Obama Ordered Abuse Of Intelligence To Sabotage Trump Policies
In its last months the Obama administration ordered the intelligence agencies to collect and distribute information of contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia. This to prevent any change by the Trump administration of the hostile policy towards Russia that the Obama administration instituted. The intent was also to give the intelligence services blackmail material against the Trump crew to prevent any changes in their undue, freewheeling independence.
The above is reported in a little discussed New York Times piece published yesterday. The reporting angle captured in the headline is biased to set the Obama efforts into a positive light: Obama Administration Rushed to Preserve Intelligence of Russian Election Hacking.
Make no mistake by straight-reading that headline. Not single shred of evidence has been provided that "Russia hacked the election" or had anything to do with various leaks of Clinton related emails. A lot of fluff and chaff was thrown around but not even one tiny bit of evidence.
The Obama effort was clearly to sabotage the announced policy of the incoming administration of seeking better relations with Russia. Obama intended to undermine the will of the voters by abusing instruments of the state.
Excerpts from the piece:
In the Obama administration’s last days, some White House officials scrambled to spread information about ... possible contacts between associates of President-elect Donald J. Trump and Russians — across the government. Former American officials say they had two aims: to ensure that such meddling isn’t duplicated in future American or European elections, and to leave a clear trail of intelligence for government investigators.
It is completely normal for any campaign, and especially an incoming administration, to have contacts with foreign government officials.
Such contacts are needed to prepare policies and to get the facts right to plan and run a consistent foreign policy. I am very sure that there were hundreds of talks between Trump campaign and incoming administration officials with Israeli, European and Arab officials. These are regular contacts and they do not violate any law. There was and is no reasons at all to pick out talks with Russian officials as something sinister or even illegal. Again - no evidence has been provided that Russia somehow interfered in U.S. elections. None at all. There was no sound reason to give special treatment to campaign contacts with Russia.American allies, including the British and the Dutch, had provided information describing meetings in European cities between Russian officials — and others close to Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin — and associates of President-elect Trump, according to three former American officials who requested anonymity in discussing classified intelligence.Separately, American intelligence agencies had intercepted communications of Russian officials, some of them within the Kremlin, discussing contacts with Trump associates.
Here the NYT is divulging "sources and methods" - usually the holy grail of the intelligence community. U.S. intelligence is intercepting communication "within the Kremlin"? That is surely of interest to Russian counter-intelligence. One also has to ask who ordered the European intelligence services to watch over U.S. contacts with Russia. Were similar orders given to the Dutch secret services to report on contacts of the Clinton campaign with Israeli officials? Undue influencing attempts of Israeli politicians on U.S. policies are legend. Were they watched? If not why not?
Mr. Trump has denied that his campaign had any contact with Russian officials, and at one point he openly suggested the American spy agencies had cooked up intelligence suggesting that the Russian government had tried to meddle in the presidential election. Mr. Trump has accused the Obama administration of hyping the Russia story line as a way to discredit his new administration.
Guess what - Trump is right. The "Russian hacking" story is not backed by any evidence at all. It IS cooked up. And to say Trump "accused" the Obama administration of attempts to "discredit his new administration" is quite weak. The article says exactly that. How else could one interpret the following section?
As Inauguration Day approached, Obama White House officials grew convinced that the intelligence was damning and that they needed to ensure that as many people as possible inside government could see it, even if people without security clearances could not. Some officials began asking specific questions at intelligence briefings, knowing the answers would be archived and could be easily unearthed by investigators — including the Senate Intelligence Committee, which in early January announced an inquiry into Russian efforts to influence the election.At intelligence agencies, there was a push to process as much raw intelligence as possible into analyses, and to keep the reports at a relatively low classification level to ensure as wide a readership as possible across the government — and, in some cases, among European allies. This allowed the upload of as much intelligence as possible to Intellipedia, a secret wiki used by American analysts to share information.
There was also an effort to pass reports and other sensitive materials to Congress. In one instance, the State Department sent a cache of documents marked “secret” to Senator Benjamin Cardin of Maryland days before the Jan. 20 inauguration.
The "intelligence community", it is specifically the CIA here which campaigned on the Clinton side, manipulated the classification of secrets for the sole purpose of instigating witch-hunt investigations against the incoming Trump administration. Such secrets were then used to decapitate the Trump administration with the first casualty being his selected national security advisor Flynn. We currently see an attack on the administration's attorney general Session for a routine talk with the Russian ambassador. This based on "Justice department officials", i.e. FBI flunkies. Why would they know who Session legitimately met in his function as U.S. Senator?
Slandered intelligence analysis was classified in low categories with the aim of distributing it far and wide and to practically guarantee that it would "leak" to the media. The real facts though were hidden as much as possible to provide no material for the Trump administration's defense.
The opposite happened with the most sensitive intelligence, including the names of sources and the identities of foreigners who were regularly monitored. Officials tightened the already small number of people who could access that information. They knew the information could not be kept from the new president or his top advisers, but wanted to narrow the number of people who might see the information, officials said.
Everyone was to receive the slander "analysis" the intelligence services provided but no one was supposed to know the sources and the real facts. This would make sure that the anti-Russia and anti-Trump "analysis" would leak but not the weak bits of facts it is based upon.
To repeat: The Obama administration and the intelligence services spared no effort to sabotage the policies of the incoming Trump administration and prepared the grounds for baseless investigation against it. A lot of dirt is now thrown based on that effort and the hope is that some may stick.
The whole effort by the Obama administration started only after Trump was elected:
In early December, Mr. Obama ordered the intelligence community to conduct a full assessment of the Russian campaign.In the weeks before the assessment was released in January, the intelligence community combed through databases for an array of communications and other information — some of which was months old by then — and began producing reports that showed there were contacts during the campaign between Trump associates and Russian officials.
Again - there is nothing illegal with such contacts. These are routine and happen all the time. U.S. ambassadors all over the world routinely talk with local politicians in foreign countries. The Russian ambassadors do nothing different. This is known as diplomacy. There was no reason for the incoming administration to avoid such contacts with German, South African, Japanese or Russian officials or semi-officials. They intelligence community knows that there is no evidence that Russia interfered in the election. If it had any it would have long provided it. The ffort is specifically against the announced Russia policy.
Trump was election in part because he promised better relations with Russia. What the intelligence services do here is to undermine the will of the people.
As Joanne Leon opined:
Need to recognize this for what it is. The incumbent president used SkyNet to try to rig election and as blackmail tool on his successor
Building on the illegal moves of the Cheney administration Obama installed and empowered the intelligence instruments and the precedence for such manipulations. Not since the worst days of J. Edgar Hoover has the U.S. seen such an interior assault on politicians and policies.
Trump now hired some partisan Russia expert from the Clinton aligned Brookings to run Russia policy in the NSC. She will institute anti-Russian bias in his policies. This would not have happened under a national security advisor Flynn. For now the Obama assault on Trump's announced policy has succeeded. Those who voted for Trump for a change in Russia policies have been disenfranchised.
I do not prefer Trump policies. Flynn was a maniac and Session is a crazy fossil. But that does not justify this anti-democratic abuse of the foreign policy instruments of the state against the political opponents within the country.
Obama created these tools and now left them for the Trump administration to use. They will come back to haunt the Democrats. What will they say and do when the Trump administration will use these against them?
Posted by b on March 2, 2017 at 19:54 UTC | Permalink
Given this, I still cannot figure out why Trump dumped Flynn. Was it because he thought Flynn had been disloyal to him?
Posted by: DocP | Mar 2 2017 20:33 utc | 2
It's bizarre because this "little maneuver" may end up being Obama's "true legacy" for all of his glad-handing and talking about a smooth transition ... I have to wonder how many Clintonite hold-overs were involve particularly now that someone on the "team" is blabbing to the NYT in smug "weren't we clever?" fashion.
