Below is a Reuters posting about Mike Pompeo presenting the public/private finance “dog whistle” at a Hudson Institute think tank gala dinner….the pot calling the kettle black.
”
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday stepped up recent U.S. rhetoric targeting China’s ruling Communist Party, saying Beijing was focused on international domination and needed to be confronted.
Pompeo made the remarks even as the Trump administration said it still expected to sign the first phase of deal to end a damaging trade war with China next month, despite Chile’s withdrawal on Wednesday as the host of an APEC summit where U.S. officials had hoped this would happen.
Pompeo said the United States had long cherished its friendship with the Chinese people, adding the Communist government was not the same thing as the people of China.
“They are reaching for and using methods that have created challenges for the United States and for the world and we collectively, all of us, need to confront these challenges … head on,” Pompeo said in an address to a gala dinner in New York of the conservative Hudson Institute think tank.
“It is no longer realistic to ignore the fundamental differences between our two systems, and the impact that … the differences in those systems have on American national security.”
”
I posted the above about 6 hours ago on the Weekly Open thread and now get up to read that the financial markets are down and Trump is tweeting that it is the Fed’s fault for not lowering rates even further even though there are a couple of ZH postings that refer to China’s response to Pompeo’s remarks as offensive and maybe a trade deal won’t get signed…
We are in a civilization war about the global social contract and whether sovereign public finance gets a chance to be compared against the Western centuries old private finance controlled world.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 31 2019 15:18 utc | 3

What are your opinions on the Sunday 3rd of November Seattle doomsday conspiracy? I was very sceptical at first but it started to freak me out a bit since there really are a lot of Seattle/terrorism/nuclear weapons and 3/11 references in movies and series. With Israeli embassies closed world wide and Israeli mass casualty exercises going on something seems to be brewing.

Posted by: Xaderp | Oct 31 2019 15:36 utc | 5

Bank of Japan suggests future rate cut, not now
Translation from the “Politiquese”: the BoJ will, absolutely, 100% sure, lower its interest rates in the near future.
Japan is a clown show. After 40 consecutive years of recession and stagnation, people should finally give up.
Speaking of clowns, the USA has lowered its interest rate — again:
Stocks rise, dollar falls as Fed cuts rates again

Chairman Jerome Powell, however, signals that it expects to hold off on further rate changes for now

No, you don’t. And you know you won’t.
Let’s just remember: just one year ago, Powell was the “rise the interest rates” guy. Now he’s speaking of an “expectation to hold off further [downwards] rate changes”.
American corporate debt is through the roof. Any interest rate rising will trigger another 2008. Only this time, it will be the jewels of the crown (Apple, Microsoft etc.) which will be in the bail out queue.
Continuing on the economic front, we have that the USA has lost the trade war:
US manufacturing has bottomed but isn’t improving
And, from Michael Roberts’ Blog facebook:

US real GDP growth slowed to an annual rate of 1.9% in the third quarter of 2019, according to advance official estimates, only slightly slower than the 2% annual rate in Q2. The year-on year rate slowed to 2% from 2.3% in Q2.
But the big news was the sharp contraction in business investment, which fell 3%, the worst figure since the mini-recession of 2015-6. Structures investment (oil rigs etc) dropped 15% from Q2, which had also seen an 11% fall. Equipment investment (computer hardware, transport etc) also dropped nearly 4%. Only so-called ‘intellectual property’ investment (software, patents etc) held up.
History shows that when business investment falls consistently, real GDP follows in a year or so. So far, on a year-on-year basis, business investment is still positive, but slowing fast. Business investment is falling because corporate profits are also stagnating at best.

As I’ve been saying here for some time now, Trump’s “decoupling” strategy is failed by design. Even if manufacturing goes out of China, it won’t go back to the USA. The reason for this is that the USA issues the world’s universal fiat currency — the USD — so, when it raises its debt, inflation won’t go up but costs of production do: the USA pays its debt in the form of deindustrialization, not rising inflation (as is the case of the rest of the world).
And manufacturing won’t simply go out of China. Yes, low value manufacturing has been exiting China for two decades now, mainly to India and Vietnam. But the Chinese already knew of that, and were preparing for this before Trump even dreamed about being POTUS. That’s why it changed its short term economic paradigm in 2012, redirecting its development towards higher technology, sustainable (but lower) growth with a focus on domestic consumption.
This is the true nature of socialist “praxis”. As Lenin once wrote: Marxism is the analysis of the concrete situation in a concrete moment. Deng Xiaoping translated it to the Chinese people when he said that communists don’t have a style: they get the job done (the cat who can kill the mouse, regardless of its color). These teachings still reverberate to the newer generations:
China’s growth inseparable from its system

