Nikki Haley Falsely Accuses Iran

Israel and the neocons still seek an excuse to bomb Iran, now citing false claims about its supposed noncompliance with the nuclear deal. The new water carrier is U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, as ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar describes.

By Paul R. Pillar

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the agreement that limits Iran’s nuclear program, is for Donald Trump one more of the Obama administration’s achievements to be trashed. It goes alongside the Affordable Care Act, the Paris climate change agreement, and other measures (most recently the “dreamers” program involving children of illegal immigrants) as targets for trashing because fulfilling campaign rhetoric is given higher priority in the current administration than whether a program is achieving its purpose, whether there are any realistic alternatives available, or what the effects of the trashing will be on the well-being of Americans and the interests and credibility of the United States.

Nikki Haley, United States Permanent Representative to the UN, addresses the Security Council on
April 27, 2017 (UN Photo)

Nikki Haley, whose foreign policy experience has consisted of these past few months as the U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations, has assumed the role of chief public trasher of the JCPOA for the administration. Evidently no demands on the time of the U.S. ambassador in New York, from the issue of North Korea (which has real, not imagined, nuclear weapons) to the war in Syria were too important to keep her from giving a speech at the American Enterprise Institute that represented the administration’s most concerted and contrived public effort so far to lay groundwork for withdrawing from the JCPOA.

Haley has warmed to this cause both because of her own previous parochial interests, including those associated with financial contributions she has received, and because it is a convenient vehicle for playing to Trump’s urges. Haley evidently feels no obligation to perform as one of the “adults” in the administration to whom the country looks to contain those urges.

The speech at AEI was Trumpian in some of the tactics it employed. The performance should cement the ambitious Haley’s place on Trump’s short list of candidates to become Secretary of State once Rex Tillerson’s unhappy and probably short tenure in the job ends. The speech also used more twisted versions of familiar rhetorical twists that have been heard before from diehard opponents of the JCPOA.

One familiar Trumpian tactic is blatant lying. Haley lied when she said that the JCPOA “gave Iran what it wanted up-front, in exchange for temporary promises to deliver what we want.” The truth is that Iran had to fulfill most of its obligations first — including disposing of excess enriched uranium, disassembling enrichment cascades, gutting its heavy water reactor, and much else — before the agreement was fully implemented and Iran got even a whiff of additional sanctions relief.

False Reality

There is no correspondence between reality and Haley’s assertion that the agreement was a great deal for Iran but “what we get from the deal is much less clear.” What we get is a cementing closed (even literally, in the case of the disabling of a reactor that otherwise could have produced plutonium) of all possible pathways to an Iranian nuclear weapon. This isn’t just a promise; this is major, material, already implemented change.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani celebrates the completion of an interim deal on Iran’s nuclear program on Nov. 24, 2013, by kissing the head of the daughter of an assassinated Iranian nuclear engineer. (Iranian government photo)

A rhetorical challenge that Trump, Haley, and the drafters of her speech have faced is how to justify reneging on an agreement that, as the inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency have confirmed, Iran is observing. One of the techniques used in the speech was to sow confusion about exactly what Iranian compliance entails. Haley tried to make the subject sound like it is more complicated than looking at the terms of the detailed and laboriously drafted JCPOA and having IAEA inspectors, through continuous and highly intrusive monitoring, determine whether Iran is complying with the terms.

This subject is more of a “jigsaw puzzle,” said Haley.  “Iranian compliance involves three different pillars,” which are the JCPOA, United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 (which was the international community’s formal endorsement of the JCPOA) and the Corker-Cardin legislation that governs the relationship of Congress to the president on Iran policy.

The big problem with Haley’s formulation is that Iran is a party to only one of those three “pillars,” the JCPOA. The requirements for Iranian compliance are found entirely within the JCPOA. Certainly Iran cannot be held responsible for whatever happens to go into U.S. legislation enacted by the U.S. Congress. Some of the clauses in Resolution 2231 do reflect understandings reached during negotiation of the JCPOA, but the resolution does not incorporate additional obligations that Iran negotiated and undertook. The much-commented-upon clause regarding ballistic missile activity was carefully and intentionally drafted so as not to constitute a legal obligation.

Haley tried to blur together the subject of missiles with nuclear activities by saying that “missile technology cannot be separated from pursuit of a nuclear weapon.” Yes it can, and it has, not just by Iran but by other nations. Haley’s assertion disregards how, given Iran’s experience in the war launched against it by Iraq, and its situation in facing neighbors today with superior air forces, it is unrealistic that Iran ever would accept curbs on its development and possession of missiles without similar restrictions on others in the region.

Missing the Irony

Most importantly, Haley’s assertion disregards how, in the absence of nuclear weapons, Iran’s missile activity would barely merit an asterisk on any list of U.S. national security concerns. She apparently missed the irony, or the actual lesson that should be drawn, when she followed her comment about missiles and nuclear matters by saying, “North Korea is showing the world that right now.”