Yes, this is yet another evidence-free "leak" confirming rumors I read weeks ago, again begging the question of why they didn't do something before leaving office and/or do something more clever (and brave) like actually leaking EVIDENCE ...which I doubt exists.
Part of today's rumors is how clearly the FBI/Comey are not-to-be-trusted ...
Obama not only failed to get Clinton elected, he also failed to thwart Trump from becoming president (in that 2 month transition period) and/or punish him by public humiliation (his poll numbers among supporters are still strong even as russiaphobia seems to be rising among them)
Trump seems to be change with wind direction... his expressed intention to effect a big increase in the military budget and expansion of nuclear weapons arsenal effectively outshadow some hope of "Russian detente" at least for his American.
Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Mar 2 2017 20:34 utc | 3
b - I have grown so tired of the 'Russians' bad and 'Democrats' good meme that I refuse to give it any airing other than allowing the target speak to the leveled allegations. The Dem's have lost any remaining respect I may have had for their Party and as for Obama and company, they have ripped off their neolib masks for all to see - a cult of petulant, small minded, extremely dangerous people who believed, still do, I'm sure, they were just inches away from ruling over the world, after winning WWIII, mind you.
Bottom line, a stake was driven through the heart of these neolibs globalist dreams by a real estate salesman no less, and their desperate need to remain relevant at all costs and their globalist dreams to stay alive -- screw the people, screw the economy, screw the innocents slaughtered by 50 years of their depraved national security policies, screw law and order, screw everyfrigginbody -- has them publicly throwing juvenile temper tantrums once only seen in small children.
What a spectacle this Democratic cult is making of themselves and pathetically, they are dragging the Democratic voters down with them. It's hard to watch.
This is too good to be true or is it.
Summary
20 Oct 2008 statement from the Russian Federation to the United states in relation to an alleged letter from the McCain campaign requesting a financial contrbution from Russia:
"We have received a letter from Senator John McCain requesting financial contribution to his Presidential campaign.
In this connection we would like to reiterate that Russian officials, the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations or the Russian Government do not finance political activity in foreign countries."
Wikileaks staff have verified the authenticity of the document.
https://wikileaks.org/wiki/Russian_mission_On_Fundraising_Letter_from_John_McCain_Election_Campaign,_20_Oct_2008
Posted by: harrylawh | Mar 2 2017 20:37 utc | 5
I doubt Obama is responsible for all the above mentioned attacks. It's the same kind of accusations the presstitute media make on Putin and Trump where 1 individual is singeld out. I think that Obama when he started his election campaign really had good intentions and honestly wanted to close Guantanamo, try to stop the slow motion genocide of Palestinians, do something about the coming climate change disaster, ... but eventually he was cornered (death treaths, money, personal grandeur, his health care which he so desperately wanted but at the price of everything else, ...) to become a feeble smiling face on an unelected deep state. Trump also has some good intentions but he was and apparently still is too independant and doesn't sufficiently tow the line yet of the deep state so they keep attacking him untill he's molded in the right way and becomes just another smiling face on the unelected deep state.
Posted by: xor | Mar 2 2017 20:40 utc | 6
@5: The pro-Clinton campaign murdered DNC whistleblower Seth Rich with 0% news attention. The McCain e-mail will:
1) not get any airtime
2) be brushed of as fake news
Posted by: xor | Mar 2 2017 20:48 utc | 7
I am starting to think we are seeing the end of the Democratic party.
Instead of having a good long cry into their pillows on election night. And maybe some bitterness for a week or two after. The Democrats have decided to keep doubling down.
In just a few months the Democrats entire identity has been attached to the hilarious 'teh Russians!!!' meme.
I don't see any signs of a grown up from the Democrats standing up and putting a stop to the self destructive infantile behavior we are seeing right now.
Posted by: VaginaHat | Mar 2 2017 20:56 utc | 8
thanks b... all about continuing to paint russia as the big bad boogie man... the exceptional nation / propaganda msm does it in an ongoing manner... they must have someone bad, so they can be so good!!!
Posted by: james | Mar 2 2017 20:57 utc | 9
"We currently see an attack on the administration's attorney general Session for a routine talk with the Russian ambassador. This based on "Justice department officials", i.e. FBI flunkies. Why would they know who Session legitimately met in his function as U.S. Senator?"
As I understand it, the attack on Sessions is not for talking with Russian officials(although I agree many in Washington think that is horrible) but for stating during his confirmation that he himself had no contact.
Posted by: Oscar Romero | Mar 2 2017 21:11 utc | 10
When pathological liars get caught in their lie, they just move forward by lying some more. Indeed, the Outlaw US Empire has lied so much and for so many decades, it no longer has a clue as to the truth about much of anything. Upending the Culture of Lying could be Trump's greatest achievement, although he must overcome himself first.
Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 2 2017 21:13 utc | 11
The conclusion is accurate. The new President can bide his time and accumulate knowledge and experience of the levers of power over the first few quarters and then gradually bring the ship of state round to the kind of course needed. The idea that everything can be done yesterday is just naive. I suspect he'll choose his battles very well and will count a few initial setbacks as inevitable while he's setting in.
Posted by: Cortes | Mar 2 2017 21:16 utc | 12
It's funny to think of these people complaining about spies spying on them and then leaking stuff to the media - no matter the party. After all it's okay when they do it to us and say we should not complain if we have nothing to hide. Ha! It's similar to hearing DEMs complain about Trump using Executive Orders. Both parties do this all the time. It's terrible when the other guys gather power to themselves but okay when their own do it. So much of the govt is politicized which engenders corruption including the CIA.
nmb 1
Thanks. Obama was truly a covert president. Destroy Libya under a "no fly zone" UN mandate and get the Nobel Peace Prize? Sweet! Why DEMs had no problem with him doing this and partnering with the banksters at the start of his presidency is beyond me.
harrylawh 5
Not sure what to think about McCain fundraising letter to Russian Federation. Most of us get letters from Nigerians, Microsoft, FBI, etc requesting money, too. His Rothschild ties and fundraising are another matter .....
Posted by: Curtis | Mar 2 2017 21:26 utc | 13
Oscar 10, I think the question was 'has the Trump election organization had any Russian contact?
Sessions answered no!, or not that i am aware of. They did not ask 'as per your work as senator and on senate armed services committee , well then yes i did meet one Russian ambassador as per meeting fifty others ambassadors. I have just heard Sessions has recursed himself for the witch hunt /investigation. wow
Posted by: col | Mar 2 2017 21:35 utc | 14
@10 I realize Breitbart, for some, is not a solid source, but their story includes the full questions as asked by Franken and Leahy, which apparently both the Post and NYTs conveniently left out of their tall tale - http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/03/01/jeff-sessions-fake-news-washington-post-misquote-used-target/
It has become impossible to have a rational discussion with people regarding the alleged Russian hacking after Trump said he thought it was Russia. Has he made any further statements?
Posted by: Tobin Paz | Mar 2 2017 21:51 utc | 16
The neo-McCarthyism is working, and not just in terms of blocking rapprochement with Russia. As b notes, the appointment of Fiona Hill signals the end of that dream. Now the target is Trump's stand against the whole globalized multilateral trade system. The biggest dud for Trump in terms of applause on Tuesday night was when, while rattling off his many accomplishments during his month in office, he got to scrapping the TPP. You could hear a pin drop. If Trump would just capitulate on trade and offshoring I'm sure all caterwauling about contacts with Russia would quickly disappear.
Posted by: Mike Maloney | Mar 2 2017 22:16 utc | 17
I agree that no credible shred of evidence - insofar as I can see, read, research, find - has been produced that Russia somehow "hacked" or managed to significantly "influence" the election. Frankly, from where I sit, if anyone significantly influenced the election, it was Comey. His Big Reveal - what was it? 1 week ahead of Nov 8? - that the Fibbies were still trolling through Clinton's emails, I believe, had an impact which might have been big enough to cause enough voters to pull the lever for Trump, rather than Clinton. I really do feel this was one election where many citizens - myself included - were truly on the fence until that final moment of making the choice.
