The War Hawks Rolled Donald Trump
President Trump's first National Security Advisor Mike Flynn got kicked out of office for talking with Russian officials. Such talks were completely inline with Trump's declared policies of détente with Russia. (I agree that Flynn should have never gotten the NSA job. But the reasons for that have nothing to do with his Russian connections.)
Allegedly Flynn did not fully inform Vice-President Pence about his talk with the Russian ambassador. But that can not be a serious reason. The talks were rather informal, they were not transcribed. The first call is said to have reached Flynn on vacation in the Dominican Republic. Why would a Vice-President need to know each and every word of it?
With Flynn out, the war-on-Russia hawks, that is about everyone of the "serious people" in Washington DC, had the second most important person out of the way that would probably hinder their plans.
They replaced him with a militaristic anti-Russian hawk:
In a 2016 speech to the Virginia Military Institute, McMaster stressed the need for the US to have "strategic vision" in its fight against "hostile revisionist powers" — such as Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran — that "annex territory, intimidate our allies, develop nuclear weapons, and use proxies under the cover of modernized conventional militaries."
General McMaster, the new National Security Advisor, gets sold as a somewhat rebellious, scholar-warrior wunderkind. When the now disgraced former General Petraeus came into sight he was sold with the same marketing profile.
Petraeus was McMaster's boss. McMaster is partially his creature:
He was passed over for brigadier general twice, until then-Gen. David Petraeus personally flew back to Washington, D.C., from Iraq to chair the Army’s promotion board in 2008.
When Petraeus took over in the war on Afghanistan he selected McMaster as his staff leader for strategy,
McMaster was peddled to the White House by Senator Tom Cotton, one of the most outlandish Republican neocon war hawks.
McMaster's best known book is "Dereliction of Duty" about the way the U.S. involved itself into the Vietnam War. McMaster criticizes the Generals of that time for not having resisted then President Johnson's policies.
He is the main author of an Army study on how to militarily counter Russia. McMaster is likely to "resist" when President Trump orders him to pursue better relations with Moscow.
Trump has now been boxed in by hawkish, anti-Russian military in his cabinet and by a hawkish Vice-President. The only ally he still may have in the White House is his consigliere Steve Bannon. The next onslaught of the "serious people" is against Bennon and especially against his role in the NSC. It will only recede when he is fired.
It seems to me that Trump has been rolled with the attacks on Flynn and the insertion of McMaster into his inner circle. I wonder if he, and Bannon, recognize the same problematic development and have a strategy against it.
Posted by b on February 22, 2017 at 5:19 UTC | Permalink
« previous page@95
Still 1000x better than your beloved Hillary. Hell, even you would be better than her.
Posted by: hopehely | Feb 22 2017 23:01 utc | 103
At some point, these romantic ideas about Trump etc. are bound to disappear.
It doesn't even matter what he himself thinks about these issues; he doesn't seem to care much about foreign policy anyway. The strategies, geopolitical interests and political forces are the way they are, and the president can't just go completely against them.
So whatever his initial goals might have been, it was clear since long before the election that the 'anti-Russia' policies would continue. Russia (not China) is *the* strategic rival of the US and the only country able to threaten its aspired global hegemony, and not even Martin Luther King as POTUS could change that fact.
So please don't pretend that geopolitics depends on this or that figurehead in the administration. It doesn't.
Posted by: smuks | Feb 22 2017 23:02 utc | 104
@lysias 43
What other bone can Trump give to the dems to chew on?
Kellyanne Conway...
Posted by: virgile | Feb 22 2017 23:16 utc | 105
smuks @ 104 said:"So please don't pretend that geopolitics depends on this or that figurehead in the administration. It doesn't."
Yep, afraid you're right. Also, that Mr. Trump can behave in any other way than he's behaved in his entire life. A man of, by, and for the people? I doubt it.
Posted by: ben | Feb 22 2017 23:21 utc | 106
@104
So please don't pretend that geopolitics depends on this or that figurehead in the administration. It doesn't.
Are you saying that a figurehead in, say Russian, Chinese, German or some other admin does matter, but the one in the US does not?
I disagree. I think that a figurehead in the US admin matters quite a bit. Americans would never spend so much time and money for presidential elections if the position is irrelevant.
Posted by: hopehely | Feb 22 2017 23:36 utc | 108
I don't post here often but read everyone's comments daily. Always great discussions - a big thank you to you all. And of course B.
I predicted back in May last year that "they" wouldn't let Trump become president - that "they" would call off the election rather than allow Trump to gain the presidency. I didn't for one minute think "they" would allow Trump to win, perhaps they didn't expect him to. Was I ever wrong. But it ain't over yet.
A bit OT but do any of you have any sense of what to make of this news (fake?) about democratic congressional IT staff recently losing their jobs?
Seems they're all related (brothers) and immigrants to boot. And not only were they making a great salary at such a young age, but were assigned to work with representatives on intelligence and homeland security subcommittees. Now why, if they were relieved from their positions on Feb. 2nd, isn't anyone asking if perhaps these folks were involved with leaking sensitive DNC secrets during the 2016 campaign? I mean with democrats going on and on about Russian interference, isn't it possible these guys could be the source of the leaks? It seems they'd do anything for money. And why should we believe the democrats when their very own members were hiring IT staff with such questionable security backgrounds? What exactly is going on here?
Posted by: thecelticwithinme | Feb 22 2017 23:41 utc | 109
jen, grieved, julianna and hoarsewhisperer... i always enjoy reading your posts, but i have to side with smuks @104 on the overall picture here being less optimistic then i would like it to be or that you all seem to suggest.. i wish trump well.. he talks a good line, but i see him as a businessman, cut from the same cloth as those ceos of the wall st/mil corps.. he appears quite okay with the corporations running the usa and world by extension - so long as it benefits americans, so far as the sales pitch goes.. there's too much to change in the political and economic power structure at present to put too much faith in trump, even if he does raise a challenge to the msm and who, or whatever else he will want to challenge..
Posted by: james | Feb 22 2017 23:50 utc | 110
@99
Can you blockquote or use quotations or italics when you quote from the article? I was going to respond that the terrorists are the Israelis and not those who resist their illegal attacks. I wasn't sure what was your comment and what you pasted from the article.
Posted by: Circe | Feb 22 2017 23:54 utc | 111
@ hopehely | Feb 22, 2017 6:36:25 PM | 108
"Are you saying that a figurehead in, say Russian, Chinese, German or some other admin does matter, but the one in the US does not?"
