So it’s been a few days since the Syria Strikes, everyone and his dog have thrown in their two cents, and there has been a set of confusing and contradictory reactions from US officials and pretty much everyone else involved in this saga.
The more the contradictions pile on, the less clear the picture becomes.
Is it a “zrada”/betrayal? Is it 666D chess/clever plan? Or is everyone involved just a bunch of opportunists and/or bumbling morons?
And what is this all going to lead to?
Let’s try to consider all these issues one by one. But first, for those of you who like podcasts, I have already participated in two where I go indepth into these issues
- 666D Interuniversal Teichmuller Chess with Robert Stark, pilleater, and Rabbit.
- 3D Chess in the ZOG Dimension with Kirill Nesterov and smug_vatnik (note: In Russian)
What Happened?
On April 4, a toxic gas engulfed the town of Khan Shaykhun, which is occupied by Tahrir al-Sham, an Al-Nusra offshoot (which in turn stems from Al Qaeda). There are many reasons to doubt that Assad was responsible, as I argued from the outset. Since then, the reasons for skepticism have only increased in number. For instance, see this Duran summary of a 14 page report by MIT Professor Theodore Postol on the Syria chemical attacks (full document also attached).
In response, without any sort of investigation, UN mandate, or even Congressional approval, Trump ordered a 59 Tomahawk missile strike on Shayrat Airbase, though not before warning Russia. This happened while having a chocolate cake dessert with Xi Jinping.
Opinions vary on the success of the missile strikes. At first, there were claims that 23 of the 59 missiles hadn’t even hit anything, which led to theories that either the failure had been intentional on Trump’s part, or that they have been partially intercepted by Syrian air defences. (Technical failure was very unlikely, since even in the early 1990’s Tomahawks had a failure rate of 5%, whereas here it was allegedly closer to 40%). I do not buy the first theory that it was an intentional failure. I can hardly even see how you could communicate an order like that to the military, expect it to be carried out, and not have it be leaked.
Incoming Tomahawks fly close to the ground, making them mostly invisible to ground based radar, and to my knowledge Russia does not have a continuous AWACS presence over the Syrian skies which conventional air defense systems need to take the Tomahawks out. As such, if the claims are true, I believe the likeliest explanation is the presence of a Russian EW weapon within the vicinity of Shayrat Airbase. This would be consistent with the fact that even the missiles that did get through failed to do damage; i.e., their flight path had still been affected to some extent, making them deviate from their planned course and as a result less effective.
On the other hand, more recent analyses from the past few days by ISI and War is Boring (h/t Reiner Tor) indicate a 58/59 success rate, with flights from Shayrat being sharply curtailed in the aftermath.
Reactions
US Domestic: Defense Secretary James Mattis has raised the possibility of establishing a NFZ in Syria, and WH spokesman Sean Spicer bracketed Russia in with the Axis of Evil (2017 edition) – Syria, Iran, and the DPRK – which opposed its actions in Syria. Steve Bannon and the “nationalist” wing of Trump’s administration opposed the strike on Syria, but he has been gradually losing influence to Jared Kushner and the “neocon” wing. For instance, Katie McFarland, a Michael Flynn protege, was fired from the NSC just a few days ago and demoted to being the Ambassador to Singapore. There has even been talk of a 150,000 troop US ground intervention in Syria pushed by new NSC head Herbert McMaster and David Petraeus, though this extreme variant was apparently opposed by both Bannon and Kushner, and has already been shot down by Trump.
US International: The US and UK led the vanguard in condemning Assad’s gassing of his own people and in affirming Russian culpability in it. Nikki Haley has been busy waving photos of gassed children in the UN. Rex Tillerson and British FM were pushing for new sanctions against Syria and Russia at a meeting of the G7 before the latter’s flight to Moscow. At the G7 meeting, there was talk that Tillerson would present a carrot and stick ultimatum to Moscow: Drop support for Assad, and get reinvited back into the G8; or face newer sanctions (as it was, they failed to get European and Japanese support for the latter). The summit between Rex Tillerson and Russian FM Sergey Lavrov has just ended on an ambiguous note. Tillerson is ambivalent on Ukranie, even going so far as to describe the Russia’s incorporation of Crimea as “certain moves by Russia”, which segues with his skepticism at the G7 meeting where he asked his European counterparts why American taxpayers should care about Ukraine. On the other hand, he continued to insist that Assad should step down, and that Russia should pressure him to do that.
Russia: Russia has opposed the strikes, with Putin saying that the US-Russian relationship has deteriorated – no mean achievement, considering where it was at under Obama. More to the point, Russia shut down the military communication channel in Syria with the US, which has already resulted in a reduction in US military overflights above Syria. Just recently, Russia blocked a Western-sponsored resolution on Syria in the UN Security Council; Bolivia voted with Russia, while China and two other countries abstained because of its reference to Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which had previously been used by the West to carry through regime change in Libya in 2011 despite having reassured Russia it would do no such thing.
China: Chinese state media started attacking the strikes as soon as Xi Jinping returned from the US. However, in tandem with the US rerouting the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group towards North Korea, it has expressed a willingness to also strike against the DPRK if it crossed China’s “bottom line”, and has moved 150,000 troops to its border with the hermit kingdom [fake news]. In his turn, Trump has also adopted a more positive line on China, retreating from his prior threats to label it a currency manipulator and praising Xi Jinping for what at least what Trump saw as his cooperative spirit.
666D Chess
So you have a bewildering range of factors to consider when trying to fit all these events into any sort of internationally consistent framework:
(1) A domestic power struggle in the US between Bannonite nativists and Kushnerite globalists, which the latter faction is winning. Indeed, there is good evidence to believe that it is not long before Bannon is dismissed entirely, with Trump now claiming that he wasn’t that critical to his victory in the 2016 elections anyway.
(2) The strikes enjoy bipartisan support, the support of the Mainstream Media, and the support of a majority of Americans (~50-55% support, 35-40% oppose).
(3) What at a minimum appears to be a serious disagreement between the US and Russia on Syria, with the former insisting that Assad has to go, and mooting the possibility of no fly zones – a prospect that many thought had fallen by the wayside with Hillary Clinton’s defeat.
(4) A surprisingly more accomodating US position on Ukraine – more so than that of the Europeans – though Tillerson has taken care to explicitly rule out any quid pro quo deals with Russia that tie Ukraine to Syria.
(5) Though Chinese state media have reacted negatively to the US strike on Syria, they have been – at least rhetorically – a lot more cooperative on another brewing flashpoint, that of North Korea (see above). The Chinese have no great love for Kim Jong Un, who is rumored to be a Sinophobe and who had his uncle executed for trying to create a pro-Chinese political/economic faction within the DPRK.
On the other hand, the DPRK is a vital security concern for China – not so much perhaps the oft stated issue of the refugee flood should the regime fall (population of North Korea: 25 million; population of just the two regions adjoining it: 70 million), but because it could do without American military bases peppering the Korean peninsula all the way up to its border. More to the point, China has a mutual defense treaty with the DPRK from 1961 that it has continued to renew, despite festering disagreements between the two countries. Could China be… too accomodating of Trump? Is the US walking into some kind of trap?
So, so many things to consider.
Donald’s Game
It seems to me that the Trump administrations actions in recent days fall into three major narrative bins:
- Zrada: Trump has subscribed to the neocon agenda, on account of deep state blackmail, political convenience, or perhaps because he never had a strong commitment to “America First” anyway;
- 4 Chess: Trump is playing 666D interuniversal Teichmuller chess (or “clever plan”/chess combination, as we say in Russian) to win over his skeptics with a “short victorious war” and return to MAGA;
- Drumpf: Trump is an inexperienced politician, or just a moron, and is making impulsive decisions on the fly.
Let’s consider the evidence for and against each of these in turn:
Zrada (Betrayal)
Trump has subscribed to the neocon agenda, on account of deep state blackmail, political convenience, or perhaps because he never had a strong commitment to “America First” anyway.
This is the main reaction to Donald Trump on both the anti-imperialist Left and the Alt Right.
Points For
One Breitbart-endorsed version of this was that Trump was driven to fling his Tomahawks on account of Ivanka’s tears on account of the poor Syrian babies and children. While this might have been a factor – after all, Trump is known to be very close to his daughter – the idea that important decisions are made in such soap opera fashion still beggar belief, even adjusting for the continuing Latinization of American politics.
Perhaps closer to the truth is the observation in a recent WaPo article that Bannonism isn’t any good for the Trump brand, quoting one Republican operative as saying, “The fundamental assessment is that if they want to win the White House in 2020, they’re not going to do it the way they did in 2016, because the family brand would not sustain the collateral damage… It would be so protectionist, nationalist and backward-looking that they’d only be able to build in Oklahoma City or the Ozarks.” If you elect a merchant, I suppose you will get a merchant.
Another major consideration is the changes in cadres, which indicate a gradual purge of Bannonists from the government (Lewandowski, Manafort, Flynn, McFarland – with Gorka and Bannon himself now coming under the crosshairs), in favor of various neocons, Goldman Sachs globalists, and members of the Kushner clan.
Alongside the rehabilitation of the neocons, it has also been acquiring a much more explicitly Zionist administration. It is worth bearing in mind that Kushner himself is a Zionist, and that Trump has always been very forthright about his support for Israel – much more so than Obama. The Israelis have been returning the favor – Trump was always very popular in Israel, and Israeli politicians have expressed strong support for the Syria strikes. This is not surprising, since Israelis see a united Syria as a greater threat to them to a Balkanized Syria swarming with Islamists and ethnic militias.
Perhaps there were always plans to move ahead with removing Assad as soon as a convenient opportunity popped up, or maybe the percentage of neocons and Zionists reached a critical mass that tilted things in this direction. I don’t suppose it matters all that much.
Another version of this narrative is that the deep state has finally acquired some nuclear level “kompromat” on Trump, which it is using to blackmail him – for instance, one commenter here has suggested pedophilia, or an expensive drug habit. Or maybe there really is damning evidence of collusion with the Russian Occupation Government. Alternatively, maybe his family is being credibly threatened in some way. I suppose this is all possible, but I don’t think it’s all too likely, considering the diversity of other, more natural explanations.
Points Against
As early as a week ago, the Trump administration was open to Assad staying on as President of Syria. Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat on good terms with Trump, paid a visit to Syria several weeks ago where she called on the US to stop arming terrorists, and just a week ago Rex Tillerson was saying that the “longer-term status of President Assad will be decided by the Syrian people.” Nikki Haley went even further, noting that “our priority is no longer to sit and focus on getting Assad out.” The sheer suddenness of this 180 turn might hint at its artificiality (666D Chess Theory).
It’s worth noting that even as of today the administration still hasn’t gone full neocon. James Mattis has recently affirmed that the defeat of Islamic State remains the first priority, and Trump clarified that the US will not be entering the Syrian Civil War. Note that Thomas L. Friedman, the globalist par excellence, is currently arguing for the US to let the Islamic State be to fight against the Syrian government on the pages of the New York Times. Anti-imperialists might bewail the neocon hijacking of the White House, but frankly, there’s still some ways to go before it plummets to the level of NYT-reading “educated mainstream.” It’s pretty depressing to think about, but in the postmodernist exhibition that is current American politics, where Antifa assaults Alt Right anti-war protests, a move to the “moderate center” implicitly involves adopting the language of interventionism.
All of which suggests a second possibility…
666D Interuniversal Teichmuller Chess
Trump is playing 666D interuniversal Teichmuller chess (or “clever plan”/chess combination, as we say in Russian) to win over his skeptics with a “short victorious war” and return to MAGA;
Points For
Let’s make one thing clear. Even if it turns out we were all ultimately cucked, there were many very good reasons why we were fans of the God-Emperor for so long. One of them was his consistency. Trump was advocating protectionism back in 1988. He condemned the bombing of Serbia back in 1999. Infamously now, he was a vociferous critic of intervention in Syria in 2013.
So it is wrong to say his opposition to invade/invite the world owes itself to “President Bannon.” He was America First for decades.
Moreover, Trump’s overtly Russophile sympathies during the campaign were completely unbecoming of a US politician, and while the gesture was appreciated by some, this stance almost certainly hindered him more than helped him. He was factually correct on Putin being popular and there being no evidence of him killing journalists, and he was right that the people of Crimea supported reunification with Russia (though since becoming President, he has demanded Russia return Crimea to Ukraine). He had no apparent reasons to do this from an electoral perspective, and yet he did it anyway.
Furthermore, the US military did warn the Russians they were about to strike Shayrat, though this shouldn’t be weighed too heavily as any Russian military casualties would have risked an outright escalation, which pretty much everyone but the very craziest neocons wants to avoid.
According to the 666D Chess theory, Trump struck Syria to win some support from the MSM and the Establishment at a time of sinking approval ratings, failures in healthcare and immigration policy, and the slow-burning scandal over his purported ties to Russia.
A good example is Mike Cernovich’s take:
Moreover, this would not be the first time Trump has… trumped his critics.
He mentioned he’d ban the burning of the American flag – the media rushed to show Leftists burning the American flag. He promoted the observation that many hate crimes were hoaxes – soon after, it emerged that the author of the threats against Jewish centers was a Black social justice writer for The Intercept who had been fired for making up sources. He claimed you wouldn’t believe what had happened in Sweden yesterday – we couldn’t believe what happened to Sweden tomorrow.
Perhaps what we are seeing this past week is just his most formidable “chess combination” yet, which will end in the most epic pwning of the media, the neocons, the bugmen in the moden history of the United States and the final draining of the Swamp in Washington D.C.
I suppose hope dies last.
Points Against
The first is the sheer scale of the changes in cadres (see Theory #1), and the broad range of campaign promises that Trump is going back on. For instance, just these past couple of days, he has reversed his positions on labeling China as a currency manipular (perhaps in exchange for its consent to a “short victorious war” missile salvo against the norks?), on Yellen’s future, on the Export-Import Bank, and on NATO, which he has suddenly decided is not “obsolete” after all.
