effect.
But, the point here is: What was the motive? Why did Flynn or Trump or both feel this call was necessary?
There's an answer to this question and it leads to something that could blow apart this Presidency, but like I said yesterday; the deep state wants Trump and they'll make this go away with Flynn.
Posted by: Circe | Feb 14 2017 5:49 utc | 89
Some initial impressions about the Flynn resignation.
Very brief summary of what we know: Flynn talked to Russian ambassador to the US over U.S. retaliatory sanctions on Russia over the nonsense hacking allegations. Pence & Flynn denied that the topic was about lifting of sanctions specifically.
According to the Washington Post via the Guardian:
"Citing nine unnamed current and former US officials, the Post said some senior US officials interpreted the contacts as a “potentially illegal” signal to Russia that it could expect a reprieve from sanctions imposed by the Obama administration in December."
This is the extent of the alleged "Russian ties" with Flynn. The sources behind this claim are anonymous (a classic Washington Post disinfo tactic) and the "sources" aren't even certain what the content of the talks were about. So we have proof of contact, but no clear idea of the content.
Apparently, according to the Logan Act, it's illegal for unauthorized persons to negotiate with a foreign government the United States is currently in dispute with. Whether this is a violation of the Logan act depends on what was discussed in these Flynn-Russia talks, it seems.
And on that track, we have this:
"“Several officials emphasised that while sanctions were discussed, they did not see evidence that Flynn had an intent to convey an explicit promise to take action after the inauguration,” the Post said."
from:
If the talks were about lifting of sanctions or some signaled promise to do so... these "promises" were clearly made in preliminary, unofficial circumstances (remember Flynn was not part of Trump's cabinet when this took place).
Think about it. Merely talking about sanctions in preliminary, unofficial talks are the extent of his "Russian ties"? LOL.
I'm glad to know that the Russian connection allegations are as baseless as ever.
I hope the guy who replaces Flynn isn't part of the neocon deep state
Posted by: David | Feb 14 2017 5:55 utc | 91
Great post Circe @73. Exactly: Kellogg is MIC Inc. But Petraeus may be worse, with that enormous, fragile ego he has. In warmonger terms the male Hillary.
Jackrabbit: Abrams was never in the running; another instance of deep state propaganda.
Circe @89:
the deep-state wants trumpWhat faction of the 'deep-state' are you referring to?
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Feb 14 2017 5:57 utc | 93
Really silly stuff from Flynn. Very much so when discovering how redundant the Logan Act is (see below, 1799...really?).
Trump won the election, he got the mandate running a 'Let's talk with the ruskies' foreign policy...his team should be on the front foot here. Odd.
If I was an American citizen, especially one who voted for Trump I'd be hoping someone from the incoming admin would actually make contact. Any label of traitor should be reserved to the voices calling out Flynn - cheifly, the media.
Still, Flynn may not be sitting at a few tables as Trumps ear, but he's still well connected so no doubt Trump will lean on Flynn.
Excerpt from:
http://m.townhall.com/columnists/robertcharles/2017/02/13/stop-the-logan-act-nonsense--respect-general-flynn-n2285299
They know – or should know – that the Logan Act dates to 1799, when a state legislator with no ties to any administration tried to assert himself as personal negotiator for final peace with France. The anti-Jefferson Federalists did not like this private initiative, so passed the Logan Act to make private ventures intent on negotiating personal treaties over international feuds a crime. The bill was whipped out in days.And in the 200 years since, not a single individual has ever been prosecuted under the act, not one. And its constitutionality is widely doubted in any event, even by Democrat legal scholars. Funny how precedent and constitutionality matter when they work for a party, and not at all when they work against it.
The folly of casting anyone – let alone General Flynn, an incoming National Security Advisor – as violator of this important-sounding, but utterly obsolete and toothless Logan Act would be funny enough, if it were not being dressed up in congressional outrage, with somber questions like – yes – “what did he know, and when did he know it?” Watergate already, really?
Posted by: MadMax2 | Feb 14 2017 6:31 utc | 94
A small group of current and former national security officials just leaked Mike Flynn out of a job. Does anyone think they'll stop there?
Exactly my thought. Huge mistake by Trump. Even if he wanted to get rid of Flynn this was the wrong way to do it.
@95 b
the bankrupt 'businessman' hasn't the mettle of the failed haberdasher who fired general mcarthur.
tee-rump's been a fraud all his life, it'd be astonishing if he changed now. not impossible, but truly astonishing.
Posted by: jfl | Feb 14 2017 7:02 utc | 96
@96
the lights are on in the white house ... but nobody's home. things are being run ... now from here, now from there ... fragments ... as somebody said, the us have no government ... but they still have the same red-assed baboons in the wheelhouse, spinning the wheel and wielding the levers of power ...
Posted by: jfl | Feb 14 2017 7:08 utc | 97
Washington and the US are coming to ressemble the final days of the USSR more and more.
Posted by: johnf | Feb 14 2017 7:31 utc | 98
Flynn resigned because he screwed up. Media didn't make up that he misled the Vice-President, Flynn admits this essentially, even if he calls his mistake an inadvertent one. The WH has major problems organizationally - as a whole, the organization cannot communicate in a truthful, comprehensive, and clear manner. Again, the media is not making this up - it is demonstrated by this really rough start to the administration and the silly non responsive double speak coming from the communication people. Chaos is not good for foreign or domestic affairs-I hope it improves soon or I will lose complete faith in the leadership.
Posted by: Alestra | Feb 14 2017 7:31 utc | 99
Well that might have actually have been the final incident that stopped Russia/US peace, it was Flynn and Trump that seeked peace with Russia, now Flynn is removed, a win for the warmongers no doubt. Very serious.
Posted by: Anonymous | Feb 14 2017 7:31 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
- Typo in the text: "Serious" should be "series". Or were the other words wrong ?
Posted by: Willy2 | Feb 13 2017 18:51 utc | 1