In the article “Farm lessons from China” published on The India Express, Indian scholars Ashok Gulati and Sakshi Gupta suggest that India should pay attention to China’s three lessons to improve agricultural production.
[…]
What is more worthy of mention are China’s water conservancy, highways, and other infrastructure. In the 70 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, China’s investment in water conservancy has created a record in human history. By the end of 2018, China had completed more than 11 million rural water supply facilities, benefiting 940 million rural people, and the rural centralized water supply rate reached 86 percent.
These achievements would be impossible with any single or group of private companies. Without such large-scale and organized national input, it is unlikely China’s agriculture would have reached the level it has today.

Last but not least: game is over for the EU, too:
Lacking market space, German economy trapped in overproduction ‘black hole’
The writer of this article uses bourgeois economics terminology, but he essentially is saying that Germany’s profit rate is secularly falling, thus confirming (once more) Marx’s Law of the Tendency of the Profit Rate to Fall.
Numbers came out for the EU as a whole today, signalling total stagnation (+0.2%) in Q3. Nothing is going to come out of there, and it’s no wonder even Germanophile Putin is focusing on partnership and cooperation with China — after all, cultural and ethnic identities won’t bring food on the table of the little Russians, will it?

Posted by: vk | Oct 31 2019 15:45 utc | 7

@ 10 don bacon… ghostship posted that same link in the previous thread @29… i guess you don’t read others comments…
here is a video that covers the same ground as the article and etc.. i left this on the previous thread as well…

Posted by: james | Oct 31 2019 16:00 utc | 9

except it wasn’t ot in the previous thread.. i’ll skip your posts here forward…

Posted by: james | Oct 31 2019 16:26 utc | 11

Looks like ISIS is being dusted off and brought back into play as the bogyman. Rueters quoting from Amaq.
Went looking for Amaq but couldn’t find direct links. Looks to be just an Arabic version.
https://twitter.com/Rita_Katz perhaps the en outlet…
Rita Katz… “For her unique contributions to FBI counterterrorism investigations, Ms. Katz received special recognition from FBI Director Robert Mueller for her “outstanding assistance to the FBI in connection with its investigative efforts.” ”
“Ms. Katz is the author of Terrorist Hunter: The Extraordinary Story of a Woman who Went Undercover to Infiltrate the Radical Islamic Groups Operating in America (Harper Collins, 2003).
Born in Iraq and a graduate of Middle Eastern Studies at Tel Aviv University, Ms. Katz is fluent in Arabic.”
https://ent.siteintelgroup.com/Corporate/about-site.html
Looks like another bellingcrap type setup.

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Oct 31 2019 16:32 utc | 13

Well, in my excitement, I neglected to mention:
The intent to investigate corruption in our own government
– By FBI/CIA in support of disruption of the executive and perhaps that is the main driver.

Posted by: jared | Oct 31 2019 16:35 utc | 15

US drone downed in Hodeidah. Photo at the link shows the engine section of the drone, a large turbo prop.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=9548&cat_id=1
Air Defenses of the Army and Popular Committees downed on Wednesday evening a spy plane belonging to the US-Saudi aggression in Ras Issa area in Hodeidah with undisclosed missile.

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Oct 31 2019 16:58 utc | 17

@jared #14: Zelensky and Zelinsky are different surnames.

Posted by: S | Oct 31 2019 17:19 utc | 19

U.S. efforts to derail Nordstream 2 have failed. Hehehe. All those sanctions were bypassed; the partnerships of Nordstream 2 – Wintershall, Austria’s OMV, France’s Engie, and the Netherlands’ Royal Dutch Shell – were converted to loans and Gazprom owns it all.
Nord Stream 2 clears major hurdle as Denmark OKs gas pipeline

COPENHAGEN/BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Denmark on Wednesday gave the go-ahead to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, removing the last major hurdle to completion of the Russian-led project that has divided opinion in the European Union.[.]
and
Trump Loses More than Just the Battle Over Nordstream 2
For the past three years the U.S. has fought the construction of the Nordstream 2 pipeline from Russia to Germany every inch of the way.
The battle came down to the last few miles, literally, as Denmark has been withholding the final environmental permit on Nordstream 2 for months.
The U.S., especially under Trump, have committed themselves to a ‘whole of government approach‘ to stop the 55 bcm natural gas pipeline from making landfall in Germany.[.]
In a sense, this pipeline is Germany’s declaration of independence from seventy-plus years of U.S. policy setting. Never forget that Germany is occupied territory with more than 50,000 U.S. troops stationed there.
So it is supremely rich of President Trump call Nordstream 2 something that could make Germany a “hostage of Russia” when it’s been a hostage of the U.S. sinced 1945.
Then again, history isn’t one of Trump’s strong suits.[.]