Moreover, its worth noting that for the most part only two major groups of people still take this theory seriously:
(1) ROG conspiracy theoricists, such as Louise Mensch, in the style of “Putin’s puppet bombed Putin’s ally to deny that he is Putin’s puppet on Putin’s orders”:
(2) Trump cultists, such as Bill Mitchell:
The problem with the Louise Mensches is: At which point does this sort of argumentation invalidate itself? What can Trump do to conclusively demonstrate he is not Putin’s puppet? Firebombing Khmeimim Airbase? Dropping a nuke on Moscow? Not that she will be against any of that, mind… but presumably many of the Americans who would subsequently have to live in the Fallout universe might beg to differ.
The second group are basically unironic Trump cultists, like what /r/The_Donald has now become.
When the only people to believe in a hypothesis are Trump Nashists and Trump Derangement Syndrome sufferers, I will probably bet against the theory.
Moreover, as a Russian, I have good reason to be especially skeptical about “666D Chess” because we have had our version of it for the past three years, namely, Putin’s clever plan/mnogokhodovka (lit. “chess combination), a term used by state propagandists to explain and rationalize Kremlin decisions of dubious wisdom, such as the Minsk agreements with Ukraine and the intervention in Syria. At one point they were seriously arguing that Syria could be used as a lever to end Western sanctions, whereas if anything it resulted in pressure for more sanctions.
In real life, clever plans/mnogokhodovkas/666D chess in geopolitics simply never exists, at least in the ever more incredible and complex forms that would be needed to explain this past week.
That is because, in practice, a lot of politicians are not the wily grandmasters of their supporters’ imagination. They are just retards.
Which brings us to Theory #3:
Donald Drumpf
Trump is an inexperienced politician, or just a moron, and is making impulsive decisions on the fly.
The major piece of evidence in favor of this particular interpretation is that the Syria strikes were worse than a crime – they were a blunder.
Let’s compile a balance sheet.
Advantages:
- Demonstrate US resolve, credibility; enforce the red line, unlike Obama.
- Kill the Putin collusion theory – and in fairness, people outside the dickpix/Menschosphere have started talking less about it.
- Increased support, at least for the time being, from neocons…
- … from the MSM (17/20 of the top outlets support the strikes).
- … and from a modest majority of Americans, including Republicans.
Disadvantages:
- Neocon support is temporary – you just know they’re slavering to backstab Trump if he ever again fails to be sufficiently hard on Russia.
- The media has a momentum of its own and now that the first cracks have appeared in the administration’s stance against intervention, they will just keep piling on, no matter that Trump and Mattis have since clarified that they are not committed to pursuing regime change in Syria.
- Adding fuel to the fire, as Putin himself has pointed out, the Syrian rebels now have a perverse incentive to stage further false flag attacks, in the sure knowledge that Trump will definitely no longer have any option but to respond with massive force.
- Moreover, this will also now be used by the globalist wing of the war party as a sledgehammer to batter down what remains of Trump’s anti-immigration agenda. As Hillary Clinton now asks, if you’re going to bomb Syrians – and you certainly should – how could you justify not taking in their refugees? Bizarrely, the American Federation of Teachers has also seen it fit to make a political stand, supporting the missile strikes on Syria but also calling for Trump to open up the borders.
- He has already soured his relationships with Europe (too reactionary), the Muslim world in general (too Islamophobic), Latin America (position on immigration, “bad hombres”), Iran (too neocon), and China (trade policy, up to the point of claiming they invented global warming to acquire a competitive advantage). Now he apparently also wants to add Russia, one of his few remaining fans other than Israel, to this list.
- Moreover, adding Russia to his shit-list won’t exactly improve European or Chinese attitudes towards him; the Europeans will now just think he’s G.W. Bush II, while the Chinese will be looking to get him bogged down in some quagmire to free their own hands in the South China Sea. Pretty much the only country of any note that this will make happy is the Poroshenko regime in Ukraine, which had ironically done its best to help Trump lose the elections.
- It will directly increase the likelihood of a serious military clash with Russia in the skies over Syria, which can go in all sorts of unexpected directions. The military hotline between the two countries in Syria has been turned off, and the Russians are beefing up Syria’s air defenses even further.
- It has moved Iran and Russia closer together, with Russian FM Sergey Lavrov inviting his Syrian and Iranian counterparts to Moscow. There are also several summits planned between Putin and Xi Jinping; though they long predate the Syria strikes, it is likely that relations between the two countries will now move forwards at a faster rate.
- While Trump did demonstrate “resolve,” of a sort, as Alexander Mercouris points out, it also exacted a cost in credibility – the ease and suddenness with which Trump has reversed course from accepting that Assad would remain Syria’s President one week and then attacking him the next is going to be making not just the Russians, but also the Europeans and Chinese, asking to what extent he can be trusted.
- Trump’s enemies will continue to hate him, and to work towards his undermining through the #Russiagate scandal. Don’t respond – evidence he is in league with Putin. Respond – evidence that it’s to draw attention away from his ties with Putin.
- Conversely, he has thrown many of his most principled and fervent supporters overboard. Greg Johnson puts it best in his essay for The Unz Review: “Never betray your friends to court the favor of your enemies. If you betray your friends, the most principled and perceptive among them will drop you, leaving only the delusional and venal. That is not a good trade, given that the approval you gain is bound to be fleeting and contingent, whereas the contempt and distrust you create will be permanent. The people you betrayed may come back to you out of sentimentality or self-interest, but their trust and respect will never return. They will always regard you as a traitor.“
- To be sure, this probably isn’t going to massively impact on Trump’s poll ratings anytime soon. However, while the people most disillusioned with him – committed anti-imperialists and Alt Righters – might not be numerically large, but they did a disproportionate amount of the gruntwork for his campaign, making memes real while Hillary Clinton banked on and failed with traditional tools like big sponsors and TV. There will be a lot less “high energy” come the 2020 elections, assuming that he even makes it that long.
As we can see, there are several times more negatives than positives to this decision. It was disastrous by any objecture measure
But for this very reason there is reason to believe that it was something born out of stupidy instead of mendacity (Theory #1) or questionable genius (Theory #2).
I have long been skeptical about liberal arguments as to Trump’s lack of intelligence. They seemed to be all to reminscent of liberals’ Dubya obsessions in the 2000s; though I was never a fan of G.W. Bush – my first “political” experience in life was marching against the Iraq War – the psychometric evidence seemed pretty clear that it wasn’t that he wasn’t so much stupid as a bad public speaker. So I pattern matched this experience to Trump.
It also didn’t tally with Trump’s achievement in increasing his wealth by two orders of magnitude, which – contrary to media tropes – he could not have done by simply “investing in the stockmarket” or some nonsense like that. Though Trump did have a head start thanks to daddy’s money, multiplying the fortune one hundred times over does usually require brains.
However, I will now admit that I might have… “misoverestimated” Trump.
Maybe he has started to suffer from dementia, or something, but just read his latest interview, where he was describing how he informed Xi Jinping of his attack on Syria while eating “the most beautiful” piece of chocolate cake. So cringeworthy:
TRUMP: But I will tell you, only because you’ve treated me so good for so long, I have to (INAUDIBLE) right?
I was sitting at the table. We had finished dinner. We’re now having dessert. And we had the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you’ve ever seen and President Xi was enjoying it.And I was given the message from the generals that the ships are locked and loaded, what do you do?
And we made a determination to do it, so the missiles were on the way. And I said, Mr. President, let me explain something to you. This was during dessert.
We’ve just fired 59 missiles, all of which hit, by the way, unbelievable, from, you know, hundreds of miles away, all of which hit, amazing.
BARTIROMO: Unmanned?
Brilliant.
TRUMP: It’s so incredible. It’s brilliant. It’s genius. Our technology, our equipment, is better than anybody by a factor of five. I mean look, we have, in terms of technology, nobody can even come close to competing.
Now we’re going to start getting it, because, you know, the military has been cut back and depleted so badly by the past administration and by the war in Iraq, which was another disaster.
So what happens is I said we’ve just launched 59 missiles heading to Iraq and I wanted you to know this. And he was eating his cake. And he was silent.
BARTIROMO: (INAUDIBLE) to Syria?
TRUMP: Yes. Heading toward Syria. In other words, we’ve just launched 59 missiles heading toward Syria. And I want you to know that, because I didn’t want him to go home. We were almost finished. It was a full day in Palm Beach. We’re almost finished and I — what does he do, finish his dessert and go home and then they say, you know, the guy you just had dinner with just attacked a country?
BARTIROMO: How did he react?
TRUMP: So he paused for 10 seconds and then he asked the interpreter to please say it again. I didn’t think that was a good sign.
And he said to me, anybody that uses gases — you could almost say or anything else — but anybody that was so brutal and uses gases to do that young children and babies, it’s OK.
I don’t know, I just don’t know.
Maybe the guy’s a retard after all, and the more intelligent Trump supporters were just too proficient at coming up with “clever plans” to explain and rationalize his statements to notice the awning cognitive black hole in front of them.
I do realize this reflects very badly on them, and for that matter on me, but this interpretation is less pessimistic than Theory #1 and more credible than Theory #2.
There have been persistent comments throughout the past year to the effect that Trump is just the average of the last six people he has spoken to, and that as his crowd of nativist nationalists has been replaced with neocon bugmen these past few months, so he has started adopting many of the latter’s beliefs and talking points.
Maybe, as Audacious Epigone suggests, Trump should just spend more time retweeting Twitter shitlords again – just like he did in the golden days of the Trump Train in 2016.
What is to be Done?
If Theory #1 or Theory #3 are correct, then I am afraid we are going to see the formalization of neoconservatism as the guiding light of the Trump administration, alongside its globalist accoutrements.
Invade/invite to the max.
The dismissal of Steve Bannon, which is now widely discussed in the media, will be the final confirmation that there is no 666D Chess combination after all.
In foreign policy, this will predictably be a failure. Instead of halting the process, as a wise US foreign policy would aim for, it will instead put the current trend towards a Russo-Chinese alliance into overdrive. There is also a very small but non-negligible chance of a serious escalation in Syria that could flare into a wider conflict between the US and Russia/Iran. I will explore this possibility in a later post.
Here’s the problem. Neoconservatism wasn’t cool by 2007. The Current Year is 2017. While the last ‘Murica! boomers might cheer and clap for it, those folks are not getting any younger, nor are they gaining converts; to the contrary, even many conservative warmongers of yesteryear are now opposed to further misadventures in the Middle East, such as the courageous Ann Coulter.
Meanwhile, the young MAGA nationalists, who have never cared for the more regressive elements of the traditional Republican agenda – promoting corporate interests and the 1%, hardcore social conservatism, and above all interventionism and wars for oil/Israel (cross out as per your ideological preferences) – and who are, incidentally, also the most Russophile demographic of the American population – will be utterly demoralized and repelled.
He will be left only with the bootlickers, the bankers, and the most retrograde boomers. Maybe a few token #NeverTrumpers will crawl back to him, confident now that he firmly under the thumb of the deep state, though they will still continue to despite him. That’s all!
The result of that will be a landslide victory for the Democratic candidate in 2020, which in all likelihood lead to a new sort of hell.
I’m afraid these comments by Scott Alexander from September 2016 may well prove to be prophetic:
One more warning for conservatives who still aren’t convinced. If the next generation is radicalized by Trump being a bad president, they’re not just going to lean left. They’re going to lean regressive, totalitarian, super-social-justice left.
Everyone has already constructed the narrative: Trump is the anti-PC, anti-social-justice candidate. If he wins, he’s going to be the anti-PC, anti-social-justice President. And he will fail. First of all, because he doesn’t really show much sign of knowing what he’s doing. Second of all, because all presidents fail in a sense – 80% of Americans consistently believe the country is headed the wrong direction and the president is the natural fall guy for this trend. And third of all, because even if by some miracle Trump avoids the first two failure modes, the media will say he failed and people will believe them. And when the anti-PC, anti-social-justice President fails, the reaction will be a giant “we told you so” from the social justice movement, and a giant shift of all the disillusioned young people right into their fold.
Trump is all set to be the biggest gift to the social justice movement in history. They thrive on claims of persecution, claims that they’re the ones fighting a stupid hateful regressive culture that controls everything. And people think that bringing their straw man to life and putting him in the Oval Office is going to help?
I still don’t think voting for Trump over Clinton was a mistake.
At the least, Trump’s brand of neoconservatism is going to be implemented in a cack-handed, incompetent way, as opposed to a competent and calculating one. This is good for the non-Americans who will have to deal with it.
Still, its very sad that it has come to this. I believe that Trump still has the time and opportunity to reverse his ill-starred course, but the clock is ticking down.
“More to the point, Russia shut down the military communication channel in Syria with the US, which has already resulted in a reduction in US military overflights above Syria.”
I thought Putin had reversed that order (which would be good since it decreases the risk of US-Russian clashes)?
Apparently not.
Ok, can’t say I find that reassuring.
“He condemned the bombing of Serbia back in 1999”
Are you actually sure that’s true? I can remember you brought up that claim last year, and back then I tried to find out more about this…the Trump quotes from 1999 I found didn’t sound anti-interventionist at all to me (they were more along the lines of “a pure air campaign can’t work”…which basically could be interpreted as arguing for a ground invasion! And during NATO’s air campaign in 1999 there was a lot of such criticism iirc, it wouldn’t surprise me if Trump had opportunistically taken up something like this).
An interview he supposedly gave in 2016 to a Serbian magazine was later denied as a hoax:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/?icid=hjx004
Now that’s only a minor detail of course, unrelated to the Syrian issue. But I have to say, I often get the impression that anti-interventionist people, the alt-right etc. project a lot of their own desires onto Trump when there’s not that much reason for doing so. I also think people around here should be wary of thinking their own bubble is representative…I see a lot of “Trump has betrayed/lost his base” comments here and on alt-rightish Twitter accounts. But according to polls a clear majority of Trump voters supports the Syria strikes, and a non-trivial percentage apparently would even be fine with a ground invasion…what if a large part of Trump’s base actually consists of the same people who loved Bush II and thinks “America first!” includes American global hegemony and America bombing “evil” in foreign lands?
Trump ran on much more explicitly pro-Zionist positions (move the embassy to Jerusalem, settlements are fine) than he has actually adopted. These were the first positions he backtracked on and this was a prelude to his adoption of more mainstream policies in general, including on Syria.
Most polls showed Israelis were split 50-50 Trump Hillary. He’s more popular here than in Western Europe, but hardly very popular. Anecodotally, he is not popular among American olim.