An Iranian child holding a photo of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at one of his public appearances. (Iranian government photo)

If a JCPOA-type agreement for North Korea were in force right now, precluding the development or possession of any North Korean nuclear weapon, Pyongyang’s missile tests would receive a small fraction of the market-shaking attention they receive.

Another technique in the speech was innuendo, in generating suspicion that there are Iranian violations that somehow, despite the intrusive inspections, we don’t know about. One version of the innuendo was the notion that supporters of the JCPOA are so anxious to preserve the agreement that “the international community has powerful incentives to go out of its way to assert that the Iranian regime is in ‘compliance’ on the nuclear side.”

But Haley — who presumably has access to all the classified information on the subject — gave no evidence of any violations, or even any hint of what such an Iranian violation would look like.

Further innuendo about unseen violations involved a topic Haley has talked up on earlier occasions, which is inspection of sites not declared as nuclear sites. She quoted an ill-considered Iranian remark about not giving foreigners the run of Iranian military installations, and strove to create the impression that Iran is denying access to suspect facilities. It is not.

She said nothing about the carefully-defined procedure that the JCPOA lays out for inspection of non-declared sites. If the IAEA is given reason to suspect prohibited activity at any such site, it can request a visit. If the IAEA and Iran cannot agree on such a visit, the matter is ultimately decided in the Joint Commission — where Iran can be outvoted, and the inspection authorized. There has been no Iranian denial of access, and again Haley provided no reason for suspecting any violations.

Indicting Iran

The speech offered the usual litany of bad things Iran has done through the years, as part of the usual effort by opponents of the agreement to make people feel as hostile to Iran as possible. Never mind that, also as usual, Haley provided no context for any of this bill of particulars or any of the reasons Iran has done what it has done.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations in 2012, drawing his own “red line” on how far he will let Iran go in refining nuclear fuel.

The most pertinent lesson that should be drawn from this, and that Haley failed to draw, is that the more concern one has about Iranian activity in the Middle East, the more important it is to keep closed all of its possible avenues to an Iranian nuclear weapon. That’s exactly what the JCPOA does.

Haley talked about past Iranian deception and concealment on nuclear matters. Again, she failed to draw the obvious and important conclusion: that this is all the more reason to have the unprecedently intrusive inspection arrangement that the JCPOA created. In fact, it is the inspection arrangement, and the assurance it provides, that is probably the most important feature of the agreement, more so even than the specific limits placed on elements of the Iranian program.

The speech used other hoary techniques to confuse and deceive — the use of straw men, for example, to make it seem that supporters of the agreement had misled people.

“We were promised an ‘end’ to the Iranian nuclear program,” Haley said, but all we got was “a pause.” She never identified who supposedly made such “promises,” and never provided any evidence of them having been made. It always was quite clear from the beginning of the negotiations that produced the JCPOA that zero enrichment of uranium was not a feasible goal and that the agreement would be a limitation on a peaceful nuclear program and not the elimination of it.

Haley’s speech strongly suggests that at the next due date for certification in October, the administration will, even if it still has no evidence of Iranian violations, withhold certification by taking advantage of a vague clause in the Corker-Cardin legislation that refers to whether continued sanctions relief is appropriate, proportionate, and in U.S. national security interests. The administration will assert, as Haley did in the speech, that this will “not mean the United States is withdrawing from the JCPOA.”

The speech also had a bizarre passage that tries to blame the terms of the agreement itself for death of the agreement, the idea being that re-imposition of sanctions is the only way of penalizing Iranian non-compliance. But if the Republican-controlled Congress re-imposes nuclear-related sanctions, which non-certification would be an invitation for Congress to do, make no mistake: it would be the United States that will have reneged on its commitments and violated the agreement. If the JCPOA dies, it will be the Trump administration that killed it.

Haley claimed to welcome debate about whether the JCPOA is in U.S. national security interests. She asserted that “the previous administration set up the deal in a way that denied us that honest and serious debate.” No it didn’t: there was plenty of debate, including during the enactment of the very legislation to which she referred. If her speech at AEI is an indication, she is not really interested in the part about honesty and sincerity.

Despite all the obfuscation and innuendo and distortions in Haley’s speech, the most important facts about the JCPOA are clear. The agreement is working. Iran is complying with it. The agreement prevents any Iranian nuclear weapon — which, before the JCPOA, those who are declaiming most loudly against the agreement today were saying was their biggest concern. As for all those other things that Iran does and that people don’t like, killing the JCPOA will do nothing to attenuate or prevent them. Killing the agreement will only empower elements in Iran that most favor the sorts of behavior we don’t like.

And reneging on the agreement will deal another blow to U.S. credibility, which Trump already has badly battered.

Paul R. Pillar, in his 28 years at the Central Intelligence Agency, rose to be one of the agency’s top analysts. He is author most recently of Why America Misunderstands the World. (This article first appeared as a blog post at The National Interest’s Web site. Reprinted with author’s permission.)