Not at all. It doesn't matter there either, or rather: It doesn't change much. A presidential figurehead is irrelevant for the strategic interests of a country (read: a country's elite), but he can be more or less able and successful in pursuing them. Clinton was pretty good at it, GWB was a disaster for the US. Trump looks like he'll be the grave digger of US 'global power' status - but don't worry, China is swiftly filling the void.
Where administrations do make a certain difference is in internal e.g. fiscal and social policies.
Posted by: smuks | Feb 22 2017 23:58 utc | 112
I think that a figurehead in the US admin matters quite a bit. Americans would never spend so much time and money for presidential elections if the position is irrelevant.
Lemme play a little Jeopardy: What is the definition of insanity?
Let's not forget Americans put so much time and money into Bush/Cheney twice. Dumb, doesn't cut it.
Posted by: Circe | Feb 23 2017 0:04 utc | 113
Bacevich: I read something that he said that indicates he’s a hawk on Russia. I’m not surprised that apparently he is a strong supporter of sending more U.S. forces into Eastern Europe. The reason I’m not surprised is that’s what the U.S. Army did during the Cold War and in a way the Army is replaying its war in the Cold War. What we haven’t heard, as far as I know, from McMaster is what he thinks about East Asian security, about climate change, about nuclear weapons, about Iran, about Israel/Palestine—all of these are crucially important matters that he’ll have to advise upon.
Clodfelter: I was one of the members of his dissertation committee, on the book that ultimately became Dereliction of Duty. I thought it was brilliant then, still do, and, in fact, I’m using it as a text at the National War College this coming fall. My favorite chapter in that book is the final chapter, titled “Five Silent Men.” That refers to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and their failure to make their views known to Johnson and McNamera during the key decision-making period of the Vietnam War in early 1965. I do not look for McMaster to be a silent man in the job he’s about to take.
https://psmag.com/was-h-r-mcmaster-a-good-pick-for-national-security-advisor-bbf2a3f6874f#.nwup5pmyv
For all that, he remains a professional soldier, not a global visionary. For the past two years, McMaster has devoted himself to contemplating about the future of the United States Army, not the future of the international order. On Russia, he appears to be a neo-Cold Warrior, favoring the recommitment of U.S. ground forces to Europe, a prospect welcomed by an army that today finds itself searching for a raison d’être. On matters ranging from East Asian stability, Israel-Palestine, Iran, nuclear weapons, climate change, and cyber-challenges, his views are less clear.
The Duty of General McMaster
As he takes charge of U.S. grand strategy, he must be a blunt, candid truth-teller.
By Andrew J. Bacevich • February 21, 2017
Posted by: mauisurfer | Feb 23 2017 0:11 utc | 114
Maybe, just maybe the noose is tightening on Insane McCain.
http://www.thedailybell.com/news-analysis/mccain-fingered-as-trump-leaker/
And here he is, posing with some of his very bestie (beastie)!friends, ISIS, in Syria.
http://www.inquisitr.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/John-McCain-ISIS-photo-2.jpg
If that is not treason, what is?
Posted by: Don Bass | Feb 23 2017 0:21 utc | 116
@116
If that is not treason, what is?
How about business as usual?
Posted by: ALberto | Feb 23 2017 0:31 utc | 117
Whats this about a nuclear winter? I am more worried about a mine shaft gap.In the event of a nuclear exchange remember we, [the West]can destroy Russia 10 times over, whereas they can only destroy us once. "Mr. President, I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed. But I do say no more than ten to twenty million killed, tops. Uh, depending on the breaks".Hej.
Posted by: harrylaw | Feb 22, 2017 12:50:48 PM | 60
harrylaw, take a look at the article I provided the URL for. It discusses a series of peer-reviewed studies done during the period 2006-2012. As the article states, these studies "are considered to be the most authoritative type of scientific research, which is subjected to criticism by the international scientific community before final publication in scholarly journals. No serious errors were found in these studies and their findings remain unchallenged." The first study listed specifically deals with nuclear winter, see Alan Robock et al., “Nuclear winter revisited with a modern climate model and current nuclear arsenals: Still catastrophic consequences,” Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 112 (2007). http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/pdf/RobockNW2006JD008235.pdf
The abstract states:
"Twenty years ago, the results of climate model simulations of the response to smoke
and dust from a massive nuclear exchange between the superpowers could be summarized
as ‘‘nuclear winter,’’ with rapid temperature, precipitation, and insolation drops at the
surface that would threaten global agriculture for at least a year. The global nuclear arsenal
has fallen by a factor of three since then, but there has been an expansion of the number of
nuclear weapons states, with additional states trying to develop nuclear arsenals. We use a
modern climate model to reexamine the climate response to a range of nuclear wars,
producing 50 and 150 Tg of smoke, using moderate and large portions of the current
global arsenal, and find that there would be significant climatic responses to all the
scenarios. This is the first time that an atmosphere-ocean general circulation model has
been used for such a simulation and the first time that 10-year simulations have been
conducted. The response to the 150 Tg scenario can still be characterized as ‘‘nuclear
winter,’’ but both produce global catastrophic consequences. The changes are more
long-lasting than previously thought, however, because the new model, National
Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Institute for Space Studies ModelE, is
able to represent the atmosphere up to 80 km, and simulates plume rise to the middle and
upper stratosphere, producing a long aerosol lifetime. The indirect effects of nuclear
weapons would have devastating consequences for the planet, and continued nuclear
arsenal reductions will be needed before the threat of nuclear winter is removed
from the Earth."
The FAS article has many other links in the text. One you might look at is an article published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, "Self-Assured Destruction: The climate impacts of nuclear war" http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/pdf/RobockToonSAD.pdf
Perimetr, I looked at your FAS link. I notice the article quotes conclusions that use "could" about nuclear winter. With this, I agree. Nuclear winter is possible. We just don't know. Climate is too complex to predict with anything approaching certainty.
Posted by: lysias lysias | Feb 22, 2017 10:37:09 AM | 45
Lysias, I suggest you actually read the article and the references, rather than look for the word "could". There is only one way to prove nuclear winter will occur, and that is to have a nuclear war. Good scientific forecasts can predict with very high degrees of certainty and still use the words "could" when describing their predicted outcomes.
Circe @95 said
Meanwhile, he's having a good 'ol time at Mar-a-Lago flying there every weekend with security detail in tow (millions every weekend)and keeping up with his own empire while his sons fly around with security detail and his wife enjoys the New York penthouse with security detail in different condos. All paid for by the saps and suckers that voted for him and unfortunately he's also screwing those that didn't.He's laughing all the way to the bank while you hang on his every word like he's effing Elmer Gantry come to save your soul.