Israelis do not see a united Syria as any kind of a threat at all. Only Syrians (and alt-right monomaniacs) believe obvious drivel like this. What we see as a threat is a weakened Assad regime allowing Hizb’Allah to set up along the border in return for Iranian support. We were already promised by the Russians that this would not happen, so we effectively concluded our interest. They Syrian Civil war is an Iranian-Saudi-Turkish thing, with some western involvement. Our main interest after the Arab spring was re-installing the Egyptian junta, which we did – and a good thing too.
Bibi has rushed in to support the air strikes, partly because he likes having an issue where he can agree with western leaders (who all support it), but partly because he is an Iran monomaniac who has dedicated his entire political life to trying to get America to sort out the Mullahs. In so doing he has trampled over every core principle of the Israeli right and he has nothing to show for it. America has attacked Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, Yemen and it hasn’t touched Iran and won’t. He’s a pathetic loser who is portrayed as a successful nationalist or criminal mastermind by people who have no idea what they are talking about.
Epic writeup. thanks Mr Karlin!
The phrase “Dear Mr. Harkonnen, please shut the fuck up!” comes to mind. Strange.
Now… :
I remember that this was move to the “rumor” bin by the usual spokespeople. Confirmed?
And finally:
I don’t believe that anything structured would come out of this. There would be so much dissonance and strife that the U will drop out of USA.
All the more vital for the anti-PC anti-social justice types (he could have added non-interventionist to that list) to jump ship now and as loudly as possible.
Trump has betrayed or will betray them, every one, and the more time they spend apologising for him and making excuses for him the less credibility they will have left when he’s a Carter-esque or Bush II-type pariah. Which seems likely to be 2019 or thereabouts.
By the way, unlike Israel, Hamas is directly involved in the conflict, specifically allied with Al Nusra. Fatah have done their best not to take a position, because any possible position would outrage one or another faction. Most Palestinians back the Sunni opposition for tribal reasons, but the PLO has not forgotten that it was basically founded as a branch of Syrian intelligence.
In the arab world “Zionist” means what “papist” meant in seventeenth century England. Every group in the Syrian civil war accuses its opponents of being Zionist stooges. Some in the alt-right pick the accusations of one side to “prove” Israel is behind the opposition because we fear a united Syria triumphantly marching into the Golan Heights (Lol). Perhaps this is because they are cynical, or perhaps it is because they are stupid. My experience inclines me mostly to the latter.
Oh, I forgot:
Those 59 cruise missiles means that 1 didn’t really want to leave its tube, right?
Also, let’s not forget that the CIA was not on the Mar-a-Lago photo.
https://consortiumnews.com/2017/04/08/where-was-cias-pompeo-on-syria/
Expecting people to be memoryholed from photos any time now.
This is a superb essay by Anatoly Karlin, surveying options available to interpret the Donald Trump sell-out / betrayal / whatever
Needed a better title perhaps to be highlighted as one of the Unz Review’s ledes, as this issue & this essay deserves to be
Perhaps needed more colour on the ‘blackmail’ theory, which has significant merit … We don’t know what ‘goods’ the Deep State has on Donald Trump – raped & killed teen-agers with Jeffrey Epstein? Or just Donald Trump’s cocaine supplier? (Donald Trump does exhibit many signs of expensive-drug-use behaviour)
Or was it just a version of death threat, via the never-seen JFK assassination video from the Grassy Knoll etc. … and how 4 of the last 10 Presidents have been hit with Deep State removal attacks, JFK shot & killed, Reagan shot by a man tied to the Bushes, the ‘Watergate Silent Coup’ impeachment hoax of Richard Nixon run by the Joint Chiefs, & the ‘bomb Serbia or be impeached via Monical Lewinsky’ impeachment hoax of Bill Clinton
Speaking of cocaine etc, it is quite common amongst wealthy USA drug users from Donald Trump’s type of social group, that they are
(1) Super-expert psychopathic liars who can sustain lies over long periods, e.g., Trump’s campaign, but also
(2) Utterly willing to drop the lies when they see no more benefit to be gained from those lies, at which time they flip into more obviously selfish short-term pleasure & power seeking in their current environment … This would look like a 180-degree reversal but is consistent in cokehead terms … This may be the true Trump, first grooving on the themes that got him elected up till his inauguration speech, then his antennae told him the public didn’t matter anymore, so Trump pleases his new ‘audience’ & we are all fooked
The issue is not any fantasy of a “united Syria”, but whether Assad is in charge or the head-choppers, and when there was (or seemed to be) an opportunity for Israel to influence US policy at a crucial point, in 2013 when the US was on a knife edge whether to do to Syria what had only two years previously been done to Libya, they sent their agents of influence out with orders to “go all out” for US attacks on Syrian government forces.
AIPAC to go all-out on Syria
Let’s be clear on that – at that time what was at stake was the destruction of Syrian military forces at a time when the only possible outcome could be a handing over of that country to jihadist -riddled chaos.
The choice made by those who determine AIPAC’s actions was in favour of jihadist-riddled chaos over the continued existence of the Assad government.
Furthermore, if the Israelis don’t want a “weakened Assad government” in Syria then they have been going about things very strangely – taking every opportunity to attack Syrian forces and give low level support to rebel forces near their borders. Clearly, they very strongly don’t want to be seen to be favouring jihadists over the Syrian government, but that’s another matter.
It’s pretty clear that Israel wants, and has wanted for some time, the Assad government gone, to break the link between Iran and Hezbollah and remove the latter’s strategic depth and logistical support. If they are worried that their longstanding policy is going to backfire and leave an Assad government in place but weakened and more in hock to Iran, they’ve only themselves and their allies to blame, given the degree of influence they have on US foreign policy.
(Although when it came down to it even the Israel lobby narrowly failed in 2013 to convince the US populace and their representatives to support a literally stupid policy of repeating the idiocy in Syria that had only just been seen to lead to disaster in Libya and Iraq, the bare fact that it was even considered seriously should be regarded as a triumph of “influence”.)
You did mention it in the post, but there’s an option 1.5 that Trump goes full noecon on the middle East, but ignores Europe. That would at least be slightly less inconsistent with his past rhetoric, where he was very anti Iran and pro Israel. The Obama administration seemed to be unduly influenced by Europe’s homegrown neocons (who all hate trump), Sikorski and Bildt did more to stir up Ukraine than anyone else, and the French started the Libya mess. Johnson tried this tactic on the Trump administration, but it foundered this time.
“Johnson tried this tactic on the Trump administration, but it foundered this time.”
Are you referring to the demand for sanctions against Russia because of Syria? But from what I’ve read, that failed at the recent G7 summit because the Germans and Italians wouldn’t go along with it, not because the Trump administration rejected it.
Two years of everyone analyzing Trump’s every move with a microscope reveal he’s quite savvy, if not an intellectual. I think analysis that requires him to be completely stupid is going to be flawed.
We know at the the time of the strikes, Trump was having dinner with Xi and Gorsuch was in the midst of getting confirmed. There’s all kinds of theories that he may have been making a statement for Xi, and with the North Korea maneuvering that may be true. I also have suspected that going along with neocons may have been a condition to make sure the senate went nuclear as planned.
The way neocons, including Hillary, came out of the woodwork even as it was happening was just too convenient.
I think we end up with a combination of theories.
1-Trump does have neocons and bankers exerting great influence in his administration and he still has to give them things they want to get the changes he needs to survive. If he’s not careful though, they will happily wreck his reputation while getting everything they want. If this is the same Trump from the election, he knows that. Putting an abrupt stop to talk about Syrian escalation for now supports this. The continued rise of neocons in the whitehouse, though, is very worrying.
2-Can’t think of the last time China teamed up with the USA to pressure North Korea. That suggests some pretty masterful diplomacy. Of course, the Chinese could be playing 3D chess of their own and laying a trap.
3-The Syria strike also was simply a big over-aggressive blunder that helps turn the world against the US. Trump relied heavily on military support to insure himself against the political establishment and now he’s surrounded by generals he owes favors to. Everyone gets influenced by the people they spend the most time around.
I guess we continue to wait and see.
What Anatoly Karlin said is that Israel considers a united Syria a threat. That’s a literal quote. If you think that’s irrelevant, take it up with him.
AIPAC has it’s own goals and objectives. It contains numerous anti-HBD democracy fanatics and its position on the Syria issue is in sync with anti-HBD democracy fanatics the world over.
Again, in order to make a minor player the centre of the story you have to resort to obviously insane hyperbole.
Israel’s behaviour leads much to be desired. It is, after all, a democracy, and as such insane. Compared to other countries though, it’s response to the Arab Spring has been relatively restrained and it’s role in the Syria quagmire limited.
To some extent yes, but I’m quite skeptical of just how independent those countries’ foreign policies are. If the administration really, really did want to go down that road, then we’d have seen all of the underhand pressure and blackmail that was present to get unanimity on the last lot.
Completely disagree with the Scott Alexander point. You have to bear in mind the material conditions which are ongoing economic and social collapse from the bottom up combined with ever increasing and increasingly overt anti-white sentiment promoted by the dominant culture. To my mind Trump’s candidacy already sealed the deal on that front a year ago when he solidified the alt-right into a bloc.
#
As to the options
1) i can think of various reasons to mount the attack but none strike me as outweighing the cons
(1b) actually i can think of one that would outweigh the cons which if correct we’ll know about quite quickly)
2) if they didn’t want to do it but felt they were forced to they could have dragged their feet investigating – so they (or at least some part of they) wanted to do it
3) to completely about face just days after their peacenik statements makes no sense
4) twitter silence
which feels like a coup to me.
Brietbart, Bannon, Milo etc are a counter-jihad / anti-SJW operation sparked by the growth of BDS among SJWs so I always thought there was a possibility that Trump would become a Likud President giving his base a Likud style wall and immigration policy in exchange for support for a Likud foreign policy however the cabinet personnel seem to suggest it is the same old neocon invade the world, invite the world – which again feels more coup-like.
So my take is
95% coup – full neocon, WW3 etc
5% something something
for whatever reason Israel (alongside Saudi, Qatar, Turkey, Isis etc) wants Assad to fall
2013
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-crisis-israel-idUSBRE98G0DR20130917
2016
http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-wants-butcher-assad-ousted-liberman-says/
At the moment “downright moron” is looking like a pretty good call. Which is embarrassing for me as well as for AK.
Since those sources AK links to who claim the attack was successful also take the account of chemical attacks seriously, I know they are professional liars who should be ignored.
I’d say willfully ignorant rather than stupid. We all have our blind spots. We tend to ignore facts that don’t conform to our prejudices.
From Israel’s standpoint, a partitioned Syria, along ethno-religious lines, would probably be preferable since the Alawites and Kurds would presumably be natural allies of – or at least not hostile to – the Jewish state, as infidels and outsiders in a sea of Shiite/Sunni Arabs. True ethno-religious nationalism in the Middle East, with territorial partition of nation states along those lines, would be a great boon to Israel’s security.
I’ve always said that Trump isn’t smart. I’ve seen that interview with Maria Bartiromo where he talked about striking Iraq (Bartiromo: “Syria”. Trump: “yes, Syria.”) All of his interviews are like that. And I don’t think it’s dementia. The first time I saw him interviewed was in the mid-1990s, on Charlie Rose if I remember correctly. He was already like that then. It’s one of the reasons for his protectionism and anti-immigrationism. Those are white working class positions. He’s not actually working class, but he’s got the same mentality, tastes, personality, accent, etc.
I think by the time W. became president, his mind was degraded by drug abuse. He got sober at 40. So the tests he took while in the military in his 20s are misleading.
The thing about Trump being the average of the last six people he’s talked to is plausible. There could be a successfull neocon conspiracy to manage who gets to speak with him. Or it could be blackmail. I don’t really know, but if forced to bet, I’d say blackmail. Both of these tactics can be used by the other side however.
I’m glad that Bannon didn’t quit in a huff. If he hangs on, sitting silently in the 6th row at meetings, showing the Laotian parliamentary delegation around the Oval Office, whatever it takes, maybe in the future he could assemble his own lineup of 6 people who’ll shape Trump’s thinking for a week.
Thanks for the great post.
Your category 1 could be split as follows:
1a.) Deliberate reversal on Trump’s own volition. America First = “the long con”.
1b.) Soft coup / “Puppetization” (the full intricacies of which we are not privy to)
These are conceptually different and perhaps ought not to be lumped together.
I would also propose that the three (or four, if you split as above) are not mutually exclusive.
1 Israel promotes and encourages and puts pressures when no one is in mood or eager or interested to do it- – that’s what it has done to Iraq, Sudan,Syria, and Iran
2 Once the pressure starts showing result and positive trends , Israel ratchets up the pressure – across the entire political , economic,and ideological spectrums
3 Just when the shot is ready to be fired, it goes into silent mode
4 Israel makes sure that the sudden silence of it is used positively or ar least ignored
5 Israel makes sure that the shot about to be fired , gets fired. Shot gets fired .
Even it creates the impression as was in case of Iraq war that it was against firing the shot
Israel was involved with the rise of Sisi and with the undermining of Morsi . Israel was making sure America took care of Saudi Royal as there was fear of Saudi Arab facing same . For years it has demonized Libya and it was involved with decision to invade Libya through Cliton,UK and France .
All those Accontability Acts served the very designs I wrote from 1 to 5 . Without those there would be no wars . In 1990 Solarz and Dine of AIPAC p followed this strategy.
They still do .
Syrian chaos followed the theory that the chaos and removal of Asssad was the best way to to help Israel attack Iran and Lebanon.
Israel no longer looks at Arab world as a threat -united or not- but as feuding principalities that would be used to its economic and political advantages .
I wonder if Zionist hated Russia more than they hate Arab . Why not agree to Bannon and alt Right ,get Russia in the tent and start picking on Arab countries and Iran ,Pakistan and Indonesia , and Nigeria-Chad to break them into pea nut sizes pieces ?
Or is it true that with Saudis and Gukf,Egypt,Jordan already in the orbit circling around Israel like well trained dogs, Zionist ‘s anti Muslim tirade in America is just the shadow of the previous Islamophobia still kept alive to get America going after Iran and Syria ? Once it is achieved Muslim will be used as blacks LGBT and Layinos used to further Zionist interest for more local gains,career developments , and be used as wedge issue in election.