108 comments for “Nikki Haley Falsely Accuses Iran

  1. Hank
    September 13, 2017 at 20:02

    Hayley is a PAWN. The real story goes way back. But this short clip TELLS IT ALL:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RC1Mepk_Sw

  2. Sergio Weigel
    September 10, 2017 at 15:21

    There is absolutely no point to negotiate ANYTHING with the United States as they’ll never stick to agreements anyway. Unless, of course, they’re designed to subjugate the other partner (-> Germany). What is the point even talking to someone who constantly lies anyway? I know, it’s entirely unrealistic, but the US should be isolated completely on a political level.

  3. wholy1
    September 9, 2017 at 16:40

    Haley = S. Powers redux.

  4. Lawrence Fitton
    September 9, 2017 at 09:34

    with the exception of rand paul, republicans want war, and more war. how casually they approach a subject that should be the last answer to an existential question. wars kill. wars kill mommies & daddies and little children. do republicans think that the brown people we bomb, bomb, bomb only die cartoon deaths. or that the shatter lives of those who escape the bombs & bullets can be healed with a magic spell.
    i think it was general sherman who said: ‘war is all hell.’ hell on earth. but of course, war mongers never fight the wars they dream up. warriors fight them. they fight and die. war makers live to make more war.
    many democrats, too, are eager for confrontation. both parties have the color of shame on their faces.
    wouldn’t the nearly 1 trillion $ a year spent on wars/military come in handy for relief & repair in the wake of two major hurricanes. and there’s a third, jose, lurking.
    we have our priorities exactly backward. instead of spending obscene amounts of money on destruction, we ought to use our wealth instead on construction.

  5. j. D. D.
    September 8, 2017 at 21:01

    The Republican controlled congress. Hardly an accurate depiction of the digraceful bi-partisan step toward war. The legislation based on the Clinton/Obama lie of “Russian interference,’ imposed new sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea, while unconstitutionaly tieing the president’s hands. The bill whizzed through the otherwise oh so partisan Congress by a vote of 517-5. Not a single Democrat in either house voted against it.. Maybe that’s why Congress’ approval rating is at 10%.

  6. dieter
    September 7, 2017 at 16:23

    You are aware that your posts do not contribute to a productive discussion?

    • mike k
      September 7, 2017 at 19:09

      A strange comment from a disruptive troll.

  7. Ol' Hippy
    September 7, 2017 at 14:29

    I’m late to the party. I recall before the JPCOA was signed, as it was being discussed in Iran; their Supreme Leader was warning that the US would most likely break the agreement. Well? The US government is so busy destroying things and shooting themselves in both feet that nothing productive can be done. i.e. Commerce, trade, sales, etc. Nikki Haley needs to be muzzled before she does something that can’t be undone, I’m thinking she’s the wrong person for the UN, basically a peace keeping organization. She’s way too hawkish.

    • mike k
      September 7, 2017 at 14:52

      Right. Having Nasty Nikki in the UN is like giving Obama the Nobel Peace Prize. We live in strange times. Orwell was right, war becomes peace making, criminals like Trump become President – will the wonders never cease?

      • Jessejean
        September 7, 2017 at 14:55

        Mike k–Perfect. Bush’s upside down world lives on!

  8. mike k
    September 7, 2017 at 13:44

    Confused about today’s world? Read this for an explanation:

    https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/09/07/kafka-warned-us/

  9. Abe
    September 7, 2017 at 13:12

    John Mearsheimer address to The Israel Lobby and American Policy conference March 24, 2017 at the National Press Club

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8Mgdm_6-e0

    Mearsheimer’s comments on the current influence of the Israel Lobby:

    “The fact that the Obama administration could do virtually nothing to get Israel to move toward a two-state solution yet still opted to provide Israel with $38 billion in aid over the next decade is clear evidence that the lobby remains very powerful. It’s important to understand that the key to the lobby’s success is that it focuses mainly on influencing high level policymakers and opinion makers, as well as the elites in both political parties. Not the rank and file. […]

    “the elites in the Democratic Party remain deeply committed to the special relationship. They fear the lobby will target them if there is any evidence they are wavering in their support for Israel. One might think that politicians who are supposed to place the American national interest above the interest of all other countries would stand up to the lobby when it pushes policies that they know are not good for the United States. Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates explains why this does not happen: I saw most of Congress as uncivil, incompetent to fill in their basic constitution responsibility, micro-managerial, parochial, hypocritical, egotistical thin-skinned – here are the key words – and prone to put self and reelection before country.

    “The second big non-change is that US policy toward Israel remains the same as it has been for the past decade. The special relationship, in other words, is firmly intact. Of course this continuity is hardly surprising given that there has been no diminishment in the power of the lobby. As many of you probably remember, there was a brief moment during the recent presidential election where it looked like candidate Trump might favor a more evenhanded approach to dealing with Israel and the Palestinians. But he quickly reversed field and made it clear that he would go to great lengths to be even more pro-Israel than President Obama. Naturally Hillary Clinton made the same pledge. Thus, there is no good reason to think that American policy toward Israel is going to change in a meaningful way any time soon.