Why does no one ever mention Comeny's name? Because if the D's and other PTB are really pissed that Trump won, then why aren't they going after Comey's scalp?
I didn't listen to Trump's SOTU (it's just a dog and pony show), but I happened to catch some R & D pol "interviews" afterwards. The Rs all whined about taxes and regulations, as if getting rid of both (well only getting rid of taxes for the mega-super-rich; the rest of us better cough up) is going work some Unicorn miracle on the economy. The Ds - all of them - whined and whined about Russia. I had to turn off the radio. Can't hack it.
It's hard to see where this leads. Do they really think that they can get Trump impeached? To what end? Then what? Do the Dems actually think Mike Dence is "better"? Heaven help me.
I'm not a big Trump supporter. Frankly, I truly believe he's in way over his head, and I don't think he really thought he'd win. I also don't think he's that interested in doing a lot of the heavy-duty work that this job entails. But I seriously doubt that he wants to be run out of town on a rail.
The clusterf*ck is getting really old, really quickly.
And frankly, I'm beyond disgusted with the real Deplorables - worthless useless wretched Democratic politicians who waste their time and MY money running around like headless chickens shrieking about Russia, but then casually vote in favor of some of Trump's more egregious cabinet nominees. What's UP with that??
Sheesh. So. Sick. Of. This. Nonsense.
Posted by: RUKidding | Mar 2 2017 22:20 utc | 18
To Mike Maloney @17 - you might be onto something there. I didn't listen to the SOTU, but I can imagine that no one THERE was happy about the scuppering of TPP. The fact that it makes the voters happy is, clearly, irrelevent. And yes, the PTB do not want a peaceful rapprochement with Russia. That has become abundantly clear.
Posted by: RUKidding | Mar 2 2017 22:24 utc | 19
A questionnaire from Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee, asked Sessions whether he had “been in contact with anyone connected to any part of the Russian government about the 2016 election, either before or after election day.”
Sessions answered “no.”
Almost all media reports today have omitted the key words "about the 2016 election" which makes Sessions "No" to appear to be a bald-faced lie -- laziness, incompetence, malicious intent .. take your pick.
Posted by: chet380 | Mar 2 2017 23:58 utc | 20
So what I've noticed recently is that there is some consensus in Average Joe Internet Commentator World(real "journalists" just can't come out and say this...yet, at least) that Trump must have borrowed money from the Russians at some point, to be so "involved" with them. And that since this would be impossible to prove, it's certainly true!
Talk about pathologies on top of pathologies on top of...
Posted by: sejomoje | Mar 3 2017 0:04 utc | 21
I like "http://fredoneverything.org/" - and today he talks about why the Trump idea of getting rid of Mexicans won't work. Last week he had a bit to say about why 'we' need to hate/fear Russians.
Prior to that Fred wrote an article that discussed: "Trump did not cause the deep division in the country. It caused him."
What has all that to do with B's post today? Well because each of his articles point out the obvious: Trump is generally wrong and is therefore easy to attack. The problem is that the attacks are by people even more out of touch with reality than Trump. And that takes some serious doing! So, Obama (tried to) rigged things for Trump? Did it work? Really?
Ineptitude isn't a one off thing. Our leaders aren't capable of leading. Leading implies understanding where one can reasonably expect to go. World hegemony is not going to happen. So why do all y'all keep dancing around acting like you know what the hell is going on? I sure don't know, and am just bright enough to admit it. Are you?
OK attack dogs ... your turn.
Posted by: c de toro | Mar 3 2017 0:17 utc | 22
Trump needs to prosecute the Clintons and put them in prison. And, commute the sentence after a few months. This will shut people up.
Posted by: mischi | Mar 3 2017 0:20 utc | 23
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/dailycaller/awanseries.html
"Five members of a Pakistani family under criminal investigation for allegedly misusing their positions as computer administrators for dozens of Democrats in the House of Representatives were paid at least $4 million from July 2009 to the present, The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group has learned.Evidence suggests some of the dozens of House Democrats — many of whom serve on the intelligence, homeland security and foreign affairs committees — who employed the suspects were inexplicably paying people they rarely or never saw. See the interactive graphic at the end of this story for the names of the employing representatives.
The suspects had full access to the emails and office computer files of the members for whom they worked. A focus of the investigation by the U.S. Capitol Police is an off-site server on which congressional data was allegedly loaded without the knowledge of authorities."
Forget Russia. I used to be a gov't contractor systems admin. Never made as much money as these Pak serpents, but I know for damn sure that these guys probably had the key to the congressional networks and thus their data.
The dems are replaying the Clinton impeachment process almost word for word. They're so desperate to know why they keep losing to republicans they are trying and failing miserably to be like them. Of concern bcs the deep state knows no boundaries, as far as we know, as to how far they'll go.
Trump's best choice would be to accelerate the draining of the swamp and basically shut down the CIA and DOS. Cut the cables. What meaningful work are the intelligence agencies doing except commit sedition by supporting the corrupt prior administration in bringing down the house? Get some trusted DOJ auditors to freeze CIA and DOS and ancillary orgs in place and find the real evidence or lack thereof that are the fountain of unnamed sources.
Posted by: h | Mar 2, 2017 3:35:11 PM | 4
What a spectacle this Democratic cult is making of themselves and pathetically, they are dragging the Democratic voters down with them. It's hard to watch.
I second that except that there is not enough popcorn for the demo doomsday show. When their supporters reach down in their pockets and find nothing is left, the true revolution is nigh.
Posted by: stumpy | Mar 3 2017 0:36 utc | 24
"Here the NYT is divulging "sources and methods" - usually the holy grail for the intelligence community. U.S. intelligence is intercepting communication "within the Kremlin"? That is surely of interest to Russian counter-intelligence."
We been played.
Posted by: stumpy | Mar 3 2017 0:47 utc | 25
Question: why Trump is no using NDAA powers to declare CIA leadership as an domestic enemy combatants send to Guantanamo?
Seriously. But of course all of it is a farce, a puppet show for our Orson Welles " Martian invasion" entertainment.
Trump had tools will not use them since it is all an act..
Posted by: Kalen | Mar 3 2017 0:51 utc | 26
@24 'trusted DOJ auditors'? Would they be similar to trusted impartial FBI agents? Guaranteed not to leak?
Posted by: dh | Mar 3 2017 0:52 utc | 27
Great analysis as usual. This deplorable is planning to pray earnestly tonight for someone in the Trump administration to read this as well and start turning these same tactics loose upon the democrats, Soros, Obama and Hillary.
It is about f---ing time for Trump to start bitchslapping these mf'ers!
Posted by: Morongobill | Mar 3 2017 0:56 utc | 28
Sorry, got carried away. I meant to say, It is about time for Trump to start bitch slapping these slimy bastards!
Posted by: Morongobill | Mar 3 2017 1:04 utc | 29
Well. Well. Well. Seems the White House announced Jared Kushner also met with the Russian ambassador back in December 2016. In SAME meeting with Flynn. Looks like Jared needs to STEP DOWN from his duties as chief-zionist-son-in-law and Soros-Israel-Mossad mole.
If Trump dumps Jared I might give his administration another chance...
Posted by: Take Me | Mar 3 2017 1:07 utc | 30
What I find mind boggling about the Democrats right now is how vulnerable Trump is in reality.
Although most of it is rationalized as grand master 4d chess, there is a massive amount of disappointment in Trump in office versus Trump a few months ago: the cabinet filled with bankers, the sickening pandering to the Israeli and Saudi regimes, the inane cannabis crackdown planned by Sessions, etc.
There are huge numbers of hardcore Trump supporters who have been teetering on the edge of continued support or jumping ship in bitter anger and disappointment.
The Democrats idiotic 'teh Russians!!!' garbage is causing all of those borderline Trump supporters to rally to his defense.