Circe, your partisan venom is showing. Why aren't you raising HOLY HELL over the Obama families $85 MILLION tab American taxpayers picked up for his Hawaii and Martha Vineyard vacays over his eight years in office - http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article123335079.html
$85 MILLIION, Circe. $85 MILLION. Imagine just for a moment your travel budget EVER reaching such a figure over eight years let alone a lifetime, hell, five, ten, fifteen lifetimes! Yet, you have the audacity to degrade and judge Trump's flight to Mar-a-Lago. A place he stays and eats for FREE.
And remember Trump isn't accepting a paycheck by the taxpayers. None.
Service will always TRUMP milking the tit for everything it has, Circe. Before opening that trap of yours, you may want to do some due diligence and learn what your team expended in the way of vacations.
_____________
ben @102 - most welcome. Dore's interview of Thomas Frank is one every single Dem should watch and learn from. Exposing the deceit of the Dem leadership, rather than blaming the Russians, for their rightful, grotesque loss in November is obviously left up to alt news folk b/c those useless pieces of crap who pretend to lead the Dem Party refuse, absolutely refuse, to conduct the needed autopsy on why they failed so horribly, b/c they did.
And the rest of us have had to endure their followers, not voters, mind you, but followers arrogant, ignorant, entitled blathering since. Enough! I've tired of stupid.
Posted by: Circe | Feb 22, 2017 5:05:51 PM | 95
Posted by: lysias | Feb 22, 2017 6:29:59 PM | 107
"But why does the U.S. need global hegemony?"
Outstanding question!! Why did the British; why did Hitler; why did Napoleon; why did the Catholics upon the "discovery" of the western hemisphere; why didn't the Chinese; why didn't the Indians; why didn't Japan (they only wanted regional hegemony); why didn't Lenin or Stalin or any other Soviet leader? Jefferson admitted there was an unstoppable urge to conquer the continent, that the natives would be eliminated as a result, and such a process was part of human nature. In 1890, it was announced that The Frontier was now closed, signaling that the only way to "grow" was to gain colonies a la European Imperialists, but most everything was taken already.
In Empire as a Way of Life, Williams's hypothesis is the need to keep opening markets for farmers and industry and thus enhance stability at home and thus the public support of an "expansionist" foreign policy. I'd say the reason's the same today except that its Wall Street, once known as The Money Power, that wants global control so it can continue to make billions without having to work for it--a Racket spelled out well by General Butler bringing home what was once called Tribute.
Why did Midas covet gold--Mammon? His greed destroyed him, but the lesson always needs to be relearned. Most of Europe's Imperialists learned their lesson, but the Outlaw US Empire has yet to receive it comeuppance--Vietnam defeat was erased by USSR's implosion and the consequences of Empire and its decay were delayed. The drive for Empire creates a special myopia that combines with hubris resulting in a peculiar disease of the soul. Within this century, humanity will see the Outlaw US Empire deal with its comeuppance, but the consequences will be global in scope; yet, for humanity to survive, this must occur, and the sooner the better.
Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 23 2017 1:24 utc | 120
"Global Hegemony" and "Full Spectrum Dominance" still appeal to the rednecks, even as they are financially squeezed to the breaking point. Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels and the virtue of the vicious.
The MICC wants its no bid cost plus contracts. It gets them. The rubes will "tighten their belts".
Trump has been a con man his whole life. He was simply the lesser of two immoral rotten sociopaths.
Posted by: fast freddy | Feb 23 2017 1:26 utc | 121
Posted by: Jen | Feb 22, 2017 5:50:42 PM | 100
Yes, Jen, Obama left behind and will make roadblocks to this administration in the future. He has a colour revolution in mind with Soros and the Dynasty of BUSH CLINTON OBAMA, chaos, death and mayhem to forge the 'new world order'
I think many people are left wondering what does civil look, feel and smell like? Having been sheltered from the reality by the lying media for so long.
It has to be by the hand of a gun, it has to be by force, to dismantle the deep state.
Posted by: Gravatomic | Feb 23 2017 1:53 utc | 122
What does war smell, look and feel like? That sickly sweet smell of death that barely any of you have been privy to. That smell when you know a soul has left a body and that sweetness makes you vomit. Not the decomposition smell days later, you all know that smell
apologies to vets
Posted by: Gravatomic | Feb 23 2017 1:58 utc | 123
>>>> ALberto | Feb 22, 2017 5:43:36 PM | 99
I got this from Jim Hanke, former US Attache to Israel. Israel has C130 landing strips along highways south of the Dead Sea. They block traffic, and you can actually see this on Google Maps, which carries live traffic from Israel. They actually block the roads and bring in planeloads of jihadists, which is seen on the traffic analysis, which we have samples of below:
Israel then runs a ratline into Jordan, to the CIA run training camps there and onto the Saudi payroll….then up into Syria where they get Israeli air support and medical aid as well.
The examples that Gordon Duff of VT gives really aren't suitable for landing C-130s and looking at the "highways south of the Dead Sea" it's difficult to see how any of them could be used as temporary runways. The whole idea doesn't make sense since there is already a landing strip in that area that can handle C-130s
Gordan Duff also mentions that material is transported to Amman by train - there's a slight problem that, the railway from Aqaba no longer goes to Amman as far as I can tell.
Why route the jihadists through Israel? There are enough quiet corners in Jordan where you could build a discrete landing strip.
Posted by: Ghostship | Feb 23 2017 2:10 utc | 124
@ karlof1 who wrote: "...In 1890, it was announced that The Frontier was now closed, signaling that the only way to "grow" was to gain colonies a la European Imperialists, but most everything was taken already......"
AD ASTRA! To the stars!
I almost feel sorry for the globalists that can't understand humanities need for frontier and how going to the stars is much better than ongoing war on this planet.....we are pushing 40 years since a human has walked on our moon. Why is that? Why don't we have a space station on the moon?
Fuck MOAR WAR!
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 23 2017 2:10 utc | 125
@120 karlof1
"Posted by: lysias | Feb 22, 2017 6:29:59 PM | 107
"But why does the U.S. need global hegemony?"
Outstanding question!!"
outstanding response karlof1! thanks..
Posted by: james | Feb 23 2017 2:17 utc | 126
Judging by the MSM-born, Clintonite hysteria present in this thread, Trump is winning. Turn off the TV guys, crikey moses.
It might be great to finally see a US President get so much media push-back after...well, nothing... in reality though, the establishment and its media arm is soiling itself daily at the possibility of a hands on President wielding power - the political equivalent of Sir Alex Ferguson...a great man manager.
