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The MoA Week In Review – OT 2019-26
Last week's posts at Moon of Alabama:
Turkey called on Russia to end the Syrian operation but to no avail. The Syrian Army continues to make some progress. This will be slow and long fight with many interruptions.
See also Whitney Webb: Another Whistleblower Bites the Dust as The Intercept Adds a Third Notch to Its Burn Belt
See also Gareth Porter: Bolton Is Spinning Israeli ‘Intelligence’ to Push for War Against Iran
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Other issues:
On Friday the Marco Rubio clownish puppet in Venezuela called for more demonstrations:
Guaido called for a national demonstration on Saturday to reject measures taken by the Supreme Court against opposition lawmakers.
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"We're not going to stop, we're going to stay in the streets. This is a process that will end with Venezuela's liberty."
On Saturday the Random Guyaidó spoke to demonstrators in Caracas. This was in the richer part of the city, the oppositions stronghold.
The AP's report first version:
A modest crowd of Venezuelans has taken to the streets to show support for the opposition-led congress which has come under increasing pressure from the government of President Nicolás Maduro.
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Guaidó on Saturday addressed roughly 1,000 supporters gathered in Caracas, reflecting both fear and demoralization among supporters after the attempted military rebellion.
AP later published a revised version:
Meanwhile, noticeably diminished crowds at opposition protests reflected a growing fear and demoralization that has permeated Guaidó's ranks of supporters after he led a failed military uprising on April 30. In previous months, thousands of demonstrators heeded his calls to protest.
On Saturday, a modest crowd of several hundred Venezuelans gathered in the capital of Caracas.
Guaidó wants foreign military support:
He announced Saturday a forthcoming meeting with U.S. military officials and said that new actions taken by the opposition will seek to "achieve the necessary pressure" to put an end to the Bolivarian revolution launched 20 years ago by the late socialist President Hugo Chávez.
Guaidó has said that as Venezuela's rightful leader he reserves the right to invite foreign military actions in the same way independence hero Simon Bolivar hired 5,000 British mercenaries to liberate South America from Spain. He says any such help should be considered "cooperation," instead of intervention, something he has accused Maduro of allowing in the form of military and intelligence support from allies Cuba and Russia.
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Pompous snowflakes:
Macron driven along the Champs Elysee in a large convoy, smiling and waving to the crowd lining the street. The crowd? (vid)
BBC – Andrew Neil and Ben Shapiro on abortion, Obama and Middle East (vid, start at ~10min); When diligently questioned, Shapiro gives up and ends the interview.
New Yorker – Michael Oren Cuts Short a Conversation About Israel;
Use as open thread …
Zachary Smith @110: Because the incompetence of Hillary was so badly underestimated…
I see such reasoning a lot. It seems that it is ‘OK’ to express this because it appears to be in sympathy with the MSM narrative during 2015 and 2016 that Hillary was destined to win.
But MSM has no problem spinning a false narrative when its in service to the Deep State. There are plenty of examples of this: Iraqi WMDs, White Helmets, etc.
Anyone that care to actually THINK about the 2016 election will grapple with many peculiarities. Sanders sheep-dogging is one that stands out. Sanders pulled punches such as refusing to bring up “character issues” like the Clinton email scandal.
So, why didn’t Trump pull punches also? I mean, if Trump was there just to ensure that Hillary won, why did he make a real effort to win? No one would’ve questioned his making a few big mistakes ’cause he had never ran for office before. Instead, Trump fought hard to win, even talking about Hillary’s smearing of women that brought complaints against her husband.
But it was seasoned campaigner Hillary that made the mistakes (!), and they were big ones, among them:
Alienating important voter groups
snubbing and insulting progressives; taking the black vote for granted (including dismissing the Black Lives Matter Movement); calling white’s “deplorables”;
Not campaigning in the three mid-western states that would decide the election
Her running mate, Tim Kaine, grew up in the Mid-west! She those three states by only a few thousand votes each.
Why would she make such mistakes when (we are told) she desperately wanted to make history as the first women President??
While your scratching you’re head about THAT, consider this: Hillary isn’t incompetent. Oh, she isn’t always right, but she’s far from incompetent. Does anyone seriously think she’d have the following that she does among the establishment if she were incompetent?
Perhaps it was TRUMP that was meant to win? (As I’ve been saying for months.) Why is that so difficult to grok – even for those that participate in alt-media?
The “Hillary’s incompetence” canard is paired with the canard of Russiagate as Hillary’s way to deflect from her loss. Here again, the silliness is of the canard is easy to see for anyone that is willing to THINK a little: Hillary won the popular vote. So the apparent loss is not the disgrace that some would have you believe.
Isn’t it much more likely that Russiagate was pursued because the Deep State wanted to initiate a new McCarthyism after Russia had interfered with the Empire’s plans in Syria and had prevented the seizure of Crimea which has strategic Russian military installations?
Now, if we had evidence that the Deep State wanted a MAGA nationalist to be the winner of the 2016 Presidential election Kissinger, then shouldn’t a Trump win become our baseline belief? Well, in fact, Kissinger had called for MAGA days after Russia-aligned Donbas rebels had prevailed against Ukraine (August 2014 WSJ Op-Ed). It was needed to meet the challenge from Russia and China to the US hegemonic post-war World Order:
… the affirmation of America’s exceptional nature must be sustained. History offers no respite to countries that set aside their sense of identity in favor of a seemingly less arduous course.
Trump was the MAGA candidate and the only populist on the right (in a field of 19 candidates!)
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I’ve given my analysis of the 2016 election many times now. It explains a lot. Like Trump as a faux populist and Trump’s bringing his supposed enemies into his Administration (Pence, Barr, Bolton, etc.).
There have only been a few objections:
1) The Deep State doesn’t care who’s President – they will force any President to work with them;
2) US elites often fail to achieve their goals, so it’s not surprising that they failed to get Hillary elected. (by Wm Gruff)
3) Hillary was setting herself up to throw the race long before the election
Her glee at the death of Qaddafi and her speeches to Goldman Sachs, among other things were ill-advised for someone that intended to run for President
IMO these counter-arguments are inaccurate and insufficient.
The Deep State does care if its Hillary or Trump. Hillary can not play the nationalist very well. And she doesn’t have the respect of the troops (the Empire needs troops that are willing to fight – few would fight for Obama or Hillary).
US elites have actually been very good achieving goals but they are often blind-sided by hubris and greed. That’s why they won the Cold War but lost the peace and continued to aid China’s “peaceful rise” even after failing to bring Russia ‘on side’. Some achievements:Their control and mastery of propaganda is notable (there is STILL no peace movement). And they recognized the challenge from Russia and China and have taken steps to meet that challenge. I will not belabor the point.
As for Hillary’s setting up to throw the race long before the election, my response is: 1) she was probably affected by elite group-think that the West had triumphed and would control the world; and 2) I think Hillary did want to be the first female President but the recognition that the West had NOT triumphed meant a change in priorities.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | May 13 2019 4:33 utc | 126
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