An Armed Services Committee member meeting with a foreign ambassador? Really???
That line of attack isn't going anywhere with the American public beyond the "I wept and was literally shaking in my safespace the night Trump was elected" crowd.
Why the hell continue to push it?
Posted by: VaginaHat | Mar 3 2017 1:34 utc | 31
@xor 'I think that Obama when he started his election campaign really had good intentions and honestly wanted to close Guantanamo, try to stop the slow motion genocide of Palestinians, do something about the coming climate change disaster, ... but eventually he was cornered ...'
i think that a lot of people replayed that same thought about trump that ... when he started his election campaign he really had good intentions and honestly wanted to deconstruct the cold war against russia, try to stop the slow motion genocide of syrians - though certainly not of palestinians, and no doubt ever that they would do nothing about the coming climate change disaster, embrace and extend it surely, but that was their own view as well ... 'but eventually he was cornered', is now their story ...
back-to-back hopey-changelings and deniers. there is no hope from the frauds and freaks of the american political class. their wholesale replacement by / with us ordinary americans is the only cure.
the real story is the open ascendency of the 'intelligence community', and their clintonesque fellow travelers within the government and in politics, just below water level. their unanimous support by the tnc msm.
trumps only chance was pre-emptively to attack the 'intelligence community' day-one. he could have taken down the nsa, shut-down the dominant 'operations' wing of the cia ... he flinched. he had no plan. he was done before he started. whether they actually kill him or not ... he probably doesn't "need killin'" in their eyes now ... his hoped-for 'change' administration is dead as a duck, if there was ever a quack within it to begin with.
Posted by: jfl | Mar 3 2017 1:40 utc | 32
The new DNC chaiman Tom Perez is totally hysterical and heinous. He represents well the present psychological state of the DNC.
The dems made a huge error in forcing Hillary in the throat of the Americans despite her dubious records and actions instead of the "cleaner" Sanders. They are now trying to make the whole nation pay for their own mistake by creating confusion around Trump and thus weakening the USA.
It is suicide.
Posted by: virgile | Mar 3 2017 1:47 utc | 33
33 "They are now trying to make the whole nation pay for their own mistake by creating confusion around Trump and thus weakening the USA.
It is suicide."
Sounds like good news.
US implosion will make the rest of the world a better place.
Posted by: Peter AU | Mar 3 2017 1:55 utc | 34
"Tom Perez"
Yes.
I thought that the DNC was going to do a complete rebuild of the party after the Hillary fiasco. Tom Perez makes it clear that not only have they not learned anything from their mistakes, they are doubling down.
It's like seeing someone wake up in their car in some random person's swimming pool they drunkenly crashed into the night before and instead of in horror realizing they have a problem and need to change they steal a car to go out drinking again.
The DNC don't believe they failed with Hillary. They feel they were almost able to package and then ram their corrupt lunatic warmongering wackjob down the voters throats. If it hadn't been for the Rust Belt they would have gotten away with it.
Posted by: VaginaHat | Mar 3 2017 2:03 utc | 35
I compiled a list of Murdered American Journalists/Activists/whistle-blowers, just in case anyone of imperialist shills claims otherwise.
The list is not complete. so if you know other names to be included in the list, please leave your comments there.
The List of Murdered American Journalists/Activists
Mr. Trump could solve most of his "problems" by simply releasing his tax returns. If his business relationship with Russia is more important than running the Empire, people should know. If the so-called "intercepts" are real evidence, Trump has the power to disprove them by releasing them through declassification.
Case closed!!
Posted by: ben | Mar 3 2017 5:56 utc | 37
Excerpt from my 37 link...
"If in fact all of this is “non-sense,” Trump has the power as president to make that clear immediately — by declassifying all government intercepts of communications between Russian nationals and anyone in his orbit."
Posted by: ben | Mar 3 2017 6:00 utc | 38
Deep State hacking the administration. It's a blame game thingy.
Posted by: per | Mar 3 2017 8:13 utc | 39
If one needed any more proof that 9/11 was a False Flag and all the 'al CIA Duh' ISIS, DAESH, al Nusra attacks so prominently featured in the MSM are staged, then the MSM obsession with Russia is the key.
Last Summer, there was a virtual non-stop litany of 'al CIA Duh' attacks with around-the-clock reporting, now they've disappeared and we get 24/7 Russia bashing, so we'll now hate the new designated Bad Man.
Posted by: Greg Bacon | Mar 3 2017 11:11 utc | 40
George F. Kennan was an American diplomat and historian. He was known best as an advocate of a policy of containment of Soviet expansion during the Cold War on which he later reversed himself...
At one time, I was an actor in the conduct of foreign policy. I became convinced that I was accomplishing nothing in that capacity, that the problems were deeper, that the answer lay in a direct approach to the public and in an effort to explain to the public what it was really about. Today, even that seems futile. Myths and errors are being established in the public mind more rapidly than they can be broken down. The mass media are too much for us. There is nothing that can be done about it. To correct this, you would have to educate the educators. I must say that I have lost all confidence in the freedom of the mass media. The fact of the matter is that in this country McCarthyism has already won, in the sense of making impossible the conduct of an intelligent foreign policy.- April 17, 1951
There is, let me assure you, nothing in nature more egocentrical than the embattled democracy. It soon becomes the victim of its own war propaganda. It then tends to attach to its own cause an absolute value which distorts everything else. Its enemy becomes the embodiment of all evil. Its own side, on the other hand, is the center of all virtue. The contest comes to be viewed as having a final, apocalyptic quality. If we lose, all is lost; life will no longer be worth living; there will be nothing to be salvaged. If we win, then everything will be possible; all our problems will become soluble; the one great source of evil--our enemy--will have been crushed; the forces of good will then sweep forward unimpeded; all worthy aspirations will be satisfied.- From Russia and the West under Lenin by George Kennan (1960)
Were the Soviet Union to sink tomorrow under the waters of the ocean, the American military-industrial establishment would have to go on, substantially unchanged, until some other adversary could be invented. Anything else would be an unacceptable shock to the American economy.- "Foreword to 'The Pathology of Power'" by Norman Cousins (Norton, 1987), from At a Century's Ending: Reflections 1982-1995 (Norton, 1997, ISBN 0-393-31609-2), Part II: Cold War in Full Bloom, p. 118
Posted by: Outraged | Mar 3 2017 12:34 utc | 41
cropped-tumblr_n46izrfhcy1qk5p59o1_500.jpg
Today,s Thought
Searching for Truth
ABOUT
UNCATEGORIZED
Note from blogger: read and listen to this very carefully about this meeting. I have said all along that there is a behind the curtain movement to stop Trump that could be called, subversion and treason. : Zero Hedge: Trey Gowdy (R-SC) After FBI Director Comey Briefing: “Be Very Very Careful” Relying On NYT and Washington Post For Leaked News
March 3, 2017fromawaysiteEdit
1 Vote
Zero Hedge: Trey Gowdy (R-SC) After FBI Director Comey Briefing: “Be Very Very Careful” Relying On NYT and Washington Post For Leaked News. http://google.com/newsstand/s/CBIwsbXmuzQ
I do not prefer Trump policies. Flynn was a maniac and Session is a crazy fossil. But that does not justify this anti-democratic abuse of the foreign policy instruments of the state against the political opponents within the country
well, directed against the chief executive, it's certainly called treason, b, and any decent prosecutor could nail any one of these treasonous fuckers in an open-and-shut case. but the entirety of the US political apparatus is so corrupt and dysfunctional that this one obvious and even obligatory procedure remains implausibly ignored. the rot is so profound and endemic that even the few sane voices out there ring like tokens jingling in someone's pocket.
Posted by: john | Mar 3 2017 14:26 utc | 43
Sessions' current defense is that he met with the Russians but not in any context related to the Trump campaign. Possible. Can anyone prove otherwise? Certainly the Democrats smell blood but what will it accomplish beyond being a thorn in Trump's side? What are they hoping for? Impeachment? And the DEM side had interesting meetings recently, too like Bill Cinton and Loretta Lynch which they claimed was perfectly innocent.