How is that song again? do not know much about geography or geology.

Posted by: Likklemore | Oct 31 2019 17:24 utc | 21

New poll confirms Gabbard benefitted from increased media exposure caused by Clinton outburst. She’s now at 5%, while initial establishment darling, the female Obama Kamala Harris is down to 3%.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 31 2019 17:43 utc | 23

@ Trisha | Oct 31 2019 15:11 utc | 2; oglalla | Oct 31 2019 15:36 utc | 8
_______________________________________________________
Thanks for inspiring a contribution that is well-suited to a Halloween Open Thread:
Even if you’ve seen it before, check out this excerpt from a 1996 “Treehouse of Horror” episode of “The Simpsons”, originally aired during the home stretch of the Clinton-Dole campaign:
The Simpsons – “Don’t Blame Me, I Voted For Kodos”
It’s a remarkably hilarious and trenchant piece of political satire that showcases the absurdity of conventional Amerikan electoral politics. For one thing, it stands the test of time: it’s chock-full of the exact same themes, attitudes, and conflicting opinions we see in comments threads every day. Besides– it’s funny because it’s true! 😉
Trick or treat!

Posted by: Ort | Oct 31 2019 18:12 utc | 25

dh @ 26
“more environmental than political”
and the fact that Mr. Putin had at the ready an alternative route
geography, geography.
Putting pressure on Germany and the Gazprom “partners” was a huge mistake.
The free cash hoards of these EU companies have mighty sway. Just ask the illiquid banks with cap in hand. How are their overnight loans?

Posted by: Likklemore | Oct 31 2019 18:27 utc | 27

jayc @29–
Absolutely! The Outlaw US Empire has no right whatsoever to lecture others about being respectful of human rights, not just because of its behavior but also due to its refusal to ratify the Universal Declaration of Human Rights–the creation of one of its greatest women Eleanor Roosevelt.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 31 2019 18:35 utc | 29

@ Likklemore 23
There’s also UNCLOS as a factor on the Denmark decision for Nordstream 2:

In the exclusive economic zone, all States, whether coastal or land-locked, enjoy, subject to the relevant provisions of this Convention, the freedoms referred to in article 87 [“freedom to lay submarine cables and pipelines”] of navigation and overflight and of the laying of submarine cables and pipelines, and other internationally lawful uses of the sea related to these freedoms, such as those associated with the operation of ships, aircraft and submarine cables and pipelines, and compatible with the other provisions of this Convention. . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Oct 31 2019 19:02 utc | 31

Jeffrey Epstein’s autopsy more consistent with homicidal strangulation than suicide, Dr. Michael Baden reveals (Fox News):

…
The bombshell claim by Dr. Michael Baden, a former New York City medical examiner who has worked on high-profile cases during a five-decade medical career, is certain to reignite suspicions that surfaced immediately after Epstein, who was awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges involving underage girls, was discovered dead in his cell on Aug. 10. Baden, who was hired by Epstein’s brother and observed the autopsy, told Fox News its findings are more consistent with homicidal strangulation than suicidal hanging. He noted that the 66-year-old Epstein had two fractures on the left and right sides of his larynx, specifically the thyroid cartilage or Adam’s apple, as well as one fracture on the left hyoid bone above the Adam’s apple, Baden told Fox News.
“Those three fractures are extremely unusual in suicidal hangings and could occur much more commonly in homicidal strangulation,” Baden, who is also a Fox News contributor, said.
While there’s not enough information to be conclusive yet, the three fractures were “rare,” said Baden, who’s probed cases involving O.J. Simpson, President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, record producer Phil Spector, New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez and many others.
“I’ve not seen in 50 years where that occurred in a suicidal hanging case,” the 85-year-old medical legend told Fox News.
Baden, who’s examined more than 20,000 bodies and hosted HBO’s “Autopsy,” explained that if a person weighed 120 pounds and their head weighed 10 pounds, there would be 110 pounds of pressure on the neck at the jaw during a hanging. But, if someone put a hand around a person’s neck and squeezed, that could double or even triple the pressure on the neck, Baden said.
There were also hemorrhages in Epstein’s eyes that were common in homicidal strangulation and uncommon, though not unheard of, in suicidal hangings, the forensic pathologist said.
…
New York City Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson ruled Epstein’s cause of death to be a suicide by hanging.
“It appears that this could have been a mistake,” Baden said. “There’s evidence here of homicide that should be investigated, to see if it is or isn’t homicide.”
…
On the day Epstein was found dead, the prison security had experienced a “total breakdown” in procedure, according to Baden.
“It was determined that the two guards who were supposed to be working in that area of the prison had allegedly fallen asleep and hadn’t made their 30-minute rounds for more than 3 hours,” he said.
Then there were security cameras that were supposed to be recording the cell and the hallway outside, to see who went in and out. Both apparently had malfunctioned, according to Baden.
…