Already there is Jewish- Muslim rendezvou and cavorting taking shape at one level.
But why Russia bash ? Why Israel is close to Russia ( any other country would have earned the wrath of the neocon and liberal ) but Neocons are against Russia? Or is the Zionist hedging like they are doing with Muslim?
May be it is the lesson of 3000 years Living among disparate different antagonistic feuding groups taught them same thing that humanity learnt about the animals – use the animals show love compassion,offer training , try ,domestication ,but never even in the most weakest moment think that animals and man are same with same right and protection of same laws or morality.
With the above mindset,one doesn’t get angry with any animal Emotion doesn’t play part . Human use the animals without feeling,emotion,or conflicted minds .
What if Trump is not the one being blackmailed, but it is Ivanka being blackmailed instead.
Think about it.
Would Trump have a soft spot for Ivanka? You bet he would.
Would a rich, beautiful socialite in NY have dirt on her? Yes. Definately.
Would there be someone close to Ivanka that could deliver the dirt? Yes sir. None other than Jared himself.
The motive? To advance Zionist goals by bombing Syria of course.
Would young Jared have the stone cold outlook to do this? You bet!
And what could this incriminating info be? Maybe Ivanka has been blacked, or maybe drugs. Who knows?
“the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you’ve ever seen and President Xi was enjoying it.”
I find it amusing that Trump really believes that. I’ve been traveling to China since 1982 and every Chinese dinner, especially high level business dinners, ends with fruit, which makes sense since if you’ve eaten a great meal who would want to eat a very sweet and heavy chocolate cake. I very much doubt that Xi, older and more traditional, was “enjoying” the cake. But, like so many other things, Trump’s view of the world is rarely based in reality.
If you love overcooked steak, there’s no telling what other distasteful culinary experiences might appeal to you.
Trump always throws his loyalists under the bus when the going gets tough for him. When it’s him or them, it’s always them. Principles mean nothing.
That’s why he rose to the top in the US: he represents the true values and nature of (especially) US culture. He is the American idol in all its brain dead superficiality.
The paradox, of course, is that, so far, what he is enables him to survive the worst moves he has made in his life. He may survive, but he’s just the man of the hour of the demise of the empire.
Lets cut to the chase: Its the British!
Or as Dennis Speed of LaRouche and the Schiller Institute recently put it:
“The Bitch Set Him Up”
Yes the Zionists play their profiled roll, but lets understand what the real strategic picture is.
The real strategic picture is the olive branch of the New Silk Road and One Belt initiatives and invitations, which represent the potential for a real economic development for all nation’s involved, which is a future and potential that bypasses the zero sum game of the London-Wall Street monetarist domination of the planet.
Thus the issue is to prevent the potential that Trump represents, to get along with Russia and China and to stop this at all costs, including setting off World War if need be. Think that is crazy, well then you do not know that this is what the British do and have done and have so done on the 100th anniversary of getting America involved in World War I,
Now we know that the British have been feeding the attack on Trump, per this hatched up Russiagate hysteria. What takes things to a deeper level are two-fold:
1) The strategic nature of the New Silk Road and One Belt policies and initiatives, which have roots in Nicholas of Cusa and Gottfried Leibniz and have direct strategic, historical and philosophical advocates through the work of Lyndon and Helga Zepp-LaRouche, going back decades, consciously adopted as a means of stopping the financial oligarchy of the post World War II transformed “British Empire” and its Gunboat diplomacy approach.
2) LaRouche’s work in the revival of the American System of Political Economy and the unprecedented fact that a few weeks ago President Trump had directly invoked the “American System in two speeches, about that revival of the tradition of Hamilton, Henry Clay, Henry C. Carey, Mckinley, FDR, Eisenhower and Kennedy!
3) That since those speeches of Trumps, LaRouche has been warning that the number one goal of the British, as was already being recognized and warned against was the prevention of Trump from meeting with Xi and Putin, that the British would work to blow that up. These warnings were correct.
One must consider that Trump’s “Make America Great Again” message in itself was a threat to the establishment, but the issue was that Trump needed to make some deals, he wanted peace, and that real deals are mutually beneficial to all concerned. It actually is in China’s best interest that America prosper once again, and there were ways that could well happen to which the idea around the Silk Road is such an idea.
Prescription: Demand that Trump and Putin hold a Summit….and fight this perpetual war on all levels.
Hope and Prayer are well needed.
Good Friday: The principalities of Evil are at hand.
And so is a Resurrection of that which can win and roll away the stone of the money lenders vaults of the Empire that seeks to imprison mankind in a cave of fake news and other shadows,
but we can break such chains
I’m going to make a comment after just skimming through the article, because:
– I’ve already reviewed all that is in the media about as thoroughly
– I read Karlin’s conclusions.
I’m with NN Taleb: After Trump saying “no ground troops” after the strikes,
it’s clear he’s not betraying in any deliberate sense.
A real psychopath would have probably
– NOT given a warning about the strikes, and
– would have chanted “he has to go” as was the case with Libya in 2011
Instead, Trump is mentally a working class, which means he should be expected to:
– cut corners, and in the process break rules in small ways
– act abrasively (in a way that will always shock people who confuse pedantry and morality)
– and keep himself within limits, without the necessity to be told to do so.
(There are people who break laws and promises in small ways, and there are people going insane from greed and harboring a potential for high treason. Trump looks firmly set among the former.)
Nor does the evidence give much support to the thesis that McMaster is part of a neocon conspiracy pushing for ground intervention. Oh, he has probably pointed to that possibility, which is unsurprising for a scholar. And he’s intensely anti-Russian. I don’t see how that makes him any special or conspiratorial. In America, “everyones a little bit” neocon:
– Lecturing foreign leaders like Putin? Why, Paul Craig Roberts does that all the time.
– Ignoring facts and evidence that refutes the claims of foreign evils? Even the super-sober Ron Paul, Stefan Molyneux and their followers believe in millions killed by Stalin and in Suvorov’s fake history.
That mentality is part of the reason why the country is called a Titanic. And that’s why it’s natural that Trump has still near zero results in turning it.
No multidimensional chess
No high treason
There is swamp, and the car of the nation stuck in it. There comes Daddy to rescue: cursing, threatening, unable to compose a cogent sentence, acting like senile; stupid, absentminded, failing in this, and then in that, making a move in the opposite direction from the one you came from, …
… and ultimately
– more competent than anyone of you kids who stuck the car
– just being a father who means good
It’s hard to over-emphasise the dire state of the US. It descends into fear and paranoia: fear and paranoia in the international scene, and fear and paranoia even within a same political tribe like DJT supporters
The warning from the crippled old man from 75 years ago, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, looks surprisingly full of meaning.
Breitbart opinion is a good guide to Trump’s base.
The initial reaction was “we didn’t vote for this” but that didn’t last long. Now they are all enthusiastically flag waving, “standing tall”, and “showing who’s boss” in celebration of American military power. In other words Trump has his base behind him, which is what he wants, and he’s also got the neo-cons and MSM off his back.
Looking at it this way, he’s riding the same kind of popularity wave that the Germans awarded to Hitler as he invaded one country after another, “Making Germany Great Again” in real time – never mind the ethics.
There’s no question that the War=Unity formula works , but it has to continue and result in gainful military victories. In this regard, Hitler isn’t as popular in Germany as he used to be, and push back from his targets eventually reduced his country to rubble. It would have been better for everyone if he had stayed at home and done MGGA in Germany.
The comments on every Breitbart article I’ve seen besides the ones posted by John Hayward run anti-war, even anti-American, at least as far as I can tell with their disqus settings where every single response to the top upvoted post goes before the next most upvoted post. There were dozens of posts on the one where Assad claims the chemical attack was a false flag where they seem to universally agree (astutely) that they trust Assad a lot more than John McCain.
The yuuge assumption about election 2020 is that there is a surviving US polity in which to conduct an election (or a world for that matter).
No, unlikely. Doubtless Trump has already figured out how to deal with blackmailers during his long career as a businessman in a corrupt industry.
Most likely they used something much more powerful and direct — showed him that they control the nuclear launch codes and have no qualms pointing a bomb to Manhattan, for example.
Also remember that if Trump was a psychopath then he wouldn’t have run for President in the first place. Being president is a losing proposition for him on all accounts, so there are only two possible motivations:
a) Ego. (Unlikely since he knew that he’d be smeared with shit by the MSM.)
b) A genuine belief that he can fix what’s broken in government.
I think that Trump was given a choice by the deep state: fictional president or none. Trump wisely chose the fictional option. He might believe that if he is still around for a while, a situation might develop where he can turn the things around. If he is gone – than nothing further can develop with him participating in it.
I don’t know if the deep state has something on him or they have simply threatened him to smarten up and get on with the program or else – I believe it is the latter. The bottom line is that Trump is not going to be the president that the people who voted for him believed that he is going to be. But then again, it’s not his fault.
Trump just wasn’t neocons’ favorite son and without their support his options were really limited. Now he is just trying to worm his way up into their hearts. And it seems it’s working, nobody is talking about the Russians getting him elected anymore.
Maybe one day soon the Americans are going to realize that their elections and the presidency are just Chinese puppet theater – where the president is just the shadow of those who really run the show.
I was 100% right 😛 the key to trump for israel and neocons is through his son in law. How in the flaming hell is this kind of brazen nepotism allowed in the highest office of our nation? and we dare point fingers at others about corruption? geez.
real estate developer who is basically running the govt in trump’s place. the tv showman who is too old for all this. relegating the entire presidency to his son in law. an israel firster.
I wonder how the staunch trump supporters feel about this.
I’m not so sure about this. Neoconservatism in that form is no longer cool, the problem is that it’s adapted and evolved (buzzfeed, vice etc) and is really just an extreme form of “liberal interventionism” which is deeply entrenched. Whilst neoconservatism is less popular in conservative circles, it does seem to have made massive gains amongst liberals, who still have demographic momentum on their side. Once the current crop of conservative boomers die off, conservative millennials and xers will make up about the same proportion of the electorate as typicslly vote for FN in France unless they turn to the right in massive numbers as they age.
Trump as Kaiser Wilhelm II by Andrew Bacevich (awaiting a comparison to Good Czar Nikolas II, as being “the average of the last 6 guys he talked to”)
https://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/04/trumps-not-the-new-hitler-hes-the-new-kaiser-bill/#
How does that make any sense? Who are They? (((People))) operating from underneath extinct volcanos?
And aren’t the launch codes still “00000000” because, hey, one might forget when in a hurry.
And Premier Xi went directly from the Trump meeting to Alaska! Perhaps to personally decide on the spot to begin the American chunnel. The deal is on!
http://robertmagill.wordpress.com
Uhuh. As Karlin points out in one of his more lucid moments.
Also, learn English or go comment on some wog blog.
There is actually a common thread to all of Trump’s reversals on Middle East policy (settlements, Jerusalem embassy, Syria): they all happen to be be Saudi foreign policy. Weirdly, all the parts of his Middle East policy that he has stuck to (kill ISIS, stop Iran) also happen to be Saudi foreign policy. The Saudis are pretty ostentatiously thrilled. If only there was some mechanism by which the Saudis could wield geopolitical power that could explain this bizarre coincidence…
More seriously, the old anti-Israel position was that the US should ally with the Arabs who are more numerous and have oil, over Israel. This made a certain amount of sense. The new position is that it should ally with a two bit loser nerd like Assad and tell the Arab world to keep their stinking oil. This is what myopic obsession does to otherwise intelligent people. (The dumber ones seem actually oblivious to the fact that Trump’s strikes are overwhelmingly popular in the Arab world).
Do you people actually believe this stuff? Alt-right blogs, Russia, Iran and a weirdo Middle Eastern syncretist sect are not “the world”. Trump is the now the most popular US leader among Arabs probably ever. He’s still unpopular in Europe and the Anglosphere, but less than he was. Asians seriously don’t give a toss. Maybe Venezuela is angry, who knows? Who cares? Really, grow up.
I agree
Think how Woodrow Wilson won the 1916 election on the slogan “He kept us out of the War” Nevertheless the Zionists delivered their quid pro quo for the Balfour Declaration – no small deal. Does anyone think they have less influence in Washington now?
Donald Trump must be prosecuted for War Crimes…
There needs to an ANTIWAR movement that provides suppport a network to anti-war resisters in the US Military..
Donald Trump is truly an evil creature as is Sebastian Gorka…
Alt Right…no apologies…
It seems that that anti-nazi Hillary Clinton supporters and the Nazi Sebastian Gorka are united in their enthusiam to murder millions of Christian Russians…
Donald “CHOCOLATE CAKE”….with a topping of rotting corpses of Syrian Children….Trump’s
Foreign Policy Braintrust is the Institute of World Politics founded by a War Criminal foreign policy from the War Criminal Ronnie Reagan Administration. The faculty of the Institute of World Politics are War Criminals from the Reagan and Bush Admistrations….This is where theUkraino Nazi-Hungarian War Criminal Sebastian Gorka teaches-lectures future mass murdering Green Beret recruits…
Alt Right…no apologies…
So who cares, even if true.
(And no, Saudi-Arabia/Qatar doesn’t count for evident reasons)
I suspect Trump will reverse course.
About a dozen more times this year.
He doesn’t really seem like a chess sort of person and I doubt he has some set cunning plan but unpredictability and flexibility are his whole thing. The game that he is actually playing may or may not be clever but I would not count him among the neocons OR the anti-globalists.
That being said, courting (or fooling) the former is vastly more useful between elections as they are much better represented among the elite, which is what matters. It’s not impossible that he sold out to them for good but given his whole history up to now I find that kind of consistency unlikely. What’s more plausible is that he really does want to win over some of them and throw the rest off their game, while also doing something dramatic to signal strength to other countries. Again I don’t think there’s any long term plan beyond that but in the short term both things are obviously useful and sacrifice the stuff he can well afford to sacrifice (mainly the support of a small part of his base, much of which may well come back later out of lesser-evilism/when he does something anti-globalist again).
EDIT: For ease of classification, this is a hybrid of 2 and 3/me basically parroting Scott Adams’ line on system thinking.