Posted by: Curtis | Mar 3 2017 14:27 utc | 44
Zbigniew Brzezinski is an American political scientist and geostrategist, who served as a counselor to President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1966 to 1968 and was President Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor from 1977 to 1981 ... a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Bilderberg Group & co-founded the Trilateral Commission with David Rockefeller ...
For America, the chief geopolitical prize is Eurasia.- The Grand Chessboard (1997)Fortunately for America, Eurasia is too big to be politically one. Eurasia is thus the chessboard on which the struggle for global primacy continues to be played.
The scope of America's global hegemony is admittedly great, but its depth is shallow, limited by both domestic and external restraints.
It is also a fact that America is too democratic at home to be autocratic abroad. This limits the use of America's power, especially its capacity for military intimidation. Never before has a populist democracy attained international supremacy. But the pursuit of power is not a goal that commands popular passion, except in conditions of a sudden threat or challenge to the public's sense of domestic well-being. The economic self-denial (that is, defense spending) and the human sacrifice (casualties, even among professional soldiers) required in the effort are uncongenial to democratic instincts. Democracy is inimical to imperial mobilization.
In brief, for the United States, Eurasian geostrategy involves the purposeful management of geostrategically dynamic states and the careful handling of geopolitically catalytic states, in keeping with the twin interests of America in the short-term: preservation of its unique global power and in the long-run transformation of it into increasingly institutionalized global cooperation. To put it in a terminology that hearkens back to the more brutal age of ancient empires, the three grand imperatives of imperial geostrategy are to prevent collusion and maintain security dependence among the vassals, to keep tributaries pliant and protected, and to keep the barbarians from coming together.
Posted by: Outraged | Mar 3 2017 14:47 utc | 45
"Some officials began asking specific questions at intelligence briefings, knowing the answers would be archived and could be easily unearthed by investigators — including the Senate Intelligence Committee, which in early January announced an inquiry into Russian efforts to influence the election."
I feel as if I have a front-row seat at the rewriting of history. Here we see one technique at work: placing "handles" on minutes of proceedings.
Of course the NYT and its ilk can be shown to have practiced another technique in the past five weeks: Introducing fake facts and then bouncing them through the echo chamber to later use them in further reporting as if they were real facts. You might call it "laundering reality." An example from today's New York Times:
His announcement, delivered at a terse news conference, came after a day of rapid-fire developments in a murky affair that has shadowed President Trump, jeopardized his closest aides and intensified pressure for a full inquiry into Moscow’s attempts to influence the election as well as the policies of the new administration. (emphasis added)
Posted by: Gene Poole | Mar 3 2017 14:56 utc | 46
Sessions is an idiot.
His quick recusal has fed the witch hunt. He should've fought back for a few days so that media covered his side of the story. His quick recusal, coming after Flynn's resignation, has allowed MSM to play up the innuendo of Russian ties.
Its surprising how slow the Trump Administration has been to counter the Russian scaremongering. Especially after the Flynn take-down.
Trump needs to hold another news conference to slap down the media.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Mar 3 2017 14:58 utc | 47
Today at Counter Punch:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/03/03/the-fdr-myth/
Really?
That is why ... the policy remains unchanged. Why there is little difference between the parties, and why a third party is a pipe dream. This can be said of all presidents.
How do we change? Rid ourselves of us ...
Simple. Really
Posted by: rg the lg | Mar 3 2017 15:30 utc | 48
john @ 43: Good post, stating the obvious, missed by most folks!
rg the lg @ 46: Thanks for the link. A needed War, no doubt, but to discount entirely FDR's contributions through Fed. programs? I don't think so. Glass Stegall produced a stable banking system til'the mid eighties, and Social Security has kept many Seniors out of poverty since it's inception.
Problem is, what's going on now is just another Dog and Pony show, since Trump has the power, through declassification, to silence the ongoing BS.
Distract the rubes, and rape the system for their buddies, the uber rich.
Posted by: ben | Mar 3 2017 15:58 utc | 49
And, all the following COULD ALL go away, by Mr. Trump's own hand..
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017427173
So, do it already!!!
Posted by: ben | Mar 3 2017 16:35 utc | 50
rg the lg @46--
One of the points I made to students when dealing with the Great Depression is that the Throw Away Culture of Consumerism hadn't been developed because its key ingredient--technological obsolescence--hadn't yet been integrated into the design stage of the engineering of products: Things were built to last, and for the vast majority one item--radio, for example--was enough. In 1940, there were 35 million households, http://www.prb.org/Publications/Reports/2012/us-household-change.aspx ; so, only 35 million radios were needed to satisfy total demand, with growth of the radio market limited to the increase in the number of households. And the same held true for all other durable consumer goods. The only way for total demand to grow would be to convince people to buy more than one for the household and/or have the product fail after, oh say, 5 years. Your linked article details this using bombs as the product, but the underlying economic facts are the same.
Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 3 2017 16:37 utc | 51
Does anyone know of a good source for listing the contacts of previous presidential candidates/ incoming administration's contacts with foreign politicians, ambassadors, and public figures? Someone has surely compiled this already, don't have the time currently to search it out...
Posted by: Don Wiscacho | Mar 3 2017 17:03 utc | 52
For the few thinkers on this site, may I suggest:
https://www.poemhunter.com/robinson-jeffers/
Take a few, and read his poems.
For the non-thinkers, avoid him.
Posted by: rg the lg | Mar 3 2017 17:12 utc | 53
PLANNED OBSOLENCE! Our future... At least somebody has a plan.
Posted by: TrixiefromDixie | Mar 3 2017 17:17 utc | 54
Thank you, h@15 for the Breitbart piece. I don't find it any more offensive than other news blogs online - in fact it was more informative. (First time going there for me but it won't be the last.) There is also a 'most popular' side link there to Mark Levin's call for an investigation of the Obama administration's lame duck activities. My first reaction on reading b's piece, which begins with the word 'Obama', is and was, isn't this treason? (Point of clarification: I called for his impeachment back when the drone wars started.)
"Need to recognize this for what it is. The incumbent president used SkyNet to try to rig election and as blackmail tool on his successor."
It seems to me that the tactics indeed have been 'a blackmail tool.' It is very interesting that the NYT felt the need to include this in their otherwise faulty analysis of congressional questioning of Sessions. Perhaps they are feeling the ground shift; I sure hope so.
Posted by: juliania | Mar 3 2017 18:10 utc | 55
ben says:
Problem is, what's going on now is just another Dog and Pony show, since Trump has the power, through declassification, to silence the ongoing BS
yes ben, in fact, if one cuts through all the mindfuckery there are really just two essential criteria to consider in regard to the dreary forecast...
1)does the incoming administration prosecute the former one for its crimes?
2)does the incoming administration slash military spending?
Posted by: john | Mar 3 2017 18:14 utc | 56
The ‘blame Russia for hacks and interfering in US elections’ is grandiose garbage. Yet, it fulfills multiple skewed, confused aims:
a) an outside enemy to blame for Killary-Dem loss. Rational ppl would say if she — Obama, couldn’t prevent mysterious underground Russian hacking and highjacking the elections, how can she be Prez? Huh? (> USA as world laughing-stock.)
b) opprobium is diverted away from the US political corp-PTB-controlled duopoly - vote rigging (both parties use it massively) is ignored, as Dems. can’t attack Repubs in the tight, upper circle. The scenario of divide-to-rule must be maintained in the interests of both parties.
c) the relentless pressure on Russia, Putin as the horrrific bogey-man is reified, as the destruction of the USSR via Gorby-Yeltsin ultimately failed (footnotes skipped), Russia has risen from the ashes to present, hmmm, various serious challenges. The US, besides needing enemies always, after so much destruction, is now facing, to maintain it’s hegemony, no longer “enemies” of the peripheral kind, for ex. Milosevic, Saddam, Kadafi.… Time for real men to go to Teheran, to face up to Russia, put an end to N. Korea, etc. etc.
d) it appeases and keeps on board a varied set of long-time anti-Russia pay-to-play actors and influential infiltrators (from Ukraine, Baltics, Israel, Soros, NATO in part, etc.) who might get very pissed. After all, being beholden to the highest (or even any small-time) bidder is to be gone along with to continue present arrangements.