Posted by: S | Oct 31 2019 19:19 utc | 33

re: human rights
The US, as far as I know, is the only country on the world that publishes an annual human rights report (State Dept) and which regularly comments on what it sees as poor human rights in other countries. This is despite the fact, as indicated above, that the US has a poor record of human rights throughout its history, and still does with definite underclasses separated geographically from the general public and in prison.
Regarding China, quite a few Chinese people were instrumental in building the railroads that greatly contributed to the settling of the West. Then, after they had been used and abused, and the tracks laid, Chinese were evicted from the country under the Chinese Exclusion Act which technically only prohibited immigration, but was also used for eviction. There are many Chinese descendants currently in Mexicali Mexico as a result. Also the US Border Patrol (now used against Hispanics mostly) was originally formed to keep Chinese people out. . .China is probably too polite to bring this up.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Oct 31 2019 19:25 utc | 35

@ dh | Oct 31 2019 19:25 utc | 37
I suspect that is the case.
They cannot easily stop Trump from making a fool of himself in a way that reveals to corrupt nature of our covernment: “We will take the oil.”
That had to cause some frustration.
That and the tweet recognizing what a self-defeating and inhumane effort was the US war on the middle-east, followed by complete reversal – truly inspired.

Posted by: jared | Oct 31 2019 19:38 utc | 37

@goldhoarder #16
Indeed. Latin and South American countries are all dominated by 200 or so families each, some overlapping nations. These criollo families don’t give a crap about the rest of the society in any way, so long as they can keep their money and power. It is easy for even ham-handed Americans to keep bribing one or another of these families to keep the rest mollified and the rest of the population pacified.
Russia, China and a few other nations have different goals. Not at all necessarily altruistic, but absolutely more cognizant of national goals and needs rather than personal enrichment.
What’s really interesting now is how the Europeans are going to turn out. Will they continue to allow themselves to be suppressed by their Atlanticist ruling classes, even when both absolute and relative measures of prosperity are no longer positive?

Posted by: c1ue | Oct 31 2019 19:51 utc | 39

@ Don Bacon | Oct 31 2019 19:36 utc | 39
“A counry it expects to increase trade with!”
Yes, smells of desperation – a bit of “rules-based order”.

Posted by: jared | Oct 31 2019 20:03 utc | 41

Don Bacon
Thak you for that UNCLOS reference. And in light of your information on chinese exclusion combined with joost comment on Trump insults I am astounded at the continuous insulting ignorance of USA leaders and legislators. I guess they have vassals but never allies.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Oct 31 2019 20:15 utc | 43

Two Movies
In 1946, Encyclopedia Britannica produced a 10-minute classroom movie titled “Despotism,” intended for showing to students in what used to be called “social studies” classes, which compared the characteristics of despotism with the characteristics of democracy, and showed how to recognize the clues that indicate where any given society falls on the scale between the two.
https://archive.org/details/Despotis1946
This movie would never be allowed to be shown in any classroom in the US today, nor on any TV network, as all the characteristics of despotism portrayed in the film have come true.
//
There is a companion movie – “Democracy”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhiwswf4Jlg
Which claims, among other things, that democracy means shared power, which the US has never had, (although the people of Venezuela do) and that it depends upon “a large middle class,” or bourgeoisie, outnumbering both workers and the wealthy. So — no “Workers’ Paradise” for us.
Oh, also – only men are qualified to participate in the governing of a society.
Thanks to my friend George who alerted me to the existence of these two films.

Posted by: AntiSpin | Oct 31 2019 20:32 utc | 45

breadonwater @45–
Yes. The route goes within its 12 mile limit, but the okay is provisional and won’t become final for @ 4 more weeks.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 31 2019 20:37 utc | 47

Breadonwater @ 45:
Looks very much as though you are right.
Nordstream II follows Nordstream I closely near Bornholm, which makes one wonder what the environmentally based objections were to the second pipeline’s route. The pipeline can be laid down in three to four weeks so construction issues would not appear to be a major problem.