Your theory #2 if framed too strongly. Of course there are no ‘mnogokhodovkas’, simply because this is no chess: there are no rules. But there can be a tactical retreat. Or ‘appeasement’, or pick your own term. Neither the super-clever plan nor the wholesale betrayal.
China maybe now realizes it made a far worse foreign policy decision than any bad decision by the US. Allowing North Korea to go nuclear is graver than any US mistake. In the event of attack by the US against NK, it’s going to be apparent it has two choices due to the threat of NK nuclear attack on Beijing.
(If the fall of Kim and his family is imminent he will threaten to take out Beijing as a last act to punish Beijing for failure to act and possibly get revenge because he will suspect Beijing colluded in the Kim family demise.)
So Beijing either must 1) join the US in attacking NK and capture the nuclear weapons before they are used (I wonder if the submarine nukes are usable at this point) or 2) fight the US invasion of NK to protect the Kim family from demise.
The Green Berets=Donald “Chocolate Cake Warhawk Chickenhawk” Donald Trump’s personal Death Squadron=War Criminal JFK’s EVIL SPAWN FROM HELL!!!
The Cuban Missile Crisis…60 seconds to the oblivion of permanent extinction….
Donald Trump…60 seconds to the oblivion of permanent extinction….
Alt Right…no apologies….
God Bless the Soviet Commies of 1962!!!
God Bless the Christian Russians of 2017!!!!
God Bless the Dear Leader of North Korea for protecting the innocent children of North Korea from the filthy skank…IVANKA….THE SKANK….KA….
Alt Right….no apologies…
Dude.
Nork doesn’t even have nuke on ballistic missiles yet.
I’m not American, so American commenters will correct me if I’m wrong, but my impression is that they simply want to leave the Middle East to rot, and not carrying anybody else’s water. Because by now it should be obvious that toppling another Arab dictator is not in America’s (or Europe’s, for the matter) best interest.
You’re confusing (whether deliberately or because you are really confused is moot) two very different things: supporting one country is not the same as not attacking another. One can argue that one shouldn’t spend a lot of money, resources and diplomatic credibility supporting Israel as it is alienating Israel’s enemies, all the while arguing against spending a lot of money, resources and diplomatic credibility on actively attacking Syria, as it is alienating Syria’s friends. By staying out, the US might be on OK terms with all countries there. Not very strong heartfelt friendship (which is not needed by the world’s foremost power anyway), but polite good relations.
I also seriously question your assertion (in the following comment) that Trump is “the most popular US leader among Arabs probably ever”. I mean, we’re only a few months after the so-called Muslim ban fiasco. What pollster’s research do you base that opinion on? OK, they like him bombing Assad. (It’s even questionable if it has a majority support among Syrians. Any source?) I’m quite sure they still hate his ass. (I’m also sure they didn’t really like Obama either.
Trump isn’t stupid, but his real talent seems to be making shady real estate deals with other crooks, which makes him more likely to be at home in the swamp than to drain the swamp. Maybe Trump somehow didn’t know it before, but he’s just now finding out that he’s a good fit in D.C. Who really knows? At least he was useful in defeating Hillary.
No, “they” are the deep state. CIA and the State Department and other three-letter agencies.
Look at how they massively benefited from 9/11. Why wouldn’t they blow something up again? It’s not like they care about the plebs inhabiting the territories inside the nominal USA.
666? Coincidence? Or consistency all along? “By deception thou shalt do war”.
Here is one of the many articles who beat the same drum. It says it all:
“As America’s first ‘Jewish’* president, Trump looks like he’ll be most pro-Israel POTUS ever”, by Lawrence Solomon | December 12, 2016
‘Donald Trump has been widely accused of courting anti-Semites and of being a threat to Israel, especially by American Jews. These accusers, and these Jews, have it wrong. Trump — at a personal, professional and policy level — will go down in history as the most pro-Jewish, pro-Israel president ever.
The extended First Family will be largely Jewish. Donald Jr.’s wife, with whom he has five children, is half-Jewish. Trump’s younger son, Eric, married a Jewish woman two years ago in a highly publicized wedding under a traditional chuppa. It was officiated by Jared Kushner, Trump’s Jewish son-in-law and husband of Ivanka, who herself converted to Orthodox Judaism seven years ago. Ivanka keeps a kosher household and, to her father’s delight, is religiously observant, even avoiding phone calls on the Sabbath. Donald, who wholeheartedly embraces his family’s Jewish associations, encouraged his daughter’s conversion “from Day One” (in Ivanka’s words) and on the campaign trail gushed that Ivanka “is about to have a beautiful Jewish baby,” her third.
In business, Trump surrounded himself with tough-minded, often Orthodox Jews in top positions, as lawyers and trusted advisers. He also succeeded in business by welcoming Jews (and blacks) as members at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, breaking the city’s long-held bans, and then made Palm Beach’s discrimination practices a cause célèbre by suing the city council over its support for anti-Semitic and racist bans. The Trump Foundation’s IRS filings reveal a history of generous donations to Jewish organizations, an unusual practice by non-Jews, according to Jonathan Sarna, the chief historian of the National Museum of American Jewish History. The donations range from cultural to Zionist. Friends of the Israel Defense Forces is among Trump’s donees.
Jewish advisers — and full-throated Israel-backers of Christian as well as Jewish heritage — also dominate Trump’s political life. A high-profile adviser that Trump’s detractors point to as an anti-Semitic exception — his chief strategist Steve Bannon — is no exception at all. Bannon is an unabashed Zionist and opponent of the anti-Semitic BDS movement whose media outlet, Breitbart, has aggressively exposed Palestinian propaganda and championed pro-Israel policies. [But see**]
Trump’s family members, whom he relies upon for advice, are ardent defenders of the cause of Jewish nationhood. Trump has indicated he may appoint Kushner, perhaps his closest adviser on Israel issues, as point man in negotiating between Israel and the Palestinians. Through the Kushner family foundation, Kushner has supported groups and institutions in Israel’s West Bank, in aid of strengthening the settlement movement. Ivanka, one of Trump’s closest adviser, describes Israel as one of the two causes she champions.
Trump’s wider circle notably includes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for whom he made a video endorsement during Israel’s 2013 election campaign. Upon winning the presidency, Netanyahu was the first foreign leader that Trump called, and the first foreign leader he invited to the White House.
Trump’s foreign policy is every bit as pro-Israel as is his team of advisers. During the presidential campaign, Trump promised to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s undisputed and indivisible capital, to dismantle the Iran nucear deal, to give Israel a free hand in negotiating a peace with the Palestinians and to veto any anti-Israel resolutions presented at the United Nations. To nip in the bud the growing possibility that Obama would back a declaration of Palestinian nationhood at the UN, soon after winning the presidential election Trump’s team warned the Obama administration to not try any last-minute “UN surprise” hostile to Israel.
In some respects, Trump’s position on Israel is more Zionist than Netanyahu’s stated position. In 2009, under international pressure, and especially pressure from newly elected President Obama, Netanyahu dropped his long-standing opposition to a two-state solution — two peoples living side by side in two separate states. European governments and others in the West still insist on a two-state solution, but they may soon be sidelined. Because growing numbers of Israelis believe the Palestinians will never accept a Jewish state, few Israelis believe it to be a real-world solution. Trump’s Israeli advisers publicly endorse this growing Israeli view, stating that Trump won’t impose a two-state solution and opening the possibility of a one-state solution or an entirely novel approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
All previous U.S. presidents have had mixed, often hostile views toward Israel; none has ever given Israel the freedom to determine its own future and none has ever recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, although many had promised to do so, only to back off upon assuming office. Trump would not back off, Ivanka stated categorically — “100 per cent” — when asked if her father would move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.
Trump promises to be different. His life experience, his instincts, and his community of advisers all speak to his wholehearted embrace of things Jewish, especially the Jewish state. “We love Israel. We will fight for Israel 100 per cent, 1,000 per cent. It will be there forever,” he vowed. No Jew could be more emphatic’.
@http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/lawrence-solomon-as-americas-first-jewish-president-trump-looks-like-hell-be-most-pro-israel-potus-ever
*quotation marks are superfluous (“Looks Like Donald Trump May Well Be Jewish” – Rense.com
http://www.rense.com/general96/trumpjewish.htm)
**”Trump campaign CEO ‘doesn’t like Jews’ because ‘they raise their kids to be whiney brats’: Court docs” by Brian Melley and Jill Colvin, The Associated Press | August 27, 2016
@http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/trump-campaign-ceo-doesnt-like-jews-because-they-raise-their-kids-to-be-whiney-brats-ex-wife-says
Bannon had to go!
Somehow only people half a world away are ever pissing themselves with worry about ‘the North Korea problem’. Meanwhile those who live within horse cart driving distance from the DPRK (Seoul, Vladivostok, Beijing) don’t give a toss about Korea or the Kims.
1) If you want to engage in historical revisionism in which paleocons have not spent 50 years arguing the US should abandon Israel to curry favour with the Arab world, that’s fine. The altrightosphere seems determined to flee reality into its own bubble and flip out about a few ballistic missiles, but you lose the only virtue you ever had: a willingness to confront reality.
2) If Americans want to “leave the Middle East to rot”, then I hope they like riding the bus.
By ignoring a distinction that is completely irrelevant to the people concerned, I am not “confusing” anything. This kind of narcissist projection is becoming more and more reminiscent of Leftism.
Saudi Arabia: Sort out Iran.
Fantasy alt-right president: No way dude, I’m neutral.
Saudi Arabia: I don’t think you heard me dumbutt, I said sort out Iran or explain to your public why it costs $100 bucks for a tank of gas.
Fantasy alt-right president: But it says in George Washington’s address that we can get on with everyone by being neutral.
Saudi Arabia: Hello? Hello? Can someone remove this faggot from the room so I can talk to an adult.
Are you really this delusional? The majority of Syrians would support exterminating every Alawite in the country. Get a grip.
Yea he talking from american reality. Only problem with norks in this century is they attaract american drooling crazines. But what on this planet is not. And it’s not like giving them to bomb something is calmed down them. as ME shows.
This includes video footage of some of the aftermath and cleanup at the scene of the crime. Well worth the view.
Apr 9, 2017 No More
https://youtu.be/ewjo1rgo97I
This is also some information you will not hear or view in the Corporate media as well.
April 07, 2017 Pentagon Trained Syria’s Al Qaeda “Rebels” in the Use of Chemical Weapons
The Western media refutes their own lies.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/pentagon-trained-syrias-al-qaeda-rebels-in-the-use-of-chemical-weapons/5583784
Just my opinion, but I think it was blackmail, that if he doesn’t go along w/the agenda on Syria, support NATO/perpetual warfare, they would impeach him. That’s where they were going w/their ridiculous nonsense on the whole Russia hacked the election. I just kind of figured they went to him and said we have the numbers to impeach you (after all they control almost all of those whores in Congress), so you either go along w/OUR Deep State agenda, or we will get rid of you (Pence is waiting in the wings).
I don’t think they have anything on Trump in terms of drug use (they would have used that to prevent him from getting elected) –I think all they have is their made up Russia nonsense. Also, Trump’s brother was an alcoholic and apparently (?) died from his addition–Trump says b/c of that, he’s never had a drink b/c he was afraid he’d be addicted too.
Just my take, I could be wrong, but it really felt like he was sincere in his campaign positions.
…also, your theory #3 (‘Donald Drumpf’) ignores the possibility of the “madman” strategy, practiced by Nixon. Getting the upper hand by acting hectically and unpredictably…
Corbett Report The Syria Strikes: A Conspiracy Theory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkj9UCHO0Tc
An empty threat in light of increasing American oil production and declining Saudi money reserves.
You seem to be the delusional one.
” The sheer suddenness of this 180 turn might hint at its artificiality (666D Chess Theory). ”
This is exactly what they DID with Saddam Hussein when April Stephens, the then ambassador pointed him in the direction of Kuwait.
He is not delusional. Just a usual hasbara schtick. To be ignored.
Then Trump can kiss the battleground states of Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin goodbye and with them, the 2020 general election. We in flyover country find establishment Republicans phony and insufferable. But if Trump wants to sabotage his own chances for reelection then so be it.
Republicans seem only to excel at slipping on banana peels at inopportune times and shooting themselves in the foot anyway.
Please clear the following information. the illiterate Zionist pimp and his escort at the UN declared that china ABSTAINED.
{UN draft resolution on Syria attack: Vote fails with Russia veto, China abstains.}
But the following link writes: permanent Security Council members China and Russia as well as Ethiopia and Kazakhstan voted against.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/china-and-russia-veto-un-security-council-resolution-on-syria-no-carte-blanche-for-chapter-vii/5584941
[Ten of the fifteen members of the Council voted in favor of the draft resolution. However, permanent Security Council members China and Russia as well as Ethiopia and Kazakhstan voted against. The “no” of the two permanent Council members China and Russia, who have veto right, prevented the adoption of the document.]
Which is CORRECT?
If China abstained, then he is helping the evil and all Chinese goods must be boycotted, because china is in POCKET OF THE ENEMY and should be targeted, otherwise we will support china if help in removing and destroying the evil.
Long live Syria and president Assad. death to his enemies
(1) Any thoughts about Russia recognizing Jerusalem (1/2 of it) as capital of Israel on Thursday, April 6?
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Jpost-Exclusive-Moscow-surprisingly-says-west-Jerusalem-is-Israels-capital-486336
Was it the last ditch effort by Russia to avert the 180 degrees turn? If it was, it did not work. Very little coverage in Israel and in particular American press. Netanyahu gave Putin cold shoulder.
(2) Any speculation about St. Petersburg on Monday, April 3 terrorist attack? Was it an attempt by Russia to capture and reinforce the narrative (a) to drive the message that Russia is as part of anti-terror coalition along with the US after Tillerson (March 31) announced that Assad can stay or (b) to hijack the news cycle in anticipation of pending actions to derail of Trump/Tillerson decision on Syria? Anyway (a) did not work as not much sympathy (except from Trump’s call to Putin) was shown to Russia and (b) it did not make impact on the news cycle as the next day “gas attack” totally dominated the media.
{The majority of Syrians would support exterminating every Alawite in the country. }
What do you base that statement on?