Posted by: Noirette | Mar 3 2017 18:20 utc | 57
54
answer to question 1, not with that fucking doorknob Sessions as AG, he's damaged goods
answer to question 2, does a $54,000,000,000 increase look like a cut to you?
Posted by: peter | Mar 3 2017 18:25 utc | 58
@20
"About the 2016" I interpret as prepositional in terms of a time frame, not about the content of discussion.
Sessions did lie. And as he was applying for the top lawyer job, he should have known better.
Leave it to Democrats to clutch defeat from the claws of victory with all their Russian hysterics. This is the birth of the Democratic Birther movement and the GOP deserve every single minute. F**k 'me both.
Posted by: P walker | Mar 3 2017 18:29 utc | 59
The truth doesn't matter. It never mattered. Y'all know this is payback for Fast and Furious, emailgate, Benghazi,...etc. Heck, this goes back to Clinton's blowie in the oval office. Whitewater turns into an investigation of Clinton's sex life but he ultimately gets impeached on a lie. It's all about producing enough smoke so that you can drag people into a hearing and then catch them in a lie. That's all. This is classic obstruction. Finally the Democrats have learned how to play by the GOP playbook. But this is do or die for the Dems. If they fail and this all fizzles they will look inept and the next time they get into power it will get used against them and everyone will conveniently forget all the fake scandals the GOP has produced just as they curiously are forgetting now.
Posted by: Kronos | Mar 3 2017 19:12 utc | 60
A couple of weeks ago, the US Senate reportedly invited Christopher Steele to speak before them. He is the British (ex-)Intelligence man behind the fake report attempting to discredit Trump. There has been no reply to the request. I wonder if he will ever leave his MI6-provided safe house? If the request really was made, it suggests the Senators are prepared to believe the BS against Trump, and are desperate for any excuse to get rid of him.
Link not posted as this website totally mangles it.
Posted by: Yonatan | Mar 3 2017 19:29 utc | 61
back in August 2016 .... but the arrangement fell through ... now being used to support the notion (amazingly) that the FBI took the dossier contents "seriously" ... although Brennan never bothered to read it (because it wasn't worth his time not being an official finding) and Bob Woodward (longtime assumed CIA asset) called it garbage. I suspect Steele didn't want to be publicly defined by the dodgy dossier ...
To me this points to continued Clintonista influence/pressure to revive interesting the dossier ... which CNN claimed to have partially "verified" -- although only iirc the parts about where folks were on certain dates and times and some meetings mentioned.
Dan Rather compared the Russian scandal to a bomb with a lit fuse ... so I was hoping he had some insider info about when detonation might occur ... but no, this all endless boy-who-cried-wolf posturing. It's embarrassing -- today's scoop over at Salon is that Kushner was paid $50,000 for a speech to (gasp) Russians ...
tyt: The Basic Formula For Every Shocking Russia/Trump Revelation.
Team Trump is "caving" too quickly ... lending fuel to the fire of "appearance of impropriety" ... and suggesting they are less than confidence of "the facts" ...Apparently Russians have such powerful cooties that a meet&greet is now allowed to be called a "meeting"
Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Mar 3 2017 19:49 utc | 62
@61 If Steele goes to Washington he better take the golden showers video. Nothing less will convince the American public.
Posted by: dh | Mar 3 2017 19:50 utc | 63
P walker @59:
Sessions did lie.He was asked if he had contact with Russians regarding the campaign. He answered the question that was asked.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Mar 3 2017 19:55 utc | 64
Interesting. Hear-hear - please, read this and how it is done in a real world and then perhaps further "alternative" conclusions should be made. I love some comments, but some are really, politely put - out there.
Posted by: laserlurk | Mar 3 2017 20:12 utc | 65
Posted by: Kronos | Mar 3, 2017 2:12:48 PM | 60
It's almost uncanny how closely the democrats are following the Republican "whitewater" playbook including breathless cries of "he lied" and "lock him up" ... as if they now endorse standards they protested wrt Clinton in the Server scandal peregrinations and/or Bill Clinton's "parsing" defense of misleading testimony ... yes, it all depends of what "is" means ... except it doesn't.
I think it makes the Democrats look weak and hypocritical ... which is a very odd way for "the party" to prove its indispensability to future generations ... not that most internet blue-shirts will notice
Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Mar 3 2017 20:12 utc | 66
Kronos @60:Y'all know this is payback ...No. I don't believe that this is business as usual.
Pat Lang at SST has asks: "Should Dr. Evelyn Farkas be charged with espionage?". What Farkas is doing is not business as usual.
The Media onslaught against Trump ... is not business as usual.
The support of extremists as a weapon of state, the new Cold War, war propaganda and demonizing dissent are all at a level that is shockingly NOT business as usual (unless war itself is considered 'business as usual').
The Democrats doubling down on failure by electing Perez as chair is not business as usual. By all rights the Progressive wing should have gained power.
I won't belabor the point. Recent years have seen a fundamental change, which IMO is related to:
1) Citizens United, which destroyed representative democracy in the US;2) the Israeli-Saudi Alliance to manipulate US foreign policy;
3) The increased powers of the security services after 9-11.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Mar 3 2017 20:17 utc | 67
There's a renewed focus on Russian Ambassador Kislyak now after news of the meetings with Sessions. I caught the US version of BBC last night and they interviewed a UVa Center Foreign Policy rep who said he had met Kislyak and thought he was a nice man and diplomat but that Kislyak was also a member of the FBS and a spy. According to a CNN story, US intel people say Kislyak is a top spy and recruiter of spies. Possible although he doesn't have to be - too high profile. (And he's loyal to Russia. Geee, if only our diplomats could be loyal to the US.) One thing we do know is that US embassies have been used by the CIA for years. Everyone does it. But were Kislyak's meetings with US officials including Sessions anything nefarious?
At the end of the BBC show, they mentioned SAA retaking Palmyra. (Yay!) But the opposition was not enthused and compared the back-and-forth to Tom & Jerry. But at least the SAA is making progress against ISIS in Syria.
Posted by: Curtis | Mar 3 2017 20:22 utc | 68
Operation GRaccident is a Go!
Trump to Merkel: "Cut ties with Russia, or we have a GRaccident...."
March 14.
Intended outcome "buh bye Germany"...
July, Syria, Tabqa Dam demolition
August, Turkey Greece war
September, GRaccident
November Russian Turkish war
May 2018 WwIII.
West started with Greece, it will end with Greece. ...3 2 1.
Posted by: Farben N.W. 7 | Mar 3 2017 21:27 utc | 69
Remember when Killary asked tRump if he would quietly accept his defeat?
Posted by: TrixiefromDixie | Mar 3 2017 21:41 utc | 70
Obama's Campaign met with Canadian officials in 2008 to reassure them that Obama was lying about revoking NAFTA.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/us/politics/04nafta.html
Posted by: Peter VE | Mar 3 2017 21:56 utc | 71
It's time to finally admit - the US is in a civil war. The conflict is still in the initial stages and so far is confined to the elites and their proxies, but can engulf the whole of the country at any time (particularly if Trump is ousted). With the society being split right down the middle, and the partisans becoming increasingly angry and radicalized, the eventuality of the military-run government or a total breakdown and disintegration is becoming more and more plausible by the day. This puppy is terminal and has run out of chances.
Posted by: telescope | Mar 3 2017 22:43 utc | 72
I love spokesman Maria Zakarhova's response to claims of Kislyak's espionage.