Posted by: Jen | Oct 31 2019 21:16 utc | 49

@Posted by: Scotch Bingeington | Oct 31 2019 21:19 utc | 53
Yeah, the story about underpants is the touch of humor…but as Nazanín Armanian tells us today in her 15 notes on the assassination of Al Bagdadi, the Sackman from the US,

American brigadier general Kevin Bergner already told us in 2007 that Abu Bakr Al Bagdadi, the alleged Daesh chief was actually a fictional character whose voice was provided by an actor named Abu al-Adullah Naima, and that the Islamic State is a fictional entity . Those who had invented this fiction allegedly intended to locate the origins of the terrorist group in Iraq, not in the dark basements of the CIA, Mosad and MI6, as well as Al Qaeda, as revealed by Edward Snowden, the former official of the American intelligence

Also that Trump, in his usual style and record, lied all the way during his adress to comunicate the killing of Al Baghdadi:

According to The Washington Post, until October 14, President Trump had released 13,435 lies, although what he told on October 27 was the icing: that the US Delta Special Forces attacked the home of ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al Bagdadi, in locality of Barisha, located in the province of Idlib, 5 kilometers from the border of Turkey, and Trump himself saw, in direct transmission, how that man was “crying all the way” to take refuge in a tunnel along with his two wives and five children, and then activate the bomb vest they wore: “he died like a dog”, “we had no casualties”, and that “it was like a movie”. But, the press rebelled that:
-The movie that Trump saw without popcorn had no sound, so he couldn’t see him whining-
-He was not at the White House at 3:33 pm, watching the operation, but playing golf, Newsweek betrays him. Fact corroborated by former White House photographer Pete Souza who points out that the photo of the president and his team, with those faces without any emotion, is subsequent to the events and was taken at 5:05 p.m., as shown in IPTC data from the camera.

Posted by: Sasha | Oct 31 2019 21:37 utc | 51

Have anyone heard about the general strike in Israeli Embassies who keep them shut down?
I have seen the news reported at Fort Russ…It seems that it has to od with poor wages and conditions…Man this is new…and along with the difficulties to form government, I wonder what influence could this have in the Lebanon protests….or whether the Lebanon protests could influence Israel…

Posted by: Sasha | Oct 31 2019 21:51 utc | 53

No body…no evidence…Why making such show off with Gaddafi and Sadam Hussein, and with Bin Laden and Al Baghdadi we have no corpse, nor cruelty with it, and moreover both are awarded the Islamic Burial in the sea…???
Assad also doubts the elimination of the leader of Daesh Al Bagdadi in a US operation
Assad declared that “they knew about their own “collaboration” in the operation by the media”
At the same time, Assad emphasized that “the death of Al Bagdadi and all the combatants will not change the situation in general as long as the “terrorist ideology” remains alive”.

Posted by: Sasha | Oct 31 2019 22:01 utc | 55

AntiSpin @ 48
That 10 minute video is great. Actually sounds like a “How To” on what is necessary to create a Despotricy.

Posted by: arby | Oct 31 2019 22:25 utc | 57

@61 Several reports of armoured vehicles heading to ‘protect’ the oilfields. It’s pretty obvious that it’s just a pretext to keep the pressure on the Syrian government.
A lot depends on how the SDF feel about it and who the customer, if any, will be for the oil. I’ve been trying to find a comment from Conoco/Phillips but no luck so far.

Posted by: dh | Oct 31 2019 22:47 utc | 59

Whole interview with Assad where he tlaks about the Russian-Turkish agreement…
President al-Assad’s interview given to al-Sourya and al-Ikhbarya TVs

Posted by: Sasha | Oct 31 2019 22:58 utc | 61

63 Cont’d–
I’m going to post one further excerpt, Was Obama better than Trump:
“President Assad: We should not bet on any American President. First, when Erdogan says that he decided to make an incursion or that they told the Americans, he is trying to project Turkey as a super power or to pretend that he makes his own decisions; all these are theatrics shared between him and the Americans. In the beginning, nobody was allowed to interfere, because the Americans and the West believed that demonstrations will spread out and decide the outcome. The demonstrations did not spread as they wanted, so they shifted towards using weapons. When weapons did not decide the outcome, they moved towards the terrorist extremist organizations with their crazy ideology in order to decide the outcome militarily. They were not able to. Here came the role of ISIS in the summer of 2014 in order to disperse the efforts of the Syrian Arab Army, which it was able to do, at which point came the Russian intervention. When all bets on the field failed, it was necessary for Turkey to interfere and turn the tables; this is their role.
“As for Trump, you might ask me a question and I give you an answer that might sound strange. I say that he is the best American President, not because his policies are good, but because he is the most transparent president. All American presidents perpetrate all kinds of political atrocities and all crimes and yet still win the Nobel Prize and project themselves as defenders of human rights and noble and unique American values, or Western values in general. The reality is that they are a group of criminals who represent the interests of American lobbies, i.e. the large oil and arms companies, and others. Trump talks transparently, saying that what we want is oil. This is the reality of American policy, at least since WWII. We want to get rid of such and such a person or we want to offer a service in return for money. This is the reality of American policy. What more do we need than a transparent opponent? That is why the difference is in form only, while the reality is the same.”