Face it, Barry'O and Hellary sold their offices to the highest bidder. George Dubya couldn't organise a shag in a brothel, while that is all Bad Billy C could ever do when he wasn't busy rigging the foundations for the greatest (and ongoing) financial crisis in history.
The press conference last week displayed Trump's unchanged vision on potential Russian relations, demonstrating the loss of Flynn as inconsequential. Trump is looking more inward now than ever, we should be appreciative of the free exposés we'll witness.
Posted by: MadMax2 | Feb 23 2017 2:35 utc | 127
So, let us assume, hypothetically, that Trump genuinely wants to make major repairs in what he has described in so many words as a broken country, dispirited, a mess: He ponders a landscape littered with massive corruption in politics, a destroyed republic, a dysfunctional criminal justice system, a hollowed out economy, with many pedo-predators in influential positions, with a hostile Establishment, a self-serving oligarchy/plutocracy that is heavily overrepresented by people of Jewish extraction, with a mass media for whom integrity is the great nemesis, with treason normalized on behalf of Saudi Arabia, Israel, China, and who have you.
And throw in a crumbling infrastructure, a society living on anti-depressants with a couple of dozen soldiers committing suicide per day after having participated in mass murder in other countries on the basis of lies and being brainwashed, and inner city war zones, and lots of zombies. And throw in traitors everywhere, everywhere, Hillary cackling and wailing, and a global demonizing effort against Trump that has no precedent: even Putin and Hitler got off easy compared to the Trump treatment by global media. Turned on the radio today, CBC, for a three item news cast, and two of the items disparaged Trump. And so on.
So you might expect that Trump would, in office for barely a few weeks, not quite be up to speed on a thing or two going on around the planet, given that so much of his focus has been on stuff at home, and might by rather surprised by the number of sucker punches and venom thrown his way, might be reeling a bit, trying to get his bearings. Might need a bit of time to process stuff.
Meanwhile, off the starting blocks, quick, for every new regulation, we're ditching two. Robert Kennedy Junior: go make big vaccine pharma apoplectic by shining some light into the darkness of CDC and Merck etc; lobbyists, we're taking wind out of your sails; pedo-predators, know fear. Illegal aliens, sweat. CNN, NYT, shame on you; you are very fake news!
It's pretty obvious that we are only in the first few pages of the first chapter of this hypothetical very unusual work in progress: how come so many bad reviews and know it all doom and gloom crystal ball gazers? Why be in a hurry to echo the outrage and consternation of those incredibly able and successful European leaders who immediately declared the Trump presidency a catastrophe or words to that effect, but who could find it in their hearts find no harsh words for, but to cozy up to and financially feed the rabid Ukrainian leadership? What am I missing here?
Posted by: canuck | Feb 23 2017 3:30 utc | 128
lysias @ 107 asked:"But why does the U.S. need global hegemony?"
karlof1 gave a great answer, I'll give you my short answer:
We live in a corporate world now. They dominate most Govts. around the globe. And what, in this version of modern capitialism, do corporations engage in?
Growing bigger by capturing market share, and eliminating competition.
Case Closed!
Posted by: ben | Feb 23 2017 3:31 utc | 129
canuck @ 128 said" What am I missing here? "
Uh, maybe Mr. Trumps entire history:)
Posted by: ben | Feb 23 2017 3:39 utc | 130
@119
Your response defies reality. First of all, I'm not defending the tab for Obama which is just over 10 million a year for eight years in office.
HOWEVER, you did ZERO research before responding to my post. Trump has been in office just over a month and already it cost over $10 MILLION for his three weekends at Mar-a-Lago. This does not include the $500,000 PER DAY it costs to secure his wife at Trump Tower.
This does not include security for Ivanka and Jared or for Don and Eric.
Trump's security alone in one month amounts to Obama's in an entire year, not including Melania, Ivanka, Don and Eric. If Trump continues his weekend trips to Mar-a-Lago; that's roughly 120 Million only for ONE YEAR.
If Melania continues to stay at the penthouse for a year; the total cost is estimated to be $183 million.
http://fortune.com/2017/02/22/trump-security-mar-a-lago-cost-taxpayers/
Next time do the research before jumping all over me about Obama; I give a ratz ass about Obama. Don't bring up Obama with me to justify Trump's selfish, lavish lifestyle, that will surpass anything we've witnessed yet with previous Presidents. It's possible that if Trump keeps this up he will surpass the cost for Obama, Bush and Clinton combined and add to that.
Posted by: Circe | Feb 23 2017 4:00 utc | 131
Trump is in a catch 22. Without enforcing the use of the US dollar throughout the world as the global reserve currency, the US will crash. The US$ is perhaps a more powerful weapon than the US military. Perhaps trump will succeed in draining the swamp, but he carries the baggage of US culture which is the pre-requisite for the current swamp. Manifest destiny and numerous similar doctrines...
Best that can be hoped for is that Trump is the catalyst that causes the US to implode.
Posted by: Peter AU | Feb 23 2017 4:04 utc | 132
113
Americans didn't spend a red pfennig on the elections, did you? Did you pledge $3 on your income tax form? No. Nobody did. The elections are a perversion of Freedom and Democracy. The elections are a pre-selected freakshow for the Red White and Blue no different than WWE Raw Rage in the Cage. All that's missing is Ozzie Osbourne playing Crazy Train, and biting heads off bats.
We're bought and sold like cattle to the highest bidder. We 'yield' $3,800,000,000,000 blood tithe with almost no investment whatsoever! We build for free the greatest Engine of Death in human history, the largest Corporation in human history, the Pentangle of Lucifer.
You couldn't get a better bang for you buck! We finance our own bleedout, we finance our own brainwashing, we finance a completely coopted 4th Estate, and we finance the Fed vampire squids on Wall Street and WADC.
That's our blood and treasure! We aren't even fed and sheltered like cattle! We're bled once a year, then left to fend for ourselves, until they need to yoke us for another resource war. Some are even so deluded, they WORSHIP the Chosen! They meekly SUBMIT AND GROVEL. They greedily stress-position and water-board their Friends network with every bit of Fed psyop!
Speaking of Friends, the Pence story is running hot on FB, what a 'great leader' he is for visiting the tipped over headstones of the Chosen. HEADSTONES! I wrote he should first acknowledge and apologize before the American People and God for the 8-year old American schoolgirl and 73 other women and children that were slaughted by Trump and Pence in Yemen.
Wow, FB wents NUTS that I 'disrespected' Pence, then my post was immediately purged, like they purge on Breitbart, like they purge on Huffpost, like they purge on Reddit and everywhere.