I'll open a military secret for you: It's the diplomats' jobs to have contacts in the country they are posted to.
google the words if you need a link.
Posted by: ruralito | Mar 4 2017 1:50 utc | 74
We are so being played... Yes, I wrote this short piece today for my readers https://t-room.us/obamas-doj-slush-fund-vs-sessions-nothing-burger-story-paying-attention/
Why? After eight years of learning 0's shtick it's rather easy to identify at this point. What's challenging is 0's game being played from the outside rather than inside. Study his techniques for deflection long enough and you'll be able to spot them in no time.
@72 - This tussle hasn't risen to Civil War quite yet, in my opinion, but is a massive power struggle. Hopefully the white hats win...
rup, I meant to say 'after eight year of learning 0's shtick it's rather easy to identify 0's modus operandi at this point...
I rarely write anymore but b/c this story about 0's DOJ slush fund is key to any who are earnest in trying to understand what in the world is going on American politic these days they need this piece of the chess board to continue to figure out the game.
As one blogger always says, what's at stake is billions if not trillions of dollars.
@Outraged 45, you'll get a laugh out of this 1989 article. It's Zbiggy Brzzinski talking about the Soviet Union "self-destructing" - amusing because the American Empire is now in the the throes of the same process:
NYTimes 1989 will-the-soviet-empire-self-destruct-four-scenarios-for-failure.html
A little rewrite makes it apply to today's circumstances:
"THE REAL ISSUE FOR THE FUTURE OF THE [American Empire] is not whether [Trump] will last or even whether he will succeed or fail in his attempts to revitalize the [American] economy and state. The real issue is whether [Neoliberalism] is evolving into a significantly more permissive and innovative system or whether it is decaying or even fragmenting. On that question depend not only the fate of the [American Empire] as a major power but also the prospects for [Neoliberalism] around the world."
"[Obama] and other leaders in [Washington] were probably caught by surprise by the intensity with which long-buried nationalist feelings have emerged in [Europe and the Middle East, such as the Arab Spring and Brexit] . . . Nationalism is increasing in predominately Islamic [Iraq, Yemen, Egypt, and Syria and also -most dangerously from Washington's point of view - in Saudi Arabia and and even the UAE (despite the latter's advanced Westernization).]"
"These growing nationalist conflicts, by provoking fears among [neoliberals and globalists] -the [American Empire's] dominant international group - impede needed reforms. They enhance the likelihood that the real prospect for [the American Empire] is debilitating decay and not constructive evolution."
"By unleashing social and nationalist passions at a time when official doctrine and control are under attack, [Trump] has unwittingly placed on history's agenda even the possibility of the actual dismantling of the [American Empire] into a variety of nation-states."
"In any case, we are all witnesses to a truly monumental historic process: the waning and final agony of a doctrine that generated the world's most bloody and costly social experiment. The massive failure of that undertaking means that [Neoliberalism], which has dominated the world [since the fall of the Berlin Wall] now appears unlikely to survive."
Posted by: nonsense factory | Mar 4 2017 4:39 utc | 77
@ Posted by: nonsense factory | Mar 3, 2017 11:39:16 PM | 77
LOL. Too true ! :)
There has been Zero, Nil, Nada change in foreign policy towards the USSR/Russia for at least ~70 years ... no matter what the Evil Russkies do or do not do ... matters not ... and these events demonstrate the Supra-National/Globalists and their Deep State servants will not tolerate nor countenance any such policy change ... the last Prez to persist with attempting such 'unacceptable' policies, ultimately bought a 'Magic Bullet' ...
Posted by: Outraged | Mar 4 2017 6:12 utc | 78
Let me again quote the tiny disclaimer in the entire piece.:
I do not prefer Trump policies. Flynn was a maniac and Session is a crazy fossil. But that does not justify this anti-democratic abuse of the foreign policy instruments of the state against the political opponents within the country.
Notwithstanding this insignificant caveat, is Trump worth all the rest that amounts to an excellent devil's advocacy? Meanwhile, flying under the radar is the escalating bombing campaign by the U.S. in Yemen on the pretext of hunting down AQ. I wonder what the undisclosed number of civilian deaths is? This is equivalent to Obama's strikes on AQ in Pakistan; except there was no famine there or onslaught by Saudi Arabia as well and no one here seems to care since now Trump's doing the bombing.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/02/politics/us-airstrikes-yemen-al-qaeda/
Just today, Trump announces he wants to detain and separate mothers from their children who cross the border illegally. Meanwhile, Trump just flew to Mar-a-Lago for the weekend again blowing off the $3+ million it costs taxpayers every time he wants to weekend there. However, he has no problem at all slashing humanitarian aid while drought and famine threaten millions in third world countries.
Trump doesn't give a shit about Russia; Trump only cares about what's good for Trump and for the time being what's good for Trump appears to be good for Russia -- until it's not.
Trump is a shyster, a con, an egomaniac and worse -- he's a rotten U.S. oligarch with power. When I look at the all the crap he's signing since he took power; I could care less whether he's been compromised by the Russians or not. As a matter of fact I hope Trump goes down and takes both parties down with him into the gutter where they all belong.
Posted by: Circe | Mar 4 2017 6:56 utc | 79
This tussle hasn't risen to Civil War quite yet, in my opinion, but is a massive power struggle. Hopefully the white hats win...
White hats??? ROFLMAO! As if there are any white hats on either side. Either you're really that naïve; or you think everyone's stupid.
Posted by: Circe | Mar 4 2017 7:06 utc | 80
@ 79
nah, that shit is all good. Who cares if the US goes to the gutter, certainly not one of the posters here.
What is important that he, Trump, single handed will save the world from WW3, prevent nuclear holocaust, have a love fest with the Russians and such.
that the women in the US die in child birth because they have no more access to medical care. Bummer
that the people of the US can't access preventive healthcare. Bummer
that the schools shall teach more of Jesus and the dinosour he rode on instead of fact, math, and reading? Bummer
that some latinas have their babies taken form them? oh well, t'was done to the natives of the US, the aboriginals in OZ. Bummer too
nah, non of the shit this man does in his own country is worth a mentioning. However we must be outraged cause some fuckwit racists was telling not quite the truth under oath, and some other fuckwit did the same.
So. let me put it this way, it ain't the meetings, nor the chats, the dinners or even the peeing on a bed or on the Trump himself, hey we all have our vices, its the fucking lying, the stupid fucking lying. Cause every time they do, they get cought.
Sessions, could have simply said, i did meet with Russians, as a senator, as a civil servant, blah blah blah and this is what we discussed. Instead he said no. dumb racist old fucking wanker. Same for Flint, Trump, Bannon and all the other shysters. Dump old fucking wankers who really believe that if the world dies they will manage to survive.
And in saying that, there are a lot of posters here that would deny women their rights, people of color their rights, deny the rights of disabled, illegal migrants, people who do not identify as a straight white ass just to pretend to save the fucking world.
Well if you have to throw two thirds of the worlds population under the fucking bus you aint' saving shit.
Posted by: Sabine | Mar 4 2017 8:07 utc | 81
@81
I kind of have to go further. Both sides are in the business of betrayal and death. I read the article that @48 posted and have to agree with that. You see on the one hand you have a party that hides behind all the humanitarian issues and causes as a distraction to wage a war that keeps the war machinery greased, and on the other, you have a party that doesn't pretend to give a shit about the vulnerable, but pretends to put more money in middle-class people's pockets, and exploits the uneducated to service the MIC by waging other wars in the name of U.S. dominance and security against Islam (the current bogeyman) and you have both parties selling themselves to Zionism and Wall Street (more Zionism)and the people are on a spinning wheel slaving away for the entitled few. The system that includes the two parties, the MIC and Wall Street; the millionaire/billionaire caste of which Trump is a member is corrupt to the bone.