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 31 2019 23:11 utc | 63

Stripes:
Carolina Army Guard troops move into eastern Syria with Bradley Fighting Vehicles

WASHINGTON – National Guard members from North and South Carolina began moving into eastern Syria with heavy armored vehicles on Thursday as part of the Pentagon’s new mission to secure oil fields wrestled from the Islamic State, a military spokesman said.
Soldiers with the North Carolina-based 4th Battalion, 118th Infantry Regiment and the South Carolina-based 218th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade were deployed to Deir al-Zour to protect American-held oil fields around that city, Army Col. Myles Caggins, the spokesmen for the U.S.-led anti-ISIS mission known as Operation Inherent Resolve, tweeted Thursday. Caggins’ tweet included photos of soldiers loading M2A2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles onto Air Force C-17 Globemaster cargo jets to be used on the mission. . . . .For now, the new deployment will not include M1 Abrams tanks, the Pentagon official said Thursday.here

When use regulars when we can call up the National Guard?

Posted by: Don Bacon | Oct 31 2019 23:14 utc | 65

How the Army officer who testified against Trump could end up in a court-martial

When Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman appeared before members of Congress on Tuesday to discuss what he knew about President Trump’s conversations with Ukraine’s president, he was violating an order from his commander in chief not to cooperate with the House’s impeachment inquiry.
He is likely protected from legal ramifications from showing up to testify, a former Army judge advocate told Military Times on Thursday. But it remains to be seen whether what he told legislators could get him charged with a crime ― and, of course, how his choice to rebel against his White House chain-of-command will affect his career.
…
It comes down to whether Trump’s order was lawful, he said. If Trump was trying to prevent Vindman from sharing sensitive information, it could be. If he was trying to prevent testimony, period, it’s not.
The Military Whistleblower Protection Act prohibits government officials from interfering with a member of the military in communicating with Congress or an inspector general. Adding to the complexity is that the president gets to determine what is and isn’t classified.
here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Oct 31 2019 23:27 utc | 67

US hold on the oilfields depends mostly on Iraq. The oilfields of Deir Ezzor are in open country with few towns and apart from the Euphrates flood plain is sparsely populated. The only cover for guerrilla style attacks against US or its proxies on the oilfields will be the occasional dust storm. Apart from Iraq, syria setting up S-300 at deir Ezzor and taking control of the airspace would also be a game changer but this may not happen.
Lebanon and Iraq are both undergoing US color revolutions at the moment so its a matter of waiting for the dust to settle on both these moves to see where US is positioned in the region.

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Nov 1 2019 0:23 utc | 69

@Sally #1
Yet the US military is overwhelmingly the #1 most trusted US institution among Americans, despite it forcibly wasting their hard earned money to kill tens of millions of innocents abroad. At the same time the US is also filled to the brim with draft dodgers.
If anybody thinks Bolton and his chickenhawking buddies isn’t representative of the whole US, think again.

Posted by: JW | Nov 1 2019 0:50 utc | 71

I highly recommend taking the time to read the interview with Assad I linked to above. He answers questions being asked on this thread and provides insight into his and Syria’s thoughts in numerous other areas. On his recent visit to Idlib and how he perceives the terrorists there, a perception shared by many Syrians I encounter on Twitter:
“This has been common practice for me; the visit to Idlib in particular was because the world perhaps believed that the whole Syria question is summed up in what is happening in the north, and the issue has now become a Turkish Army incursion into Syrian territory, and forgetting that all those fighting in Idlib are actually part of the Turkish Army, even though they are called al-Qaeda, Ahrar al-Sham and other names. I assure you that those fighters are closer to Erdogan’s heart than the Turkish Army itself. We should not forget this, because politically and in relation to Turkey in particular, the main battle is Idlib because it is linked to the battle in the north-eastern region or the Jazeera region.” [My Emphasis]

Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 1 2019 0:51 utc | 73

Don Bacon 73 “Really? I thought the protests were like many other protests around the world, over economic issues.”
As was the Syrian ‘revolution’. Plenty of small US companies willing to go in. US already has buyers as they have been shipping oil out of east Syria for some time. Turkey, Israel ect plus many more willing to buy at a discount. And considering the oilfields are simply stolen, oil can be sold at a discount.