The entire American society now is a perversion of Freedom and Democracy and Humanism, at the Golden Jubilee next month of the Red Bolshevik Revolution. By October the debt ceiling will be raised to $30 trillion and our fate sealed, every single American 'owing'(sic) $300,000 to the Chosen. Your vision of the future is a interest-only jackboot stomping down on our upturned faces...forever. And the macabre dance is, we know who They are, but it's a felony to say it!
What a man Pence is, carefully brushing clean those Jewish tombstones, and bleeting there is no room for H8 and Anti-Semitism, now let's round up those Mexicans and Muslims! Sick f*cks!
Posted by: Chipnik | Feb 23 2017 4:14 utc | 133
@131 - you have know idea how grateful I am to you for responding to my post.
Who do you think you are kidding? Look at the language you chose to use "I'm not defending the tab for Obama which is just over 10 million a year for eight years in office." The operative words are 'defending' and 'just' - JUST $10 MILLION a year like that's small change. Get real. Who in our world justifies spending $10 MILLION on vacations in Martha's Vineyard and Hawaii? Have you ever been to MV? Trust me, Nantucket is lovelier.
One of the chief reasons Trump's kids need such security is due to the fact of the hateful vitriol, the hundreds of death threats and the meaningless protests held at Trump Tower where the family works by your venomous supporters. And may I remind you, that Trump cannot return to his Penthouse b/c he agreed to forgo any involvement in his business, thus, he can't return. This means Melania and Barron are on their own, without their husband/dad, until the school year ends. Is that familial sacrifice lost on you?
Second, yanking a child at Barron's age out of his school before the year ends does, believe it or not, have repercussions on that child's wellbeing. How dare the Trump's put their child's wellbeing before country. Allow me to remind you, Barron didn't run for POTUS. He's just a kid. And might you recall, the Obama's excuse for remaining in DC is to allow their children to finish school. As a responsible parent, few just yank their kids out of school mid year. I respect the Obama's decision to allow their girls not only to finish this year out but to finish their 12 years out at, I believe, Sidwell. Good for them!
And where on earth did you dream this comment up - "Trump's security alone in one month amounts to Obama's in an entire year" - I'd like to suggest that maybe Trump's security costs have something to do with your side of the aisles thousands of death threats vocalized on Twitter, FB, Instagram, blog sites, protests... Maybe, just maybe if your side of the aisle got a grip on themselves and focused your resource on cleaning out the Party so as to be viable in 2020 the need for the expense of protecting the President's family may be lessened.
Lastly, your numbers are way off and if you think for a minute I'd ever trust FT as a reliable source after working in this medium for 10 years now you are sorely mistaken. What is it about you that doesn't get the fact that folks like me don't give credence to corporate media? And no, McClatchy is not corporate media (I just know you want to go there).
119
God, I sure ascshyte wouldn't want you for my accountant, if you believe Obama's $10.5 mill a year bene's is worse than Trump's $25 mill a MONTH!!
And he's billing all the foreign guests stays at Mar-a-Lago to taxpayers!
He's running a f*cking money-laundering casino resort with our taxed savings!
WTF is wrong with you fap-boys? You act like Trump walks on water! He's an
Israeli-owned, Israeli-financed, family-Jewish-to-the-bone bunko artist! He grew up in Israeli Brooklyn, his closest advisors were Israeli, he's Israeli!
Trump's turned over every level of Fed Finance to the Goldmanim, including the
OMB oversight and SEC regulatory. He's massively increasing wars for arms sales and mercenary contracts, and hired 10,000 more Federal police! Prisons next! Hebrew:Evangelical brainwashing charter schools! Gutting EPA, FDA, FTC, FCC!
~5% of the US population control all the wealth of the greatest superpower!
~5% of the US population control all the weapons of the greatest superpower!
You couldn't have a worse outcome if Lucifer were sitting on that Throne!
Posted by: Chipnik | Feb 23 2017 4:42 utc | 135
Oh, and one last thought, Circe, did you ever stop and think that one of the reasons the Trump's are going Mar-a-Lago on the weekends has something to do with their living quarters at the White House are being renovated? All who lived there did major renovations to those living quarters, quietly. Trump would be no different, that is, said renovations would be done quietly.
chip, I don't know what you're smoking/drinking but it must be good...as in mind altering substance. sleep well.
On why to avoid nuclear war: even a "small" nuclear war like one between India and Pakistan could have serious long-term global effects on climate (let alone radioactive fallout):
Fires ignited by nuclear bursts would release copious amounts of light-absorbing smoke into the upper atmosphere. If 100 small nuclear weapons were detonated within cities, they could generate 1 to 5 million tons of carbonaceous smoke particles (4), darkening the sky and affecting the atmosphere more than major volcanic eruptions like Mt. Pinatubo (1991) or Tambora (1815) (5). Carbonaceous smoke particles are transported by winds throughout the atmosphere but also induce circulations in response to solar heating. Simulations (5) predict that such radiative- dynamical interactions would loft and stabi- lize the smoke aerosol, which would allow it to persist in the middle and upper atmosphere for a decade. Smoke emissions of 100 low- yield urban explosions in a regional nuclear conflict would generate substantial global- scale climate anomalies, although not as large as in previous “nuclear winter” scenarios for a full-scale warhttp://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/robock/robock_nwpapers.html
For a full-scale nuclear exchange it would be much worse. Here are current estimates of nuclear arsenal size for various countries:
Russia - 10,000
United States - 10,000
France - 350
China - 200
Britain - 200
Israel - 75–200
India - 40–50
Pakistan - <50
North Korea - <15
Here's another issue where Trump and Obama seem to be on the same page: Obama set up a $1 trillion "nuclear weapons modernization" program set to run through 2030, and Trump has apparently committed to continuing it. At the same time, all discussion of a robust national infrastructure program has been swept under the rug by the mass media and Team Trump. Zero executive orders on infrastructure programs, as far as I know - again, very much the same deal as with Obama and Clinton. What happened to that promise?
Posted by: nonsense factory | Feb 23 2017 4:51 utc | 138
Anybody see the interesting tweet by Lynn Forester de Rothschild to John Podesta? Well boy-howdy. Here's a link: https://twitter.com/LdeRothschild/status/834293947690262528
There's a thread on Voat you don't wanna miss either. It's cannibal time for elite pedo tribesman.
The best part are the tweets responding to her. It's prime-time for ridiculing Rothschild elites and their scum-weasel minions. Biggest. Schadenboner. Ever.