    “Finally, there is hardly any sustained criticism of Israel in the American foreign policy establishment. This, too, is unsurprising since the lobby is as powerful as ever. As I emphasized, it focuses most of its attention on keeping the country’s elites in line. Anyone who wants to be a serious player in the making of US foreign policy understands full well that if he or she criticizes Israel, there will be a price to pay. The result is that there is no serious debate about Israel or the special relationship in Congress, the mainstream media, or prominent think tanks like the Council on Foreign Relations”

    On the Israel Lobby and the 2003 Iraq War, which precipitated the current situation in Iraq and Syria:

    “the lobby was deeply interested in getting Iraq and taking Saddam Hussein down for a long time before the actual invasion on March 19, 2003. The lobby, and here we’re talking especially about the neoconservatives, is pushing very hard for a war against Iraq. In the wake of what looked like a stunning military victory in Afghanistan in the fall of 2001, we came to the conclusion – falsely of course – that we had the magic formula for taking down regimes and getting out of town quickly so that we could march on to the next target. This is what the Bush doctrine was all about.

    “So what you had in 2002 and early 2003 was a situation where we thought we could win a quick and easy victory in Iraq. Point number 1. Number 2, you had this group of neoconservatives who were deeply committed to taking down Saddam Hussein, who had a huge amount of influence in the media and in the Bush administration, who pushed very hard. Therefore, we argued they were the main driving force. But there’s no question that they alone could not have made the war happen. They needed President Bush, and Vice President Cheney, and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and they all went along because they basically bought the neoconservative arguments which were of course not simply couched in terms of doing something that was good for Israel. Right? They bought the argument and they thought that we could go in and win a quick and decisive victory.

    “They were wrong. We jumped into a quagmire. Furthermore, they were wrong in the sense that we had not won a decisive victory in Afghanistan. We had won a temporary victory. And the Taliban eventually came back from the dead. So we had two huge disasters on our hand which still exist today – one being Afghanistan, two being Iraq. Of course as a result of the Iraq War, in part Syria has turned into a disaster as well.”

  10. hillary
    September 7, 2017 at 12:22

    Excellent Mr Pillar thank you .
    I have often wondered how & why nobody calls Ms Haley on her outrageous lies that are broadcast worldwide as America’s point of view..

    Also congratulations to CN for allowing the excellent comments today from those not afraid to speak the truth.

    The good news (the reading populace around the world know Ms Haley is a lier and a fake) & not so good news is (the reading population is probably only about 5% ) & what they can read in the MSM is 90% propaganda.
    https://player.fm/series/kpfa-guns-and-butter/guns-and-butter-june-7-2017

    Can we remember ?
    WE attacked , invaded & destroyed Iraq on a lie, many lies, it’s what the neocons and Israel wanted, it’s what Cheney and Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz wanted, all signatories of the PNAC, and Congress gave them what they wanted. All the proof I need is no weapons of mass destruction were ever found, no biochemical weapons were ever found & We who brought terrorism into Iraq.
    What thinking people want to know is why weren’t these war criminals tried and brought to justice?

  11. turk151
    September 7, 2017 at 12:13

    It is one thing to condemn Bibi, Likud, AIPAC, or the Jewish mafia, media, etc. is quite another to condemn jews. So, they think they are God’s chosen, what of it. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard, that I won’t go to heaven if I don’t accept Jesus as lord. How is that any different?

  12. Abe
    September 7, 2017 at 11:57

    “The very possibility of a dialogue between Moscow and Tehran is getting on Washington’s nerves, which gives additional weight to Russia’s position in the Syria talks. Besides, the degree of Russia’s influence on Iran — if it exists — is irrelevant in this regard. What matters is Russia’s appearance of influence, the semblance of power.

    “That said, Moscow is genuinely taking into consideration Israel’s position on regional security. According to Israeli media, Russian Ambassador to Israel Alexander Shane said that after the conflict is settled, pro-Iranian or any other foreign troops should not stay in Syria. The only hitch is that Russia is also a foreign power, and its policy in Syria is mapped out not in the Foreign Ministry, but in the presidential administration and the Defense Ministry. However, no representative of the military was present at the Putin-Netanyahu talks. On the Israeli side, Netanyahu was accompanied by Mossad Director Yossi Cohen, who reportedly provided the Russian president with “sensitive, credible and very disturbing detailed intelligence” on Iran’s military activity in Syria — all to convince Moscow that Tehran poses a threat.

    “Clearly, Israel and the United States want a guarantee there will be no Iranian military bases in Syria, while Iran wants to ensure there will be no American ones. They are unlikely to agree that the only foreign military presence there should be Russian. Moscow is not willing to give up its bases in Tartus and Khmeimim. The Kremlin is now listening to all parties, but is making no promises to anyone.