If ISIS/Daesh ever gained control of Syria, they certainly would exterminate every Alawite and Christian in Syria they could get their hands on. Lots of Sunnis would be exterminated too, just to terrorize the remaining into submission to ISIS/Daesh.
However the myth that majority of Syrians are against Alawites (e.g. Assad clan) is a Neocon propaganda red herring.
Syria is about 10% Alawite.
About 10% Christian.
And about 80% Sunni.
Most of SAA fighters are Sunni, including the high command.
Alexander Mercuris has an excellent, detailed article debunking the Neocon lie that super-majority Sunnis of Syria are against Assad, or against Alawites.
Well done Amanda and this reminds me of another well made video by Corbett done on 9/11 attack.
Sep 11, 2013 9/11 In A Nutshell as James Corbett presents this 5 minute parody of the official conspiracy theory of 9/11
https://youtu.be/vrJiKbK0tVM
September 11, 2013 Twelve Years of War, Lies and Deception
Twelve years after the 9/11 attacks, no credible independent investigation has been done to find out what really happened on that day and who was responsible. Independent journalists and researchers have demonstrated, however, that the official version of the event is nothing but a cover-up, an opinion shared by the co-chairs of the 9/11 Commission, Thomas H. Kean and Lee H. Hamilton, who declared the Commission was “set up to fail”.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/911-twelve-years-of-war-lies-and-deception/5349347
That raw animal cunning is worth admiring in some ways, you have to admit.
Your points (1) -(5) pretty much describe what I have seen while observing Israel. Perhaps it should be added that at every step Israel is paid money for doing something or not doing something. During Desert Storm in 1991 Israel got paid by the US $500 millions to not react to attack by Iraq in order not to piss off some Arab members of the anti-Iraq coalition GHW Bush has built.
During Arab Spring in Egypt after Morsi and Muslim Brotherhood got into power Israel press was clearly ambivalent. He would guarantee destabilization of Egypt and sectarian chaos with just a bit of anti-Israel rhetoric while Sisi would return to status quo of pro-Israel Egypt with a drawback of remaining militarily strong. I think that Morsi was the Plan A while Sisi was the Plan B.
In the light of post 9/11 development in the Middle East when all secular and quasi-secular states (Iraq, Libya, Syria) were targeted, destroyed and turned into chaos of sectarian fighting it became clear began that the chief objective is to not install friendly regimes but having no regimes at all, no states at all. Because even friendly regimes will still maintain some pro-state national policy that includes a strong military. Shah of Iran was removed and Islamic revolution was instigated because Shah was way too successful in building modern and strong state and all his efforts to be as pro American and pro Israel as possible were could not offset this.
The population of Syria is only around 18.5 million.
And, of course, any major war involving NK is likely to involve considerable devastation and disruption in SK as well, population 50 million, even if only in regions bordering NK.
The NK situation is an interesting one for Trump-watchers. Currently Trump is signalling that further moves by NK to develop its defences will be met by US attacks. However, NK has never responded particularly well to threats, and of course the recent US action in Syria on top of past military aggressions by the US makes developing better deterrence far more urgent and important to NK. Some reports (albeit based upon a US source) suggest it is going ahead with further visible development of exactly the kind Trump has threatened to respond to with military aggression:
North Korea preparing for nuclear test, satellite images suggest
Meanwhile, China has been rather subdued in its response to both the Trump regime’s illegal action in Syria and its threats to do the same kind of thing in NK.
China appears to be pretty annoyed with the NK government’s rather disrespectfully unsubservient attitude, so some people speculate that it might be willing to let the US regime teach them a lesson, planning presumably to step in afterwards and blame the US for the resulting destruction.
But this would surely represent a significant gamble for the Chinese on the level-headedness of the NK regime under pressure. They would be assuming that the NK government would have to take the US strike lying down, as the Syrian government has (perforce, since it’s in the middle of a fight for its survival) the attack on its own servicemen and military. If NK decides it cannot afford to do so and retaliates, however minimally, against SK or US troops in SK, there will undoubtedly be a further US response and escalation. Where will it likely stop, if it once starts?
Is this a gamble the Chinese are likely to take?
Have they any other choice, given that stepping in to deter a US strike would involve effectively guaranteeing the security of a state whose actions they can’t control?
In fairness, I suspect the Chinese undoubtedly know the NK government and its likely responses far better than I do, and far better than the US regime does.
It’s certainly an interesting situation at the moment.
Okay, sorry to be off-topic here, but can’t find anywhere else to post this:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-14/us-releases-video-mother-all-bombs-explosion-which-killed-36-isis-fighters
Key comments:
-With the cost of this bomb, each of the 36 probably cost $8.7M to kill. War is a racket. And then some.
-Hmmmm. $314,000,000 per bomb… 36 dead… that means it cost $8,722,000 per death. Sounds like a good “bang” for the buck to me. That’s almost as much as every Israeli citizen has received since we began gifting them our taxpayer dollars. We have some smart representatives in aMurica… I’m flushed with pride.
Looks like nothing will ever change in the US.
https://www.sott.net/article/348096-The-Origins-and-Ultimate-Purpose-of-ISIS-A-Brief-History-of-the-US-Middle-East-Proxy-War
You seek to downplay Israeli involvement in the attempt to overthrow the Assad government, and that’s entirely understandable. And it’s true that such involvement has been mostly indirect, via influence on the US, in contrast to the direct involvement of Saudi Arabia and opportunist Turkey.
Following up on the monster bomb drop to kill 36 ISIS (@ $8.7 million each), this guy says this was more about showing up the weapons the psychos running the US have, as a threat to the rest of the world (Russia, Iran, NK, anyone else who doesn’t go along)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koQH9nhyvyg
What they said, actually, was that they consider western Jerusalem the capital of Israel and eastern Jerusalem the capital of the Palestinian state. Not exactly the Zionist wet-dream…
First, get the facts straight. The US is self-sufficient in petroleum products at or over an oil price of $100. Saudi Arabia is heading quickly to bankruptcy unless oil prices recover to somewhere $80-100 with them selling their production at that price. And as Greg Cochran so aptly described the country, it is “a country with low human capital, run by dumb thieves, dependent on a dwindling physical asset.” It’s obviously not in a position to threaten an American president, nor does it have the ability to subtly influence US policy in ways that go against powerful inside interests. (I repeat, not to be too subtle, they are too dumb to be such successful manipulators.)
Well, at least this makes everything quite clear:
http://thesaker.is/rabbis-urge-president-trump-to-act-decisively-in-syria/
It’s pretty obvious that the Israeli government and AIPAC want their neighbors destabilized.
Maybe Israeli people and Jewish Americans feel differently but that is the very clear agenda of the leaders for the last several decades. They just manipulate America into to doing the dirty work.
Trump was ever Netanyahu’s puppet, not Putin’s.
I think both the author & commentators need a reality/history check. There is a difference between strategy & tactics. Also, even most perspicacious politicians frequently make mistakes- which doesn’t mean they’re morons (for instance, Stalin’s almost religious belief in Molotov-Ribbentrop pact). In my opinion: 1) of course, there is no 4-D master chess plan, 2) Trump has not fundamentally strayed from his promises (his biggest success, so far, is Gorsuch’s confirmation). He has suffered a few defeats, but I don’t see how his central policy has been fundamentally changed: stop the immigration, drain the swamp, bring US interventionism to an affordable level, make China as weak as possible, try to find a compromise with Russia without encouraging Russian imperialism, ..
Trump is a politician with vision who, yes, sometimes makes stupid mistakes.
Where do you want me to start to expose your lying stupidity? Should I start where and when Brandeis and Franfurter were undermining the Tutkey’s and State Department attempt to keep USA out of British ‘s ME war ? Should I remind you the deception and the pressures employed by the Zionist to get Balfour declaration and force USA join the war ? Shall I mention the bribing of Truman ? Shall I mention the terrorism and the pressure that Truman complained of ?
Shall I mention the page 161 CHALLENGING YEARS THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF STEPHEN WISE. ?
Shall I ask you to read the bribibgs and threateningand open attacks on European Asian , African and Latin American representatives to UN in 1947?
Shall I describe Yoded Yinon and PNAC when Israel was pressurizing to isolate and break Saudi ?
Shall I tell you the days when Dore was writing book on Evil Saudi and was having Anerican ears ?shall I remind you the date and time when Perle was advising the occupation of Saudi in Pentagon?
Shall I remind you of Saudi proposal for comprehensive peaceful resolution was ignored by America because Israel told America to ignore it – as late as 2002. .?
Shall I remind you the time when Obama was giving 50 billion free killing machines to Israel in exchange for 3 months delay on illegal construction but was selling 40 billions dollars worth of killing machine to Saudi Arab ?
How do you describe your stupidity? Can you quantify ?
America had genuine interests with all countries 2 countries are more in number that 1 . You get it ! 50 countries are more than 1, more than 5, more than 49, – do you get it ? Beyond the mathematics , that is. democracy That is morality That is logic That makes sense and makes perfect sense if someone told USA that Amerucan interest lies with Arab countries and not with Israel. Beyond pure math , in 1950 when world was showing sign of decolonization, supporting new colonization doesn’t make sense .
Shall I remind you of 2007 AIPAC where the delegates cheered and demanded and informed the world’ We would do an Iraq on Iran’?
Saudi has now joined Israrl because they have identified that America couldn’t guarantee its reputation and security Saudi has to come to Israel because Anerica is controlled by Israel . Suddenly Saudi has become moderate peaceful stabilizing influence Thanks to pressure on US media and politicians brought and promoted by Israel -which itself has been made possible by bribing of Israel by Saudi and by Saudi’s submission to Israeli plan for Iran , Syria, Lebanon .
Get it? Go and get it .
That was largely debunked in the last several years.
If you desire to get a flavor of English language, there is literary section on Commentary magazine and Tablet magazine .
Supporting Trump by Saudi Royal is not same as having grass root support
Support is also subject to information and amnesia
American now support Trump’s Tomahawk .
Same America voted him in S Carlina primary purely for challenging foreign policy based on war
. Same media also excoriated him ( on CNN ) for suggesting that he would be neutral on Israel – Palestine conflict .
But the American public always supported and even handed honest policy on this. But suggesting that will get one sandbagged Remeber how Howrad Dean was attacked for suggesting that he would be impartial and honest in any Israel – Palestine negotiation !
That is power of Israel. That is not the power of Saudi .
I’ve seen these arguments, but I am not convinced at all. Numerous testimonies by Khrushchev, Zhukov, Mikoyan, … are more persuasive.
Anyway, this is just an aside. It remains to be seen whether Trump is a man who has, through years, crystallized some sort of vision for American society and Western civilization (never mind his bumblings) & is his presidency a revolution from above of sorts ? Or, is he an energetic & successful businessman who is basically an opportunist & simply got lucky in a crucial period, without possessing clear world-view ? One need not be an ideological firebrand to substantially alter the world according to a set of ideas; just, if one doesn’t have a few firm principles, some global strategy – then, one can’t achieve much.
Sorry Gabriel for using the word ” stupidity’ . I apologize . I should have chosen misinformation or misanalysis or wrong conclusion.
Israeli lobby has perfected the art of imposing Zionist views on Americans who are visible in media, politics, think tank, education, and defense,judiciary , local branches of those organizations and on the religious organizations .
Zionist has created leaders like Sarah Pallin It has changed leaders . It has forced politicians to change direction .
Now it is bringing the art to ME . If it could force Wilson, Truman, LBJ, Bush Sr., Bush Jr. and Clinton and Obama and Trump , it has no reason to think that it couldn’t change frightened helpless guilt- ridden and West – dependent Saudi with skeleton in their closet .
Saudi has submitted to the new Jewish power . Si has gulf monarch , Libyan gangster and Sisi and Erdogan .
? Putin. I think so . Putin has also.
That War is Boring article seems like more #FakeNews:
Never believe anything where they will not identify sources.
Ram says (#66):
You mean April Glaspie, not April Stevens.
Nino Tempo and April Stevens are an American brother-sister singing duo. Their rendition of the old classic “Deep Purple” was #1 on the Billboard charts for the week ending November 22, 1963, but was bumped from #1 the next day by “I’m Leaving It All Up To You,” by Dale & Grace, who just happened to be in Dallas on that fateful day when President John Kennedy was assassinated.
http://www.billboard.com/archive/charts/1963/hot-100
Canadian-born April Catherine Glaspie was U.S. Ambassador to Iraq when she met with Saddam Hussein on July 25, 1990, after being summoned to his office:
(My cherry-picked out-of-context comments from that meeting:)
HUSSEIN:
GLASPIE:
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/23/world/confrontation-in-the-gulf-excerpts-from-iraqi-document-on-meeting-with-us-envoy.html?pagewanted=all
Sorry Gabriel for using the word ” stupidity’ . I apologize . I should have chosen misinformation or misanalysis or wrong conclusion.
Israeli lobby has perfected the art of imposing Zionist views on Americans who are visible in media, politics, think tank, education, and defense,judiciary , local branches of those organizations and on the religious organizations .
Zionist has created leaders like Sarah Pallin It has changed leaders . It has forced politicians to change direction .
Now it is bringing the art to ME . If it could force Wilson, Truman, LBJ, Bush Sr., Bush Jr. and Clinton and Obama and Trump , it has no reason to think that it couldn’t change frightened helpless guilt- ridden and West – dependent Saudi with skeleton in their closet .
Saudi has submitted to the new Jewish power . Si has gulf monarch , Libyan gangster and Sisi and Erdogan .
? Putin. I think so . Putin has also.
Another aspect is the Chinese keeping a relatively low profile militarily, if what they regard as their territory isn’t directly involved.
The attitude seems to be to let the US waste $ Trillions on ME wars and further weaken itself. It’s well known that the Chinese (and the Japanese) have been net sellers of US bonds for some time, letting the US is debase its currency with each new war (i.e. print the dollars rather than raise a supplementary war tax ).