Posted by: Take Me | Feb 23 2017 5:13 utc | 139
@134
Pure bunk. Trump is not the first President to have children Barron's age. All President-elects are sworn in around the same time of the year and their children changed schools mid-term.
Trump is not the first President to be subjected to vitriol; Bush and Obama were just as hated. Many believed Obama was a Muslim anti-christ and still do. Trump is NOT so special that he needs to fly to his Mar-a-Lago mansion every week. Many Presidents had reno done; it's not like they're tearing down walls; the White House is a historic monument. I'm sure there are plenty of other rooms to accommodate while work is being done. Other Presidents and their wives lived there with young children while renos were done. Your post is nothing but bullshit excuses for Trump can do no wrong man-god.
Spare me the my side of the aisle baloney. I don't buy into the two-headed hydra and their current messiah FYI, like YOU.
And you think chip is smoking something, when you're orange punch drunk?
Posted by: Circe | Feb 23 2017 5:26 utc | 140
McMaster is likely to "resist" when President Trump orders him to pursue better relations with Moscow.It would be the Secretary of State who would be directed to pursue better relations with Moscow. I don't believe the head of the National Security Council is a diplomatic position. It's an advisory, intelligence, and strategic position. The President is free under the Constitution to ignore the advice, and pursue his own goals.
In fact, it's the Deputy SecState who manages the foreign corps: officers and ambassadors.
Posted by: MRW | Feb 23 2017 5:52 utc | 141
That's why the Elliott Abrams consideration as Deputy SecState was so problematic.
Posted by: MRW | Feb 23 2017 5:54 utc | 142
@142 So now who is shortlisted for the number 2 job at Foggy Bottom?
Posted by: Lozion | Feb 23 2017 6:37 utc | 143
To Grieved | Feb 22, 2017 4:54:24 PM | 93 and others: well said!
To people confused about honey and/or shit:
0. Dog shit.
1. The shit turns into manure and eventually earth (in much the same way as honey is made but by different critters like flies).
2. Flower seeds take hold in the fertile earth and grow strong.
3. Flowers create pollen and nectar as part of their reproductive cycle/life.
4. Bees (and other critters) collect pollen while eating nectar in a mutual win-win pollinating other flowers as they hunt for more nectar.
5. When they arrive at their hive the bees make honey by repeatedly puking out and eating again any left over semi-digested nectar from their trips.
6. Honey.
No shit no honey, try to be kind to insects :)
Next: gold from lead. Take 1 nuclear reactor... (spoiler: the gold is radioactive and by the time it has stopped being radioactive it has also stopped being gold LOL now that's poetic!).
And yes Trump continues to be better than Hillary (and Sanders, Stein, and Johnson, all of whom look in retrospect to have been co-opted) even in case of any future death by atomization or more likely suiciding my way out of radiation illness after holding on for longer than makes any sense. If that outcome can happen at all (and maybe it can't, I'm not absolutely convinced the US actually has reliably working nukes any longer) then we would all (cave-dwellers included) be dead already by now if Trump had not won. The end of TPP and other stuff is good too. Not so much because of Hillary herself as from how emboldened the people around and behind her would have been. Soros needs to take a trip to Switzerland and leave the rest of us alone, after all we're not that good at making things work out even when people like him aren't deliberately trying to fuck everything up.
Hmpf, rant over, I'm going to open a cold can of lemonythingy-diluted vodka, blasphemer as I am :D Since certain people do not drink or smoke it's up to me to make up for the shortfall XD Cheers!
Perimetr@ 118
Thanks for the sobering nuclear winter info
Scary how 50 15 kt bombs would generate 5 tg of carbon into the upper atmosphere. The US weapons stock in service is 3,940 strategic weapons at 200 KT per weapon yields about 52,000 Tg of carbon into the upper atmosphere. Scary...
Posted by: Krollchem | Feb 23 2017 9:23 utc | 145
http://www.denverpost.com/2017/02/18/is-donald-trump-sane/
Is Donald Trump sane? The evidence suggests he’s not
In a letter to the editor of The New York Times published recently, Dr. Lance Dodes, a retired assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and Dr. Joseph Schachter, a former chairman of the Committee on Research Proposals, International Psychoanalytic Association, stated explicitly that the president is suffering from “grave emotional instability.” An additional 33 mental health professionals co-signed the letter.
Sen. Al Franken said on CNN recently that Republican colleagues of his in the Senate have confidentially stated that they “question the President’s mental health.”
~~~
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), which is published by the American Psychiatric Association, is frequently used by professionals to diagnose mental conditions.
DSM-5 criteria for narcissistic personality disorder include these features:
Having an exaggerated sense of self-importance
Expecting to be recognized as superior even without achievements that warrant it
Exaggerating your achievements and talents
Being preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate
Believing that you are superior and can only be understood by or associate with equally special people
Requiring constant admiration
Having a sense of entitlement
Expecting special favors and unquestioning compliance with your expectations
Taking advantage of others to get what you want
Having an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others
Being envious of others and believing others envy you
Behaving in an arrogant or haughty manner
Posted by: okie farmer | Feb 23 2017 10:15 utc | 146
@146
The chair of the DSM-IV task force, a person who basically wrote the DSM standard thinks otherwise.
"It’s very important to end the wild speculation — the wild, unfounded speculation"
Posted by: Bob | Feb 23 2017 10:51 utc | 147
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201702231050970751-mosul-airport-daesh-liberation-iraq
Iraqi Troops Completely Liberate Mosul Airport From Daesh - Source
The Iraqi federal police's rapid response force has completely liberated the Mosul airport from Daesh terrorists, an Iraqi security source told Sputnik.
Posted by: okie farmer | Feb 23 2017 11:58 utc | 148
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-violence-idUSKBN1620S0?mod=related&channelName=worldNews
Syria's warring sides trade fire as peace talks convene
Syrian warplanes carried out air strikes on rebel-held areas in Deraa, Hama and Aleppo provinces and insurgents fired rockets at government targets on Thursday, just as peace talks were set to resume in Geneva after a 10-month hiatus, a war monitoring group said.
However, the overall level of violence in western Syria was somewhat lower than in previous days, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
In the southern province of Deraa, where clashes have intensified over the past week, Islamist insurgents detonated a car bomb and government helicopters dropped barrel bombs, the Observatory reported.
Government forces meanwhile shelled areas in the northern city of Aleppo's western outskirts, and Syrian jets carried out air strikes around an area where the army and its allies had advanced on Wednesday, the Observatory said.
The Geneva talks are taking place after nearly two months of an increasingly shaky ceasefire between the government and rebels, with each side accusing the other of violations.