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Nov 1 2019 1:12 utc | 75

Excellent article. Highly recommend reading it:
Absolute Capitalism – by John Bellamy Foster
Thanks to Pepe Escobar’s Facebook for the recommendation.

Posted by: vk | Nov 1 2019 1:25 utc | 77

Don Bacon 73
Iraqi PM and Lebanon President were figures that were acceptable to all factions in their respective countries. Both tried to accomadate the US and the resistance countries.
Bush’s ultimatum “you are either with us or against us” still stands.

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Nov 1 2019 1:34 utc | 79

yeah – that was a good line in the interview as well peter! bang on in fact…

Posted by: james | Nov 1 2019 2:38 utc | 81

From the link @ 79:
“About Trump, you might ask me a question and I give you an answer that might sound strange. I say that he is the best American President, not because his policies are good, but because he is the most transparent president. All American presidents perpetrate all kinds of political atrocities and all crimes and yet still win the Nobel Prize and project themselves as defenders of human rights and noble and unique American values, or Western values in general. The reality is that they are a group of criminals who represent the interests of American lobbies, i.e. the large oil and arms companies, and others. Trump talks transparently, saying that what we want is oil. This is the reality of American policy, at least since WWII. We want to get rid of such and such a person or we want to offer a service in return for money. This is the reality of American policy. What more do we need than a transparent opponent? That is why the difference is in form only, while the reality is the same.”

Posted by: ben | Nov 1 2019 3:02 utc | 83

evilempire @81
I think Burisma was going to do fracking in eastern Ukraine. US fracking tech applied to the right terrain could be very very valuable.
After Donbas rebels defeat of Ukrainian army & irregulars, Burisma did a fracking deal in one of the central asian countries.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Nov 1 2019 3:21 utc | 85

james
Thanks for sharing the music video.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Nov 1 2019 3:28 utc | 87

S @36: Epstein
Whitney Webb:

This story, to me, is to keep us arguing about suicide vs. homicide until the cows come home.
Meanwhile, Epstein’s accomplices are all free.

And:

This pathologist, Michael Baden, was hired by Mark Epstein, who owned the building where Epstein kept underaged girls (which was never raided btw).
Baden has a long history of aiding the CIA, FBI in cover-ups; was once hired by Alan Dershowitz

And:

This story, along with Michael Baden’s track record of cover ups for the CIA and FBI, plus the fact that he was hired by Mark Epstein, major accomplice in his brother’s crimes, is the strongest evidence yet that Epstein was extracted as opposed to “suicided”

<> <> <> <> <> <>
I agree with Whitney.
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Posted by: Jackrabbit | Nov 1 2019 4:02 utc | 89

I’m seeing lots of cognitive dissonance in this thread. How anyone can hold the core concepts of MAGA/America First in their heads along with the full court press of Full Spectrum Dominance against every country that doesn’t completely roll over to US dominance and yet simultaneously think that things like insulting the Danes to get Nordstream 2 passed, Those 2 things are fundamentally opposed. The Hopium and outright bullshit mythos around Trump is as pervasive and persistent as it was with Obama, just with a different set of oligarch backers.
The continued drip drip drip of outlandish lies about the Bagdhadi farce is the typical DC move of adding more and more details to a story to try to sell it while contradicting the original story and sometimes even the latest update.

Posted by: sorghum | Nov 1 2019 4:35 utc | 91

sorghum @94: The Hopium and outright bullshit mythos around Trump is as pervasive and persistent as it was with Obama …
Yup. In fact, I’ve proposed that they both follow the same faux populist political model, repleat with apologists of the populist hero and crazy opposition that questions the President’s loyalty to America.
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Posted by: Jackrabbit | Nov 1 2019 4:53 utc | 93