    “That means Israel, in the meantime, will have to be satisfied with what it already has — which isn’t insubstantial. Moscow is mostly blind to Israel’s operations against Hezbollah in Syria, but is vigilant when it comes to preventing any large-scale confrontations of Israeli forces with the Syrian army. One of the most dangerous situations occurred in March, when a week after Netanyahu’s Moscow visit the Israeli air force hit the facilities of the Syrian army near Palmyra, allegedly to target a Hezbollah weapons convoy. Syrian air defense forces struck back. Israeli Ambassador to Russia Gary Koren was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry, where he was told Moscow found ‘unacceptable’ any military clashes between Israel and the Syrian army. Yet the Russians said not a single word about Hezbollah.

    “Nevertheless, staying between Israel and Iran gives Russia certain space for maneuver. Hezbollah regiments and Iraqi Shiite formations may go home (to Lebanon and Iraq, respectively) on several conditions. First and foremost is Syria’s stabilization and guarantees that Iran’s interests will be looked after there. Moreover, this departure cannot look like a triumph of Israel and the United States. Russia could become a go-between on this issue, but in any case, there should be an agreement with Iran.”

    Israel takes stock of Putin’s pull with Iran
    Marianna Belenkaya
    http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/08/israel-takes-stock-putin-russia-iran-balance-power-syria.html

  13. September 7, 2017 at 10:59

    Amen to falcemartello’s post, and to SteveK9. The US dollar looks in for a big dive, and the OBOR is advancing, so the neocons will do whatever including ramping up tensions in Myanmar, Afghanistan, whatever. But in the long run, and maybe not so long now, Mother Nature will win. I wonder how humans will cope with massive failure of sewage systems?

    And what is the “permanent” representative to the UN?

  14. Michael Kenny
    September 7, 2017 at 09:59

    What this illustrates is the power of the Israel Lobby in US politics. (Does that surprise anyone?) Israel has designated Iran as its number one enemy and matters not one whit whether that is true or not or whether anything Nikki Haley or any other American political figure says about Iran is true or not. That seems to shock the American cloudcuckooland but out here in the real world, we just call it normal politics! Iran is Israel’s enemy, Iran is America’s enemy. Putin snuggles up to Iran, Putin is Israel’s enemy and America’s enemy. Putin props up Assad, Putin is Israel’s enemy and America’s enemy. Putin discrets Israel’s American protector and NATO, Putin is Israel’s enemy and America’s enemy. Putin’s American supporters therefore attack US policy towards Iran and Assad, NATO and, increasingly (and increasingly openly) Israel itself. The battle lines are drawn: the Israel Lobby v the pro-Putin Lobby. As between Israel and Putin, who do you think will win? It’s hardly likely to be Putin!

    • Abe
      September 7, 2017 at 13:01

      Unsound arguments abound in the so-called “real world” of “normal politics”. That is why independent investigative journalists and sites like Consortium News are invaluable resources in today’s political environment.

      “Michael Kenny” advances an unsound argument.

      The “power of the Israel Lobby in US politics” is a true premise.

      “Israel has designated Iran as its number one enemy” is a true premise.

      However, “Iran is Israel’s enemy” and “Iran is America’s enemy” are false premises.

      In addition, “Putin is Israel’s enemy and America’s enemy” is a false premise.

      An argument is sound if (and only if) all its premises are true and its reasoning is valid; all others are unsound.

      Independent investigative journalists and sites like Consortium News that are critical of US policy towards Russia, Iran, Syria, NATO and Israel are neither “Putin’s American supporters” nor belong to a “pro-Putin Lobby”.

  15. September 7, 2017 at 09:02

    Still more info at link below:
    ————————————————————–
    September 5, 2017 6:09PM
    Nikki Haley’s Alternative Facts on Iran
    By Emma Ashford

    https://www.cato.org/blog/nikki-haleys-alternative-facts-iran

  16. September 7, 2017 at 09:00

    More info at link below:
    ————————————————————
    Iran Hawks Try Moving the Goalposts on the Nuclear Deal
    By DANIEL LARISON • September 6, 2017, 10:23 AM
    http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/iran-hawks-try-moving-the-goalposts-on-the-nuclear-deal/

  17. Herman
    September 7, 2017 at 07:47

    My first notice of Ms. Haley was when early on she called for Russia to return the Crimea to Ukraine. It was a shock and the question popped in my mind, who is this lady working for? Trump campaigns about talking to Putin in an adult manner and she begins by putting a great big road block before the effort. She had to know Crimea would be a non-starter for Russia, at least I would think so. So who is she working for? Now she makes misleading statements about Iran. In this case she is doing Trump’s bidding, whomever she works for.

  18. Curious
    September 7, 2017 at 04:53

    A test of the moderation robot:

    Moderation.