Let’s hope the UN knows…
Defeated by 10 votes in favour, to 2 against (Bolivia, Russian Federation), with 3 abstentions (China, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan),
https://www.un.org/press/en/2017/sc12791.doc.htm
Thanks
“In the lead-up to the invasion of Kuwait, the United States’ ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, met with Saddam. According to a transcript of that meeting released by the Margaret Thatcher Foundation, Ambassador Glaspie told Saddam, “We have no opinion on your Arab-Arab conflicts, such as your dispute with Kuwait. Secretary Baker has directed me to emphasize the instruction, first given to Iraq in the 1960s, that the Kuwait issue is not associated with America.”
http://www.salon.com/2016/02/28/theyre_still_lying_about_the_first_gulf_war_how_the_first_george_bush_helped_create_todays_middle_east_trouble/
Yes, though partly doubtless it’s because they lack the military capability to support, secure and protect expeditionary forces in remote locations, if unwelcome to the US. Unlike the Russians, their forces would be sitting ducks somewhere like Syria, completely hostage to US or US-sponsored attack.
That’s starting to change with better AA capabilities and better general equipment and logistical support capabilities, but it’s still got a long way to go.
But NK isn’t remote for China and the issues it raises are very close to home. It’s one thing sitting back and watching the US expend its blood and treasure creating bloody chaos and mayhem in the ME and central Asia, quite another letting them do it right next door.
Central Asia is also right next door. China does border Afghanistan.
The person that whispers last in Trump’s ear is Ivanka Kushner – she is the Trump whisperer.
Trumps number one problem was poll numbers. Killing Arabs is always good for a bump. Trumps number two problem was the Jew MSM’s “Russian poodle” charge. They were building a head of steam that was damaging Trump. It showed everyone that he was vulnerable to attack. He had to blunt that. Getting in Putin’s face with the missile attack has taken much of the air out of that charge.
Trump was in trouble – he had to do something dramatic. Ivanka whispered – he did the minimum and it worked.
The outcome so far is that Trump has said no Syria invasion, Putin has blinked by meeting Tillerson, and the US China rhetoric has softened with China working on N Korea. Not to bad!
Ivanka is social liberal, and her husband is a Zionist, and her father a street smart very shallow man – she knows how to sooth the beast – expect a liberal Zionist ego based administration for the next four years.
Peace — Art
Stalin’s “religious” trust in Hitler? No need to take you seriously.
What is that supposed to mean?
American forces operate in more and more parts of Syria.
A ‘soft’ invasion of Syria is on-going.
Trump did not reverse that, quite the opposite.
I also come to the conclusion that he is a gutless idiot.
In fact, my view is that at the first sign they see that he hesitates implementing the neocon agenda, they will dump him like dirt, which he deserves very much.
Most the UNZ posters are still in denial. You dummies got jooied. Under 2% of the population. Over 50% of the trump cabinet. Remaining 50% rapid zio izzy firsters. Traitors one and all. What else do you need to know?
Yes, but not right next door to anywhere that matters in China.
mr a karlin
what is your alternative workable stratergy.jot it down and post it.interesting art work above.
the fact is the war in syria has gone on to long.it must end.time is running out,not for trump but for humanity.a deal must be reached and trump will deliver and must be supported.the good ole john wayne days are gone and now it is the hard bargain gangs with backing militia armed to the teeth.
i work in the construction industry.
i always wonder why it is called that.it is actually the destruction industry.
you destroy and reshape to construct.should be called the destruction industry.
666 =6+6+6=18
18=1+8=9
6:9
my favourite numbers.
Hey Genius
“She knows how to sooth the beast”.
Sooth s/b soothe.
Peace
Sherm
Trump’s a businessman creating openings, not a calculating politician or security operative. He’s spinning the table to keep everyone off balance. The missile strike means he’s willing to hit hard if necessary so don’t give him bullshit. He’s probably off balance himself but he has the brake to stop the table spinning. Beautiful performance to make Putin and Xi lose face in one move. He was only a better choice than Hilary before. Now he looks good.
But he could also be going gaga.
I will start by stating I believe Assad was behind the gas attack.
Second, Tillerson made statements of support for Assad the week before the attack, which were reported in the International Press.
This means that the gas attack (which non-Kremlin audiences will believe was conducted by Assad, anyways) was directly connected to Trump’s foreign policy, and Trump and his people looked like a fool.
Ordering a direct attack, without Congress, signals that Trump is a strong and decisive Executive, and he is going to retaliate in proportion when he is stabbed in the back (which he was).
The Alt-Right has their panties in a wad either i.) because they are not really loyal to Trump and are simply using the brand, or ii.) they have a childish, cookie-cutter approach to foreign policy which lacks any broader context (e.g. they still think like libertarians).
The real question is whether the US supports regime change in Syria (and notwithstanding public pronouncements) what the US does to support regime change. Assad has the upper hand, so Washington can say anything right now, and so long as they don’t DO anything, Assad should come out on top.
Diplomatic efforts to promote better ties, or even alliance, with Moscow suffer enormous obstacles domestically in the US. Ironically, by bombing Syria, Trump distances himself from the ROG conspiracy, and this may make it possible for the US to move diplomatically to a different footing in relationship to Russia. Remembering the art of the deal, Trump needs to make a credible threat to Russian security interests in order to get some concessions diplomatically from Russia. He can’t be a push-over.
It is great to hate the neo-cons, liberal internationalists, the CIA, the State Department, the Academy and the MSM, etc. However, some version of neo-con/liberal internationalism is the dominant paradigm in the University as well as throughout all levels of the US foreign policy establishment, including DoD. Trump is going to have to work to some extent with these people if he wants to accomplish anything. The question is whether he is going full neocon, or whether he is redirecting the foreign policy establishment in a different direction. Only time will tell.
The British spin to India tells you everything you need to know. Regarding the North South corridor, Russia had to make a one port deal with Pakistan, America’s ally and China’s friend.
“Instead, Trump is mentally a working class, which means he should be expected to:
– cut corners, and in the process break rules in small ways
– act abrasively (in a way that will always shock people who confuse pedantry and morality)
– and keep himself within limits, without the necessity to be told to do so.”
Yep. Although not so much rule breaking as, perhaps, in Russia. He has is a Congregationalist by religion. Incidentally C’s identify with Old Testament Israel.
Calm down, dude.
What signals does it send to the world when your foreign policy can have dramatic reversals in 48 hours or less? And for little real gain.
The alt-right types are also some of the strongest Trump supporters. You don’t want to piss off your most loyal customers.
Dropping some bombs gets a short-term popularity boost but bread and butter domestic issues make and break a politician. Look at how HW Bush lost in spite of the Persian Gulf War and ongoing Soviet collapse because of taxes and the economy.
Remember how W Bush was one of the most popular presidents ever when he began his first war?
Public excitement is just a fad.
Long term, if US is stuck with neocon foreign policy, it threatens to deligitimize the democracy.
US President: “Oh yeah, on second thought about those multi-billion dollar arms deals we had…and the support and upgrades for your existing weaponry….umm I don’t know about that. Lockheed Martin will have a fit, but it messes things up anyway if you play with your oil prices. Maybe we can sell all our stuff anyway to your enemies until you shape up. You need us more than we need you. Why do we let you guys run those oil fields anyway?”
Trump is lying and he knows it. He has no credible evidence to be so positive that Assad used chemical weapons. I can’t believe he is so stupid that he thinks he will get away with it. There has to be some extremely compelling reason to risk the negative consequences of being caught in a lie.
This video suggests that a failing economy may be involved. While I have been thrilled to watch Trump outmaneuver the establishment, I always thought that it really won’t matter in the long run because he can do nothing to prevent the coming economic collapse.
Some conspiracy theorists believe that the globalists want an economic collapse to complete their plans of bringing the West under the control of the New World Oligarchy. I have previously discounted this because the oligarchs would lose their wealth and have no chance of controlling the resulting chaos anyway.
Could the threat of intentionally collapsing the economy be the leverage used against Trump?
Might Trump have been convinced that war is the only tool left in the kit to prevent an imminent economic collapse?
It’s number 3. Trump is not not articulate, not precise, and communicates on an emotional level.
It was a symbolic attack. To send a message. What message? Domestic, what else. Trump is the decider. After all, having allowed Obama to run the country by executive order, he wasn’t even allowed the minimal executive authority to temporarily stop entry of non citizens of 6 countries to the United States.
He gets to decide off an extremely limited menu. He was hungry. He ordered. And served.
Even though Trump is weak, America is not. As far as foreign affairs, nothing has changed. Things are stable. Syria has been at war for 6 years. The Middle East is a mess. That’s been going on for for 15 years. The Korean War was never settled. There is nothing urgent.
The US is in the middle of a domestic political crisis of legitimacy. Once again, thats been building for years. The driving force is the two party system and a binary political calculus that is forced to create conflict out of remarkably little. Most Americans want less war and controlled, rational immigration. They have been denied both, despite voting for them for decades.
As far as what’s changed since 2008? Obama was elected as a reform candidate. He wasn’t able to get us out of Middle Eastern conflicts. The 2 big 21st century reform measures have mostly failed. Health and Education. We have poured huge resources into education with little to show for it. The same with healthcare, and mostly what we have to show for it is inflation in health costs.
However, the big change was the development of a domestic Unconventional Oil industry that makes the Middle East oil resources less strategic than they ever were. Since ISIS has more than proving their eagerness to sell oil on global markets, the notion we — or any other nation — could be denied access to it isn’t credible. North America has more than enough without any Middle Eastern Oil. And, we have become the low cost, swing producer of it.
Since 2008, the US economy has been more successful than the rest of the developed world. The US dollar is strong (too strong, in fact). The US balance of trade has been continually improving due to net reduction of oil imports.
Our binary, dual party system is in trouble. Trump is really more of a threat to the Republican Party than the Democrats. At least directly. The failure to repeal Obamacare underlined the fragility of their coalition. They were primarily elected as an opposition party and lack any remotely coherent ideology. But the Democrats are barely more unified than the Republicans. If the Republicans fragment, the Democrats are next. What happens then?
One other change … social media has amplified the perception of disunity within the US.
The people that are most emotionally disturbed by the election results are unaffected by it. The mythical unemployed coal miners? Maybe they are still at the same small town bars talking about the good old days, but they never believed anything would change. College students that need trigger warnings are an emotional wreck, but they are still on campus, and still doing the same things. Europe has the same problems it has had for 2 decades. Same for Japan. Emerging economies aren’t doing especially well. Deflation in commodities, basic materials, and oil have hurt. Their only way forward is to address problems of social infrastructure and institutions that are politically difficult.
And don’t forget main stream media. Print journalism is barely a business. Network television has been declining for years. Cable is under pressure. Trump was a cash cow when he first came on the scene and a revenue booster. And still is, except they have blown up a significant portion of their legitimacy over this.
Are people eating? They are still fat. They bought a record number of light vehicles last year. Loan defaults are at record lows. Old people aren’t going to fight in the streets. College students are afraid of their shadows. They can’t even tolerate non conforming ideas. People still manage to make it to a toilet, regardless of bathroom wars. People complain a lot. The next real problem — whatever it is — will be something no one is thinking about and no one is prepared for.
It is right next to the CPEC.
And the rest of Central Asia is right next to Xinjiang .
It’s right next to a lot of mountains and deserts. Unlike NK, which is right next door to Liaoning and only 500 miles from Beijing. Kabul is 2500 miles from Beijing.
Professional military men have channels via intelligence and their radars and communications. This is how accidents are prevented at sea and in the air. Been going on for decades. The stupidity of politicians has been re-routed many times over the years.
Between that missile interview and dropping mothers of all bombs looks like the deep state figured out how to distract his autism. Live by the sperg, die by the sperg.
Thanks Robert!
Yes sane negotiators know this is the Big Deal, the one that ends “Geopolitics” as we know it.
Here is the address by the “Silk Road Lady” Helga Zepp LaRouche given today in NYC by the Schiller Institute.
https://larouchepac.com/20170414/us-china-cooperation-2017-helga-larouche-keynote
You might not like Stalin, but he was far from being the idiot that his Cominternist enemies try to depict.
He certainly made every effort to avert the war. He renounced the idea of the ‘revolutionary war’ to impose communism on the world. He was perfectly aware that the Germans would fall back on their dreams of ‘Drang nach Osten’ (the Soviet intelligence worked at full capacity at all times, the always knew the German moves in advance). He was aware that Russia was not fully prepared to withstand the onslaught at the time. He applied the same tactics which defeated the European coalition of Napoleon: retreat to defendable positions, scorched earth, relying on the paltry state of their roads to stal the advance of the tanks, waiting for their most trusted ally General Winter to come to the rescue, striking back at a time of their choice (Germans were not prepared for winter war, Russians were and their counterattack was devastating), denying the Germans the access to the oil fields (the counteroffensive at Stalingrad was also in winter).
Now, we agree that ‘Trump has not fundamentally strayed from his promises’ which are the defeat of Russia. What is the real meaning of “America great again” if not the ‘manifest destiny’?
I didn’t read every comment so excuse me if this is redundant, but did anyone suggest that the US may have fired 50 or so cruise missiles at Russia-protected Syria to test the variety and effectiveness of countermeasures? Then USA can tailor the next attack–the REAL ONE–to exploit the weaknesses of enemy’s defenses. Maybe NKorea is the real target. So a pawn has been sacrificed to take a knight. Not 666 D chess at all.
Not that any Chinese official would utter this in a million years, but a non white USA will be weak, this is inevitable, all they have to do is wait. Only the most fanatic patriotard/SJW/neocon sincerely believes that the having the demographics of Venezuela will make no difference.
I am sorry but I must be honest.
I don’t like this Jewish kid, Jared Kushner, making decisions for a majority Christian country, namely the USA.
What qualifies this kid for anything?
I agree, I have no idea what’s going on with this shitshow.
After the election, how could Trump possibly be swayed by this Big Media horseshit? You’d think being at the center of all of that for so long would leave an indelible impression for the rest of his life.
Who put him there in the first place? 80 per cent of white evangelicals+15 per cent of African-American/Hispanic/Asian evangelicals (aka Christian Zionists) voted for Donald Trump.
anon:
I’m very suspicious of Jared and the whole Kushner Family.
Witness Jared’s father’s sordid blackmail of his son-in-law with a prostitute which earned him a jail term along with the usual New Jersey charges of tax evasion and election malfeasance.
Not a pretty picture especially when one considers the adage that the apple ever falls far from the tree.