President Bashar al-Assad on Israel:
Journalist: The sensitive question in this regard is: the Turks are occupiers, so if I am willing, or if I have the chance, or if I believe that I might meet the Turks, the Turks are occupiers, exactly like Israelis, so it would be possible to meet the Israelis. This is a sensitive issue, but it is being raised.
President Assad: It was actually raised when we started these meetings: how can we meet occupiers in Afrin or other areas, even if there are not occupiers, they support terrorism; they are enemies in the national sense. The difference between them and Israel is that we do not recognize the legitimacy of its existence as a state. We don’t recognize the existence of the Israeli people. There is no Israeli people except the one that existed for several centuries BC, now they are a diaspora who came and occupied land and evicted its people. While the Turkish people exist, and they are a neighbouring people, and we have a common history, regardless of whether this history is good or bad or in between; that is irrelevant. Turkey exists as a state and it is a neighbouring state. The Alexandretta issue is different from the situation in which a people without land replace a land and a people; the comparison is not valid. Even when we negotiated with Israel in the 1990s, we did not recognize it. We negotiated in order to achieve peace. If this was achieved and the rights were returned, we would recognize it; as I said, the comparison is invalid. Turkey will continue to exist and the Turks should remain a brotherly people. Erdogan was betting at the beginning to mobilize the Turkish people behind him in order to create hostility with the Syrian people, and consequently be given a free hand. We have to be careful not to look at things in the same way. I stress again that some people, not the political forces, but within the Turkish Army and security institutions are against Erdogan. This was the reason behind our drive to meet them.
Furthermore, and this was the subject of discussion with our Russian and Iranian friends – who said that yes, we are defending you, but in the end, you are the owners of the cause. This is true, the land is ours, and the cause is ours and so we have a duty to carry out by meeting them directly, even if we do not expect results. Maybe there will come a day when we can achieve results, particularly with changing circumstances inside Turkey, in the world and within Syria.
Journalist: Concerning Israel, some people describe it as the absent present in the events in Syria, the greatest beneficiary of what happened in Syria. Indeed, it is more comfortable now than in any other time before in comparison with weakening Syria, Hizbollah and Iran, as analysts say.
President Assad: It is the always-present. It has never been absent. It might be absent in terms of language, because we fight its proxies, agents, flunkies or tools, in different ways, some military some political. They are all tools serving Israel directly or through the Americans. Since the battle on the ground is with these forces, it is normal that the terminology describes these forces and not Israel. Israel is in fact a main partner in what is happening, and as an enemy state, that is expected. Will it stand by and watch? No. it will be proactive, and more effective in order to strike at Syria, the Syrian people, the Syrian homeland and everything related to Syria.
Journalist: Benefiting practically from what happened?
President Assad: This is self-evident. Even if we do not discuss it, it is one of our national givens in Syria.

Posted by: Sarah | Nov 1 2019 5:13 utc | 95

@ 95 psychohistorian – you’re welcome! it was interesting reading about the guy who started that group post modern jukebox..scott bradlee… there is a book on him – outside the jukebox – how i turned my vintage into my dream gig – which looks interesting too! i am playing some of this type music with some friends and i just tripped on the book today.. it looks inspirational.. good for him for making it all happen and for those who are a part of the experience..

Posted by: james | Nov 1 2019 5:32 utc | 97

the financial system
Psychohistorian @ 22.. thanks . for that link.. very, very good information.
jayc 29 The Xinjiang propaganda comes from US and UK. Virtually all western propaganda is projection – they project onto others what they themselves are doing. by: Peter AU 1 @ 31
yes that’s number 5 in the debunk propaganda list
1. EN Establish the narrative 2. WR they wrong, we right
3. PF Cherry pick the facts 4. IS Ignore stuff
5. BV blame the victim 6. MU make stuff up
7. AC attack any challenge 8. RL (Repeat the lie)^infinity.
@ 1 Sally Snyder Screw elections. Let’s switch a draft. We’ll draw names out of fish bowls. The only people not eligible will be ex politicians, lawyers, and bankers… we’ll make up for the discrimination by allowing ex convicts and convicted felons in as long as they have served their time. by: goldhoarder @ 24 < = good idea but its not constitutional.. lets change the constitution, or create a new one and get it ratified.. so we can adopt your idea. According to The Washington Post, until October 14, President Trump had released 13,435 lies, Sasha @ 54. <=not one of them impeachable? People tend to overestimate the power of the US president. Joost @ 55, <= I think the president underestimates his power. Trouble is the power of the Article II clown comes from the governed people and nothing Article II clowns want is congruent with what the governed Americans want so the president cannot use his power. re: those who governed by spudski @57.. <=The world would be better off if there were no history of leaders to be had. America is a democracy, the USA is a Republic. There are no leaders in a democracy, but a Republic consist of nothing but leaders. Tim Glover @ 49, Aurgrr @61, dh @ 62 flankerbandit@ 65, Circe @89 IMO, the theft of Syrian Oil narrative may be a trap designed to force Iran to attack so the war can be moved from Syria to Iran. I agree with Jackrabbit @92 and Whitney re: S@36 Epstein was extracted.. and possiblity sustituted for Uncle Baghdadi see underpants link by: Scotch Bingeington @ 53

Posted by: snake | Nov 1 2019 6:26 utc | 99