  19. RussG553
    September 7, 2017 at 01:57

    Haley is a devious, lying, embarrassment as an “Ambassador”. After all the lies and deceit I have heard coming from her mouth, I cannot stand the sound of her voice anymore.

    • Paranam Kid
      September 9, 2017 at 04:06

      Nor the sight.

  20. Curious
    September 7, 2017 at 01:18

    Delete the redundancy

  21. Bolt
    September 7, 2017 at 01:08

    The Russians say that Americans are literally “not-agreement-capable” or unable to make and then abide by an agreement.

    http://thesaker.is/why-the-recent-developments-in-syria-show-that-the-obama-administration-is-in-a-state-of-confused-agony/

  22. Curious
    September 7, 2017 at 01:06

    Thank you Mr Pillar for a cogent and concise reporting on the lies emanating out of Ms Haleys’ mouth. Her words could have been written by Israel, and my inclination is this is exactly the case. Political prostitutes need a new terminology that the world can understand without the obvious connotation of a sex industry.
    Nicky has been lying from day 1 and it’s no reach to understand that the reading populace around the world knows she is a lier and a fake.
    Separately, I have a distinct feeling that when Trump got in office he asked for a list of all the executive moves Obama made and the changes his administration made and it’s his personal agenda to just erase everything his predecessor accomplished. It’s a vendetta and has nothing to do with the advancement of the American people. Most of it is trite, beligerant, and self aggrandising, to the detriment of the US of A and it’s people.
    To mention we are in trouble is the understatement everyone understands.

    • ADL
      September 8, 2017 at 18:45

      EXACTLY.
      Repeal everything that black guy from Kenya did. T got elected by pandering to our ‘worst angels’ of white supremacy.

      Imagine if someone started today and for the next 5 years claimed Trump was born in Russia and a Russian mole? Would that person build an enormous following and get elected Prez?

  23. Joe Tedesky
    September 6, 2017 at 23:19

    What has it cost the U.S. in lives and money, to be Israel’s mercenaries to roll out the Yinon Plan? After all these troubling years of war, what has the U.S. won on the battle field, up against what the U.S. population loss in their civil rights? Oh the price we Americans have to pay to do the dirty work for the chosen few.

    While the rabid Zionist cries antisemitism, I worry about the consequences of the conniving Zionist falling once again upon the undeserving of retribution Jewish people. The average Jew like the average American, are poorly represented by each of their nation’s leaders.

    I wrote yesterday how I didn’t believe that WWIII would start in N Korea. I said that, because I don’t trust the Zionist when it comes to Iran. Listening to Nikki Haley, is reason enough to support my claim. In any case, whether N Korea, Iran, or Ukraine, all these starting points for war, are a battle hardened road map to Moscow, and Beijing.

    http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2017/09/06/dear-russia-enemy-not-partner/

    • September 7, 2017 at 12:12

      American synagogues continue collecting the hefty support for Israel from the American Jews. All things considered, it is the Jewish community at large that has been expressing its support for Israel (including the harassment of any critics of Israel) no matter what. The “no matter what” has reached global proportions. Whatever had happened seventy years ago is completely overshadowed by the mass slaughter of civilians of all ages in the Middle East, in the name of Israel. The Oded Yinon Plan and its logical continuation, Clean Break, have been targeting the Middle East for remaking, specifically for creating a sectarian strife, to make Israel a dominant power there. The illegal wars, mass slaughter, destruction of infrastructure, and the propagation of murderous religious fanatical sects (like ISIS) in the Middle East are simply the steps towards the ziocons’ grand plan of Eretz Israel. The plan and its consequences take their proper place among the worst crimes against humanity.
      The Lobby is not able to squeal their usual “this is a slander, this is the slanderous Protocols of Zion!” because the ideologists of the criminal enterprise are well known and they never tried to hide their criminal intentions.
      Read and weep: http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=neoconinfluence&neoconinfluence_prominent_neoconservatives=neoconinfluence_douglas_feith

      • Joe Tedesky
        September 7, 2017 at 13:49

        That linked page you provided Anna is most valuable to those who would like to read the history of what led up to the Neocon era in American geopolitical affairs. I can only urge others to read it.

        In so far as the Jewish people as a whole are concerned, I am reluctant to place blame on the whole totality of the Jewish people, for I believe that would be a fatal flaw in our thinking. I just want to go after the leaders of both Israel and the U.S., and allow the populations of each nation to decide for themselves which path to take in order to obtain peace in their life’s. There are many slippery slopes to avoid, and judging a race, or religion, isn’t the way to go about prosecuting the real villains who created this enormous mess.

        Thanks for your comment, and the link. Joe

  24. September 6, 2017 at 22:17

    Article of interest at link below:
    ——————————————————-
    Nikki Haley: Neocon Heartthrob
    Published on September 4th, 2017 | by Jim Lobe
    http://lobelog.com/nikki-haley-neocon-heartthrob/

  25. Drew Hunkins
    September 6, 2017 at 21:51

    Ms. Haley is nothing more than a rather dull errand girl for the now ascendant Israel Firsters and “my generals.”