Anatoly,
A practicing Jewish Orthodox friend of mine is concerned about Jared Kushner new-found prominence in the Trump Administration. His concern is when things turn bad (as they inevitably will), then the Jews will inevitably be blamed!
I gave my wife a v.brief synopsis of the three AK alternatives: she replied “Yeah, I’d go along with all three of them”
Could be onto something –
‘Trump is susceptible to the last 6 opinions that he has heard, but thinks that he is playing a superbly clever and intricate hand, which means that he is a complete moron!’
It’s a fact that the Chinese are getting all they want without fighting any wars.
They’ve found that they can ally with US outsourcing corporations to 1) get them to base their manufacturing in China 2) learn their manufacturing technology 3) provide employment for a whole generation of newly trained skilled Chinese workers 4) generate big Chinese trade surpluses 5) create a new Chinese middle class and a whole string of 1950’s style “Detroits” along the Southern China coast.
Also 1950’s Detroit was created by Anglos, in an Anglo USA, the same as the Southern China industrial cities are run by Chinese, in an ethnic Chinese China.
Their China First government doesn’t have any plans to make China “multicultural”, or send troops to the ME to fight Israel’s wars.
Zionists should be blamed.
Yeah – a diversion before an attack on NK was the only explanation i could think of which wouldn’t imply a coup.
However on reflection that could fit the coup scenario also as if the banking mafia are planning to move to China then getting the US to take out NK for them before they collapse the economy would make sense,
Oppose and prep chillens – within the next few years i think the banking mafia are going to bring the ceiling down to cover their move to China.
Is there anyone on this planet smart enough to play this much discussed 3D, 4D or whatever chess? And if there is how would we mere humans be able to recognize it and follow along? No, we’re all confused and trying to make sense of it all, just guessing, speculating and sometimes engaging in wishful thinking. More pieces of the puzzle will have to be provided before we get the picture, that is, if there is one. Someone like Tillerson looks to be a one-dimensional actor in an expensive suit. He has no background in anything except as a big corporation money grabber. Oh, and plus he was the president of the Boy Scouts for a while, that should give us all some confidence. Also, having military advisors who have nicknames like “mad dog” might raise an eyebrow or two. Not a lot of nuance implied there.
Trump’s platform before the election was supposed to be political poison. Now it’s being said he’s dropping it because it’s political poison? Because of the bad polls?
Trump’s Russia position was good for him, and the “Trump is a Russian agent” is not believable, isn’t credible, if people answer they believe it it’s because they’re subconsciously afraid to say it’s ridiculous. To make these ridiculous accusations and INSIST that it MUST be assented to that Russia somehow determined the outcome of the election is frankly a thinly veiled threat. Trump’s refusal to truly attack it and those behind it vigorously suggests intimidation.
We can’t be sure if Trump was ever really serious, but if he was half-serious, he’s now surrounded, surrounded by Jews in all the positions of real influence.
Bye bye Maga.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/video-trump-wont-be-cancelling-world-war-3-after-all-standdownmrtrump/5585099
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fy0bT4FK9c
No one who isn’t involved directly with the events has any reason to take it on faith that Assad used chemical weapons. Moreover, no one has any reason to care, in a geopolitical context, about an attack with a few dozen victims. Even if it really happened, which is frankly unbelievable, the way it is played to the public is 100% atrocity propaganda with no relevance to anything significant on the scale of global politics.
This was a move to make Trump look very weak and out of control, trigger happy, or rather, under control of others, and it did just that.
I think some deal was made. Note that Nunes and Susan Rice are not in the news anymore. No surveillance by Obama, right? Get rid of Bannon, right? And the Deep State drops the case of Russia’s interference as long as Trump turns 180 or otherwise: impeachment or worse.
‘tulip’: ‘I will start by stating I believe Assad was behind the gas attack.’
Which shows what a complete Idiot you are! Tks for the laugh!
Gabriel M is a well known Zionist shill and liar, operating here at Unz.
He’s just doing his thing… good thing people can see through his pathetic lies though…
“it’s true that such involvement has been mostly indirect, via influence on the US, in contrast to the direct involvement of Saudi Arabia and opportunist Turkey”
Which is what matters, duh!
Without ZUSA behind them, Saudi Barbaria, Qatar, Turkey, etc, would not be conducting this proxy war on Syria.
The Zionists have enormous power inside ZUSa( and other Western countries), they are organic in Zamerica and have been proven to totally distort ZUSA’s foreign policy in favor of Israel and zio interests.
None of the other players compare, none have such power.
Current American “cultural” and media milieu is dominated by neocon Jews. So your friend does have some point. Having said that, AIPAC crowd still thinks that it will be able to manipulate and, thus, mitigate any consequences of their insane policies. This, I am not sure anymore–internet did change paradigm, there is no denial of it.
Timeline:
April 4, at 8 a.m., Abdullah al-Gani and Muaz al-Shami, freelance journalists who have links with radical groups located in Idlib, provided Orient News and Al-Jazeera with the video footage made by the White Helmets. The graphics show the consequences of the alleged chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun. According to Muazz al-Shami, sarin gas was used in the attack.
http://theduran.com/lebanese-journalist-intependently-investigates-alleged-khan-sheikhoun-chemical-attack/
Yesterday, (April 4) from 11:30 am to 12:30 p.m. local time, Syrian aviation made a strike on a large terrorist ammunition depot and a concentration of military hardware in the eastern outskirts of Khan Sheikhoun town,” Russian defense ministry spokesman Igor Konoshenkov said in a statement posted on YouTube.
http://www.iraqinews.com/arab-world-news/russia-says-syria-gas-incident-caused-rebels-chemical-arsenal/
“Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem explained that the first reports of the chemical attack appeared several hours before the government airstrike”
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201704091052469244-us-syria-chemical-weapons-war-pretext/
His great achievement was forcing the acceptance of homosexuality in the Boy Scouts-as a moral paradigm and way of life that is pleasing to God.
Yes Gabriel M, I suppose ‘muh Sunnis’ position of a huge portion of the Swamp creatures and not a few Jewish neoliberal rather than neocon interventionists (many of whom you can find on Atlantic Council OSINT fraudster @EliotHiggins TL even though he himself as far as I know is not a member of the tribe but a typical Trump hating SJWtard Brit schlub whose Turkish wife wears the pants in his family) is based on some sort of objective reality — besides the Saudis and Qataris pouring craploads into the exempt from FARA think tankistans of the Mideast Institute and Brookings Doha.
Nonetheless, where adopting even a moderately pro-Saudi position (i.e. TOW missiles still flowing to team moderate ‘ex’ AlQaeda) is going to bite the Establishment and the Trump Admin in the ass is in Yemen. Col. Pat Lang of the Turcopolier blog may be biased having drank tea with the Zaidi Shi’a who were always deadly enemies of the Wahhabis, but he’s not wrong to notice they have been kicking the asses of the Saudi ground troops and their rent a tribes all over Yemen, with the more competent UAE military securing the strategic Aden at U.S. behest. The presence of a Chinese base at Djbouti is what leads me to believe that North Korean or Iranian missile components keep getting smuggled into Yemen pieces at a time along with the usual Omani arms dealers getting fat and happy off cigarette boats bringing in the anti-tank weapons for the qat chewing teenagers.
While the recent Hama offensive was blunted because team TOW jihad had to cross the Hama plains and subject themselves to arty and airpower in the open where they usually fail, I must say the SAA’s inability to tactically keep troops well dispersed or develop specialized teams to kill CIA and KSA’s beloved TOW missileers bugs a lot of its supporters online a lot. They have made some modest advances in slat armor and in some IR jammers that confuse the missile seeker heads but the wire guidance allowing the operator to make adjustments seems to overcome that (I suspect Russia has lasers that can detect the incoming bearing of a TOW and send a potentially blinding or at least dazzling beam down the trajectory of the incoming rocket to hurt the missileers). Hezbollah seems to have struggled to develop its own Kornet equipped ATGM teams matched with big rifle or HMG snipers to protect very limited and infantry supported armor advances. Arab militaries whether SAA or even more commonly the Saudis always seem to use armor alone and the Turks did too at Al Bab when they had an unexpectedly intense battle with the ISIS who as their former allies didn’t keep their word about withdrawing after the usual Saudi payoffs.
If I were running IRGC I’d be making the link between the Saudis and their American/Israeli friends belief in the ability to indefinitely sustain the Syria jihadists and KSA’s losses in the Yemen conflict more blunt and direct. I’d be pouring ATGMs and especially, mobile SAMs that can take down Saudi jets at above MANPAD range into Yemen and then be bombarding all of the ‘moderate Syrian rebels’ fanboys including the unregistered Qatari agents like Chucky Lister or ‘team Wahhabi Ziocon’s Michael Daeshbag Weiss with dead Saudi porn and Houthis killing Saudis and frying their U.S. supplied tanks by the bushel. Let it become clear to the KSA butt kissers at Langley (Pompeo seeming to follow in the footsteps of Ibn Saud Brennan who may have been an actual Saudi asset recruited while Riyadh station chief) that so long as the Saudis sponsor the Syria jihad their young men will die and keep dying in Jizran, Najran and other southwestern provinces of the Kingdom.
Only in this way, as well as many more years of cheap oil emptying out Saudi coffers and hindering the princes ability to buy off the tribes and population will the power of the GCC Sunni supremacist lobby with its grip in D.C., London and Paris be broken. Make damn sure the sponsors of destroying Syria (even if the Qataris withdrew their troops from Yemen and SW KSA) pay a heavy price and understand proxy wars can go both ways, and they’ll stop destroying countries.
Exactly what I think happened, it was not only a probe to see if Russians would be able to take down any Tomahawks with Pantsirs at Tartus but most likely a live fire exercise to gather data on the Krasukha 4 jammers the Pentagon has feared since one on shore zapped the USS Donald Cook off Crimea in April 2014.
Also the sooner the nearly bankrupt Sauds are forced to withdraw from Yemen in humiliating defeat, the faster the sane Arabs who aren’t obsessively anti-Shia like the UAE or Egyptians can cut deals with the Yemenis to develop a world class Aden port infrastructure and bridge across the Bab al Mandeb as part of the maritime New Silk Road. But the best upshot from my point of view will be far less money for Wahhabi mosques and Islamo-immivasion all over the world even if the globalists and Sorosniks still insist European pols like Merkel or the Swedes press the stealth demographic/population replacement agenda.
KSA is the new Evil Empire, it must be taken down for there to ever be hope of peace in the Mideast or for Syria to be reconstructed.
It’s clearly Drumpf.
Someone more intelligent than him, in his position, would know better to blurt out commonsense opinions on Crimea and Syria. Your average mediocrity picked at random doesn’t have anywhere near the capability for self-delusion that people >120 IQ have.
I have very mixed feelings on Democracy, but that quote about ‘rather having my government picked at random from a phonebook’ does have merit. If it were another age some carnival-barker like Trump would be fine. Unfortunately, the US is a rotting colossus run by maniacs that could go into freefall at anytime.
Then again, Trump’s enormous ego will probably continue to urge him to take occasional ‘maverick’ positions on issues to retain his sense of being independent. I think his clownish personality and general unseriousness was what led the Republicans to take a gamble on letting him take the nomination. No serious policy-wonk espousing his ideas would have been allowed to run.
Also, don’t misunderestimate the sort of absolute scum that dominate the Republican party. I was stupid to think an institution like that could have be reformed (‘I’ll make the Republican Party a workers party!’).
In the end, I suppose we shouldn’t be too upset that Trump has betrayed his base. He’s a dufus who started moderately rich and had an enormous drive (probably insecurity from father issues) who loved socialising in an era before high-finance had cannibalised most wealth-creation. He’s probably under tremendous pressure, bluffs as well he can whilst having no clue about policy, is incredibly hated by a plurality of the population (something very painful for someone as vain as him) and just wants to be seen as ‘absolutely the best President, a tremendous guy, someone really great’.
I suspect he probably regrets running for President in private, of course his vanity wouldn’t allow him to drop out of the race once he got the adoration he craved in his rallies. I’m trying to think of any parallels in history for such a personality running a country.
“plus he was the president of the Boy Scouts for a while, that should give us all some confidence.”
Does me.
I’m guessing either blackmail or 666D Chess. It sure looks like blackmail because he changed so fast. Also the economic switch to internationalism is odd because Trump has been talking about poor trade since the 80’s/ It’s a bit hard to believe that he changed his mind now.
the kulak says
“KSA is the new Evil Empire, it must be taken down for there to ever be hope of peace in the Mideast or for Syria to be reconstructed.”
this problem is easily solved with the flood of african refugees into yemen from ethiopia.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20161130-un-100000-african-refugees-head-to-yemen-despite-conflict/
It does, indeed.
It looks like DT warmly embraced the second of the two recommendations put forward by the rabbis:
But L.K., you surely understand, everyone in the world who is not a Kremlin stooge, a Baathist, or a paranoid schizophrenic will believe that Assad is behind the attacks, so it doesn’t actually matter if it is true or not. Who (outside of Russia, Syria, or Iran) would want to be associated with such people after all?
Maybe you just need a Black boyfriend like Liminov [did]? They seem to soothe the Russian Nationalist Ex Pats.
Not being a TV viewer, only now I watched McMaster in an interview: he is in the ‘regime change’ neocon mafia, absolutely.
Just wanted to follow-up on the Rabbis’ Letter recently published by Forward.com.
It appears that they had initially used a more honest headline – Rabbis Call For “Targeted Airstrikes On Assad Regime” – before updating it to something a little less direct – Rabbis Urge President Trump To “Act Decisively” In Syria
Here is the incriminating evidence:
http://imgur.com/yKU06QJ
It’s the birthplace of the author, Michael Ende, the domain of the composer,
Richard Strauss, and the house of ski racers Maria Höfl-Riesch and Felix Neureuther.
I believe what you posted made a bunch of sense. However, consider this,
what if you were to write a killer headline?
I am not saying your content is not solid, but what if
you added a post title to possibly get a person’s attention? I mean The Syria Strikes: Who is 666D Chessing
Whose Interuniversal Go Sequences? – The Unz Review is a little vanilla.
You could peek at Yahoo’s home page and see how they write post headlines to get viewers interested.
You might try adding a video or a picture
or two to grab people excited about what you’ve written.
In my opinion, it could bring your website a little bit more interesting.