Posted by: okie farmer | Feb 23 2017 12:18 utc | 149
b: Trump has now been boxed in by hawkish, anti-Russian military in his cabinet and by a hawkish Vice-President.
No. Trump has chosen hawkish, anti-Russian military in his cabinet and a hawkish Vice-President.
Posted by: From The Hague | Feb 23 2017 13:50 utc | 150
Posted by: okie farmer | Feb 23, 2017 5:15:07 AM | 146
(Is Donald Trump sane? The evidence suggests he’s not)
ROFLMAO!
1. The case can be made, and has been made, that anyone and everyone who seeks and embraces a position of great power is more than just a little bit loopy.
2. Psychiatrists are sane? Gimme an effing break!
They're ALL quite nutty and self-absorbed.
Every single one.
What sort of crappy screwed-up childhood would lead a person to devote his/her entire adult life to guessing what people are thinking; and why?
Only scatology and journalism are grubbier.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Feb 23 2017 13:56 utc | 151
#19
Yo, give Putin more credit man.
The key statement by Putin on Trump is that he would sit down and have a nice chat to understand what Trump meant by "MAGA".
Don't confuse your run of the mill Russian politician or pro Russian commentator with Putin.
Posted by: ThatDamnGood | Feb 23 2017 13:56 utc | 152
109 I predicted back in May last year that "they" wouldn't let Trump become president - that "they" would call off the election rather than allow Trump to gain the presidency. I didn't for one minute think "they" would allow Trump to win, perhaps they didn't expect him to. Was I ever wrong. But it ain't over yet.
"The Powers That Be" would be those with access to correct information and real facts. Logically, those at the top of TPTB would be privy to more knowledge than those in the center or lower levels.
Data mining and storage has not stopped. There should be no question that the PTB have access to the data. The data would have revealed that Trump would "win" the votes as he did.
Might have been the pizzagate pedo scandal that allowed the PTB to let Trump take the "win".
Of course, the PTB saddled him with a real puppet in Pence, should Trump prove to be unsuitable.
The tv news distraction and infotainment is overwhelming the public. The public must remain confused and distracted. That is working.
Posted by: fastfreddy | Feb 23 2017 14:31 utc | 153
Could Pence have been threatening to resign if Flynn was not fired?Posted by: lysias | Feb 22, 2017 7:09:41 AM | 26
Interesting take on things. However, I think Pence was put forward as VP to actually become president when the Koch Bros and Deep State, Corporatist version, decide Trump must go. Trump may realize he's actually created the Koch Bros presidency and cannot continue to do anything he wants and may try to get rid of the Koch developed creatures. I doubt he could succeed at that.
I'm not sure how well Trump can handle the nest of vipers he's brought into the swamp, which seems to be growing deeper and larger with every additional new person named to the administration. At some point even his most ardent supporters will realize that the people Trump has surrounded himself with, Koch types and Goldman Sachs types, will never result in any swamp being drained. Then again, with all the emotional investment of being an ardent supporter, they may never see anything wrong with total hypocrisy. See Obama supporters for examples of that.
How will Trump be removed as president? He's been persuaded he is above the law, so that may be a way to go after him.
Emoluments issues. Tax issues. Probably anything which can be spun to make sense....
Posted by: jawbone | Feb 23 2017 15:10 utc | 154
We live in a corporate world now. They dominate most Govts. around the globe. And what, in this version of modern capitialism, do corporations engage in?Growing bigger by capturing market share, and eliminating competition.
That's obviously a zero sum game, so some countries aren't succeeding in doing that, and they aren't collapsing.
So failing to do so does not amount to national suicide.
So I ask again: What need is there to seek global hegemony? What awful things happen if we don't?
Posted by: lysias | Feb 23 2017 15:11 utc | 155
Making a case that Trump is not sane may well be the route they choose to get rid of him. 25th Amendment.
Posted by: lysias | Feb 23 2017 15:15 utc | 156
@ Chipnik 135
Thanks for the cost comparison - I'm sure there would be cheaper options if it were just bc of WH renovations, and not for T's personal profits.
And I guess '5% of population control...' is vastly exaggerated, more like .5%.
Your 'Israel' obsession on the other hand sounds quite weird to me. 'Obama is Muslim', 'Trump is Israeli' - yeah, sure. What next? 'Pence is a reptile, Bannon is a seven-dimensional demon'? That's just childish.
Trump belongs to the most reactionary faction within the US "money elite", and he's pursuing the interests of said group/ class. So in 2017, the country apparently has the most 'oligarch'/ capitalist administration ever.
As one writer quite pointedly remarks:
"That changed on Nov. 8, when the American oligarchs ousted noncompliant professional politicians and assumed direct power through Donald Trump and his cabinet."
http://www.alternet.org/economy/end-capitalism-and-end-our-world
Posted by: smuks | Feb 23 2017 16:50 utc | 157
Thanks to Grieved @93 and others.
I don't see a way forward in any of the alternatives to Trump - I'll just come right out and say that. I don't think his policies will save the world - nobody alone can do that. And when you clothe a guy in concrete, how can you expect him to swim - but why on earth would you DO that? as lysias says. Yes, for sure; I want him to succeed. For my kids' sake too. There's lots I want, like debt forgiveness and universal health care, and an end to GMO"s so we can have bees again. Trump's not going to get all of that done, not by himself. But all this stupid opposition - what on earth does it serve except to convince the rest of the world that this country is past saving?
I want Saudi Arabia to stop bombing Yemen and destroying its cultural heritage with US assistance! I want corporations to stop acting like hegemonies and shrink down to sizeable units of society! If they're people, let them act like people! I don't say Trump has to do these things, we do! Us human beings! Us people!
End of rant.
This was good:
https://consortiumnews.com/2017/02/20/trumps-foreign-policy-retreat-or-rout/
Posted by: juliania | Feb 23 2017 20:46 utc | 158
@158 juliania... i am with you in all of that.. thanks...
Posted by: james | Feb 23 2017 21:39 utc | 159
Juliana @ 158--
I'm with you and james, but those wants/desires/needs are many decades old, and Trump's not the person to implement such change as he doesn't have any sense of their need. Indeed, he appears to be trying to put old wine into new bottles.
lysias @155--
"So I ask again: What need is there to seek global hegemony? What awful things happen if we don't?"