    The smoke has finally cleared after 8 mos of internecine warfare and backroom backstabbing in the Trump admin — the economic nationalists have been defeated, humiliated and purged. They’ve been stomped like a narc at a biker rally; sent back to their perches at the Breitbarts to write seething and vituperative denunciations that’ll be ignored or mocked by the “important” Washington players and corporate media whores.

    The ruling class in the US has made it patently clear that absolutely no challenge to global-Zio military empire building will be tolerated. Unfortunately even much of my brethren on the progressive-left have fallen for the incessant, idiotic and dangerous Russophobia and mainstream penchant to deem every economic nationalist a “fascist.”

    Haley isn’t too bright but she at least understands the way to grease the skids to her inevitable post as Secretary of State is to say everything Mnuchin, Greenblatt and the mobbed up New Jersey real estate mogul, Kushner, feed her.

    One end game to all of this is to have Washington bomb Tehran to smithereens and have working class American boys — coming straight from heartland poverty, Burger King counters and opiate and meth ravaged communities — occupy Iran forever, that’s the paranoid Zio plan: have American soldiers occupy and obliterate Iran FOREVER. Just like Gaza and the West Bank: break Muslim arms and legs in torture dungeons, bomb boys playing futbol, and insult and badger beautiful Muslim brides in wedding parties.

    • Drew Hunkins
      September 6, 2017 at 23:43

      Man, I hope you’re correct mark.

      • Paranam Kid
        September 7, 2017 at 09:51

        Fully agree !!

  26. September 6, 2017 at 21:29

    Everything we r seeing from the Washington consensus mob and London mob is characteristic in framing and formulating an argument for what they want to achieve in the future. Does 9/11 sound familiar. Or The Iraq war of 1991. Better yet Korean War and Vietnam wars. They need to continue their war machine. US and British economies and industrial capacity is related and reliant on the military industrial complex. Their economic hegemony depends on it. The flooding of fiat money intro the heavily leveraged stock market and the realestate bubbles they have manufactured are coming to and end. These masters of the universe have come to a dead end.
    They hit that when their Syria project was stopped , as well as the JCPOA deal sealed their bellicose rational . North Korea is also being halted by the Russian and Chinese road map that has just been publicized by alternative media.
    It appears that Russia and China will have the DPRK’s back as well. Hence Iran, Syria and North Korea were the last areas of conflict that the western banking establishment class were trying to maintain and continue in order to extend their economic monopoly. Tempest Fugit and nothing more dangerous than a rabid dog. This is how the western oligarchs r looking like. One comes to the conclusion that a 9/11 orchestrated event is just around the corner. Laying the seeds of confusion and deception has always been one of the elites tools in order to keep the masses at bay. THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES . Are we witnessing a Marie Antoinette moment in western elites. I truely hope so and truely hope that we may enter a total paradigm shift to this ludicrous and disingenuous way of living.

    • September 6, 2017 at 23:59

      @ Mark who knows it is all speculation at this time. Their MO has been exposed. Their intention has been exposed. The Phillipines and Myanmar situation gave it away for my part. The end game is obvious. They had planned Mynmar and the Philippines years in advance. The ME was exposed by Wesley Clarke. The OBOR plan is a direct threat to the Kings of the universe. John Pilger wrote a great piece on it . Global hegemony is their plan and they have many schemes that they had devised years ago . They are all playing out as we speak. The other one that does not get much of a mention is their geo engineering of the earths weather patterns. My hopes is seeing that we the sheeple in the west have now entered the critical stage which is the beyond the 16 percent of cynicism this will bring an end to this vile game these CFR Chatham House and Atlantic council, Bilderberg MTF to an abrupt end and hoping that OFF WITH THEIR HEADS. We in the west are in dyer need of a peace movement and of trying to expose the deceit and deception that is all around us. for western civilisations sake and humanities sake cause all this is leading to a dangerous overt conclusion and it all looks like death and annihilation of the human species.

  27. Andrew Nichols
    September 6, 2017 at 21:05

    Surely it’s time foir the P5 to just tell the Washington Imperial weirdos that the game is up and sanctions wil;l cease fullstop. I the US then tries to bully those nations and their businesses, then those nations should call their bluff and countersanction US business. This Bullsh..t has to end

    • Zachary Smith
      September 6, 2017 at 21:34

      The people being bullied appear to be getting tired of it, and are taking some actions which could eventually bring down the budding US Empire.

      “Game Changer: China to Buy Oil With Gold-Backed Yuan”

      Sidestepping the US banking system seems to be the key to neutralizing sanctions.