Posted by: Circe | Mar 4 2017 8:34 utc | 82
This article has important information, but it needs proofreading.
Posted by: Tom | Mar 4 2017 11:29 utc | 83
Glorious regime change strategy coming home to where 'americans' live:-)
Posted by: Nur Adlina | Mar 4 2017 12:22 utc | 84
Hm, escalation ... Obama was the Prez, 'then' ... Trump is the Prez, 'now' ....
Donald Trump accuses Obama of 'wire-tapping' his office before electionPresident accuses his White House predecessor of overseeing ‘Nixon/Watergate’-style intervention
Donald Trump has accused Barack Obama of “wire tapping” his offices in New York City before the presidential election in November last year, claiming the former president had overseen a “Nixon/Watergate”-style intervention.
Launching a series of tweets at 5.35am eastern time on Saturday morning, the US president said: “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!”
He followed up that initial tweet with a string of others in the following 30 minutes that claimed Obama had defied a court rejection to tap his office, and invited a “good lawyer” to make a case against the alleged process...
Posted by: Outraged | Mar 4 2017 12:43 utc | 85
Circe - not naive, but thanks for reading the comment. An fyi for you, Mike Whitney wrote a piece earlier this week that touches on some of the points you've been raising about Iran. You might want to check it out.
Circe 82
That's right. One side uses humanitarian reasons for war and the other uses hate and fear. Either way the media does a great assist for the propaganda effort and minimizing opposition. If they can't get the 50% support like for Iraq 2003, they'll use bread and circus distractions so people won't think about what's going on in Libya 2011 and express opposition.
I don't see nefarious motives to Sessions-Kislyak meetings since he had staff there. He admitted Ukraine was mentioned. Is he corrupt? I'm sure to some extent he is as much as most in Washington. And maybe 1 to 10% of the time he does the right thing.
The plan for the American worker is the hamster wheel of work-school-sleep. Work hard, keep constantly training (because your job will go to a cheaper worker), and get a bit of sleep. Repeat.
Posted by: Curtis | Mar 4 2017 14:49 utc | 87
Reagan underhandedly dealt with Iran and Lebanese terrorists. Nixon did the same with the North Vietnamese.
Seems a reasonable possibility that Trump dealt with the Russians, offering policy in exchange for help against Hillary.
His actions are certainly defensive.
Funny too how the Repugs can have Whitewater, Benghazi, Emailgate etc. and it's business as usual, but let the Dems do it and it spells the end of the republic.
Posted by: Horatio Parker | Mar 4 2017 15:13 utc | 88
Xymphora's March 4 post exposes several defects in the dishonest and irrational attack on the Trump Administration's Jeff Sessions; and blames the Usual Suspects.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Mar 4 2017 15:36 utc | 89
BBC Global is in Forgetful Irony Mode; getting quite indignant that Trump, or anyone else, would dare to accuse Obama, or any other Western Leader, of dishonesty.
Forgetting Bush II, Obama, Sarkozy, Cameron, Bliar et al in Warmonger mode is a stupid way to challenge Trump.
This is the Elite's War on Trump, an unrefined version of the equally hysterical Wars on Alcohol (Prohibition), Drugs, and Ter'rism and Trump will prevail.
One of Trump's advantages over his opponents is that He wasn't born yesterday, or in a Spin Tank.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Mar 4 2017 15:52 utc | 90
No Horatio ... you fail to notice that the current witchhunt has not convened an investigation (although there are several FBI inquiries in progress) and so there is little to no on-the-record testimony being recorded (to be compared with or bolstered or refuted by future testimony). This is a matter of anonymous government officials leaking very much off the record, and largely unverifiable. It is a gossip/whispering campaign without designated aim or authority. Is is about the DNC hack or "fake news" of foreign (read Russian) origin or is the aim to "prove" that Trump is Putin's puppet or Manchurian candidate or simply to undermine his credibility by casting doubt on his legitimacy or imminent indictment (once "we" get hold of those tax returns) .... it is an inchoate mess without aim, a miasma, abetted by the voracious press (eager for eyeballs) and seemingly politicians (of both parties) eager to score points, to distance or ingratiate themselves with any number of players or audiences.
The absence of focus, actual evidence and "legitimacy" (the other investigations you mentioned were offically convened by congress). The Democrats do not have the congressional numbers to demand an investigation, so they appear to be trying (desperately with an unwilling audience) to ramp up "outrage" to create a bipartisan demand for same.
Trump claiming Obama wiretapped his offices might evolve into a game changer ... but only if Trump can prove it... same sh(t, different day.
Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Mar 4 2017 16:02 utc | 91
The headline reads "Obama Ordered Abuse Of Intelligence To Sabotage Trump Policies"
That charge is textbook sedition. Where are the arrest warrants? Why aren't Sessions and Comey all over this like fleas on a dog?
Serious charges demand a serious response.
Posted by: John Gaskill | Mar 4 2017 16:59 utc | 92
The trump garbage fire has moved on to a twitter dispute in which Trump claims that Arnold Schwartzenegger didn't "quit" but was "fired" .... because that's what he does after he provides no evidence to back up his claims that Obama wiretapped his offices pre-election -- very Watergate -- and his aides apparently have nothing to say on that claim either. Doubtless, all those looking for an article 25 removal are elated ...
Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Mar 4 2017 17:24 utc | 93
@93 Arnold blames the low ratings on Trump involvement. I'm waiting for some leaked emails before I make a judgment.
Posted by: dh | Mar 4 2017 18:46 utc | 94
@ DocP # 2: According to Pepe Escobar and an unnamed deep source, Flynn had to go because he was pushing for an attack on Iran. https://sputniknews.com/columnists/201702281051113778-backstage-trump-deep-state-cage-match/
Posted by: Paul E. Merrell, J.D. | Mar 5 2017 0:42 utc | 95
@41 outraged. thank you for that from Kennan. never saw it before.
Posted by: LindaJ | Mar 5 2017 4:50 utc | 96
Partisan distortion is all through this thread. The Dems are doing what the Repubs did to Obama and H. Clinton - it is a relentless assault on integrity. H. Clinton was the most investigated woman in American history and that led to some emails on an unofficial server and some paperwork supposedly in a closet that disappeared. It's all innuendo and pot stirring. Trump adds to his own troubles by making outrageous comments about others and promising ridiculous things (MX will pay for the wall). He is not a statesman. He is a salesman out of his element. If he had stayed a Dem and won the election, the Repubs would be on the attack. We are probably a dying democracy because many can't get beyond partisanship. Just because you are registered to a party doesn't mean every one in that party is right on everything. Start thinking for yourself and quit taking the easy route of partisanship.
Posted by: Alestra | Mar 5 2017 11:12 utc | 97
It has been 8 years and no one seems to understand, Obama was a CIA asset from the get go!
I personally have copies of Obama's transcripts from Occidental College and while there he applied for Student Aid as a `Foreign Exchange Student'!!!!!
Please tell me how a `Foreign Exchange Student' (i.e. A Non Citizen) become President of the United States?!
By his own admission, he moved to Indonesia at the age of 2 and he attended school in Indonesia and in order to attend school in Indonesia one had to be an Indonesian citizen, which means he GAVE UP his U.S. Citizenship, if he ever had it!
Wake up! We are living in 1984!
Posted by: Patriot | Mar 7 2017 15:26 utc | 98
I don't believe the 'Russian election hacking' allegations as state & local results proved otherwise. I do believe the 'Russian hacking' allegations but I don't think it changed many minds although Trump won the EC by 30,000 votes over 3 states. And I emphatically believe the Trump did business with a number or Russian money launderers, crooked bankers & organized-crime folk - http://www.the-american-interest.com/2016/12/19/the-curious-world-of-donald-trumps-private-russian-connections/
Posted by: darms | Mar 8 2017 6:09 utc | 99
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Farewell to ... weapons by the proxy wars expert, Barack Obama
Posted by: nmb | Mar 2 2017 20:03 utc | 1