There is no "need." Rather, there is a desire within those obsessed with gaining power and control, keeping it and expanding it that appears to be the product of a psychological aberration that once upon a time was controlled by cultural tools: mores, ethics and other enculturated restrictions. Clearly, there're no negative outcomes for humanity if such power isn't sought. Rather, it's far likelier that harmony would result provided a fair distribution of resources occurred and all attempts at domination were deterred immediately. BUT, something would need to be done about the seemingly natural tendency toward hierarchy, which seems to occur regardless within both matriarchal and patriarchal cultures/societies. Look at Nature and see how it operates: It generates hierarchies--Alpha Males and such. That's where/how the concept of Social Darwinism arose and forms the basis for the idea that some people are "Chosen."
So, it seems there is no "need," but then Nature intervenes and promotes an artificial need through the mechanism of Human Nature. Yes, it's an extraordinary conundrum that's been puzzled over for millennia, and we're no closer to a solution now than when the Greeks produced their plays.
Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 24 2017 1:16 utc | 160
@ Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 23, 2017 8:16:47 PM | 160
... we're no closer to a solution now than when the Greeks produced their plays.
Well said.
Have held the view for many years now that holistically human history across societies/cultures has been a seesaw from dominance by psychopaths (and servants of) reaching critical mass and exerting excessive unbearable evil on society therefore resulting in their ultimately lethal (partial) culling ... though never extinction ... until their numbers and influence arise yet again ...
Perhaps if the tumbrels were to miraculously somehow roll, providing for a temporarily cull, respite and swinging of the pendulum back to instinctive an community of common humanity, perhaps 'science' could develop a means of detecting/testing for and 'isolate' such psychopaths from general society/authority ? Yet another unethical misplaced variant of eugenics ?
Ah, but that would only likely be subverted at some point, to select 'for' it ... too pessimistic ?
Posted by: Outraged | Feb 24 2017 2:57 utc | 161
@ Outraged who wrote: "...perhaps 'science' could develop a means of detecting/testing for and 'isolate' such psychopaths from general society/authority ? Yet another unethical misplaced variant of eugenics ?"
Actually, a better solution is available now but the implementation is immature. It is called neurofeedback therapy. In the past 10 years they have discovered an additional protocol for neurofeedback, called Infra Low Frequency (ILF), that provides non-operant conditioning brain "tuning" to heal Trump and his sons and daughters mental health problems.......along with many others....for the rest it will just make you better optimized and comfortable with who you are.
I am 61 sessions into my own journey with this therapy that normally only takes between 20 - 40 sessions and am already starting to write up my experience with it which I may share here in an open thread.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 24 2017 4:45 utc | 162
karlof@160
Wow, something has been in the air, indeed. As you may note by my timing here, I had already posted my suggestion on the current thread above, that we should return to the Greek plays - before seeing this:
"...we're no closer to a solution now than when the Greeks produced their plays."
Perhaps we're closer than we realize, if that's where we are.
And oh, psychohistorian - do be careful! I am remembering a college lecture on the positive aspects of lobotomy, complete with slides - one of which haunts me to this day - of happily 'cured' patients. The mind is so delicate, and what we think we know we do not.
Posted by: juliania | Feb 24 2017 15:09 utc | 163
@158 juliania
Nice, a very human post that. Time may well tell us that the election of Trump was just a prelude...the catalyst for something seismic. Whether it be in the form of French style revolutionary blood letting or reasoned political reformation who can know...? In either case, a good and proper humbling is in order and well overdue.
Posted by: MadMax2 | Feb 24 2017 17:10 utc | 164
Who was it that came up with the notion that:
"It has to get much worse - before it can get any better"?
In a relative way, the folks in question proclaim that,
what they are doing, serves for the US to get "any better" -
by making things much worse for America.
A blessing for these folks that that their clientele are not
bright, nor sharp, or really able to understand this.
It also shows that the populist is wearing no clothes.
Actually, the entire establishment is butt naked. It's
all there to see.
The fact that all this happened in a "staged" fashion,
pushes the conclusion that it was.
Such is the big lie, that you only have to repeat it over and
over again to make it believable for the willful.
Posted by: Nottheonly1 | Feb 24 2017 18:54 utc | 165
The NYT yesterday nyt:
Weakened Democrats Bow to Voters, Opting for Total War on Trump suggested that the Democratic Party has officially declared war on Trump .... I'm beginning to suspect that the centrist/warmonger faction is "rolling" the liberals in a number of ways ...
* encouraging them to do more unfocused (and useless) "acting out" (see Black Lives Matters, 3-1/2 years later)
* encouraging (no, they'd never do that) in behaviors that further polarize "average Americans" including centrist (but not fanatical) democrats and republicans ... possibly even in "sharpening the contradictions" ways that facilitate and accellerate repression by big-bad-Trump.
* lefists, if they take the bait, (who might have though the defeat of HRC provided an opening) will again be demonized for having brought "shame" on the party.
* activists types will be kept "busy" being activists and won't bother the "grown-ups" (as was done after the 2008 election when the Obama army suddenly found themselves unwelcome and blamed for not "holding Obama's feet to the fire")
wash, rinse, repeat
except for the double-good of not having to face why the party lost in 2016 and why they have (regularly) hemorrhaged to the point of being feeble for the last few decades ... yes, it's a one-hand-feeds-the-other perception management magic trick
I'd note also the "war" meme (war on terror, drugs, poverty, crime) and that this seems to be another displaced focus since -- cough -- Trump seems to be another "head of the snake" fixation (like so many past)
Have the Democratic elites decided to destroy the party (further) in order to "save" or be in a position to "rescue" it when -- like BLM -- in a year or two things are decidedly much, much worse.
I'm loathe to give them this much strategic "credit" but they are devious, particularly when attempting to punish and purge and vanquish the lefty-Bernie-Wing again, "forever"
Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Feb 24 2017 20:14 utc | 166
The comments to this entry are closed.
@ Temporarily Sane | Feb 22, 2017 3:01:22 PM | 81
"Putin has allowed Turkish troops into Syria. Why? How does this sit with Iran and the Syrian government?"
Because they struck a deal. Ankara is scared to death by the possibility of a Kurdish state all along its southern border. It was willing to give no matter what in exchange for the right to go in and prevent that, which Russia granted. 'Accept Assad, accept red lines or you'll be bombed' is the deal - the recent bombing of Turkish troops by the Russian AF was a clear warning. Accident, I mean. This also means dealing separately with Turkey and the US, which is a strategic advantage.
Accepting US troops to fight ISIS is something else. Once they're there, they won't leave, and they will secure the emerging Kurdish proto-state. But Assad can't do much to keep them out, and Russia is unwilling to commit more troops or otherwise escalate the situation. For Moscow, partition of Syria is certainly not ideal, but the lesser evil for now.
Posted by: smuks | Feb 22 2017 22:55 utc | 101