  28. Abe
    September 6, 2017 at 20:28

    “Everbody’s taking note. That’s great.” – Benjamin Netanyahu thanking Haley for the reach around pledge.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLO9pfmx1yI

    • Abe
      September 7, 2017 at 14:45

      During her three-day visit to Israel in June, Ambassador Haley also exhanged gifts with Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli Minister of Defense, at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uUYNtZhr7o

  29. Abe
    September 6, 2017 at 20:18

    Ambassador Haley is the Trump Administration’s “refreshing voice” for Israel to have at the United Nations

    Here’s Haley chatting with used car salesman Dan Senor at AIPAC on March 27, 2017

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_9n9nMARn0

  30. JWalters
    September 6, 2017 at 19:48

    Thank you Mr. Pillar and Consortium News for providing rare factual and sane analyses of today’s very serious political situations. It is truly astounding how thoroughly insane lies have come to dominate Euro-America’s political discourse.

    This is all accomplished by vast amounts of money (how else?). Following the money leads straight through the neocons to the Israelis. From there it leads directly to the war profiteering bankers who keep the insane “settler” faction in control of Israeli politics.

    There is NO WAY a smallish bunch of religious fanatics could drag the USA around by the nose. That can ONLY be accomplished by vast amounts of money.

    Big bankers, on the other hand, sit at the hub of the money system. They have financial stakes and huge influence on the boards of major corporations. With these reins of control they reap vast profits from war, control the information most of the public receives, control the elections of most members of Congress, and thus control the MIC, including the CIA. (The CIA is their tool, not an independent power center; money dominates bureaucracy.)

    Europeans and Americans urgently need to learn that their governments and major news outlets are shamelessly lying to them on matters of war and peace.

    For readers who haven’t seen it, a fairly concise history of this takeover of America is in
    “War Profiteers and the Roots of the War on Terror”
    http://warprofiteerstory.blogspot.com

  31. SteveK9
    September 6, 2017 at 19:33

    (Obviously moderation has been turned off for the moment).

    However, I wanted to comment that if the US withdraws from the agreement or attempts to impose more ‘sanctions’, the other signatories to the treaty are not going to go along … none of them. What this does is point our more and more strongly to people around the World that the US stranglehold on international finance is weapon that must be neutralized. You see more open statements every day (the recent BRICS summit) of the need to bypass the dollar. We’ve overused this weapon so much, that its demise is almost guaranteed at this point.

    • Zachary Smith
      September 6, 2017 at 20:01

      Not on the adjacent thread titled “Growing Fears in Immigrant Communities”

      Still no comments showing there, and despite my current “logged-in” status, the one I made which was put into instant “moderation” doesn’t show.

      I’m beginning to wonder if Consortium News isn’t under an extremely subtle attack by the Powers That Be through some of their agents. Or a certain little cesspool nation employing the likes of “Mick Mickson”.

      I know this sort of thing is possible, for years ago it happened to me when I was still posting on the IndyStar forum. Somebody had arranged that my posts were always invisible to everybody but myself, and even I could see them only when logged in.

      If that could be done 15 years ago, much fancier manipulations can surely be done today. IMO Mr. Parry needs to have some experts examine all aspects of his site. And I do mean all.

  32. September 6, 2017 at 19:31

    Yes, Iran Hawks Want Conflict with Iran
    By DANIEL LARISON • September 1, 2017, 6:32 PM
    http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/yes-iran-hawks-want-conflict-with-iran/

  33. September 6, 2017 at 19:20

    Are the War-mongers “begging for war” with Iran?
    ————————————————————-
    February 4, 2017
    “Will There Be War With Iran?”

    Is it now Iran’s turn to be subjected to the planned and hellish wars that have already engulfed Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan and other countries? Will, the gates of hell be further opened to include an attack on Iran?…
    [read more at link below]
    http://graysinfo.blogspot.ca/2017/02/will-there-be-war-with-iran.html

  34. September 6, 2017 at 18:15

    The swiftly approaching end to the numerous Holocaust Museums.
    https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/israeli-media-begs-us-prepare-war-syria-russia-iran/
    “Israeli media has reached the new moral low of openly begging the United States to prepare for war in Syria even if it means coming into direct confrontation with major Syrian allies like Russia and Iran. In a recent article titled “Why Israel needs to Prepare America for the Upcoming War in Syria,” Jerusalem Post writer Eric R. Mandel (an American Zionist) proposes that the US government and people must be made war-willing partners of Israel in the event of any future attack by the Israeli Defense Forces against Syrian, Russian and/ or Iranian military targets. The article by Mandel is an outstanding example of how Israeli pro-war interest groups – speaking through right-wing Zionists in top American military and foreign policy circles – try to entice the US government and population into participating in a war that only benefits the hegemonic ambitions of Israel’s deep state.”
    Parasitoid. A voracious parasitoid.

  35. September 6, 2017 at 17:54

    The US is being led by ziocons to another slaughterous adventure:
    “September 24, 2001: Neoconservative Columnists Advocate Overthrow of Hussein as Part of a ‘Larger War’ to Reestablish US ‘Dominance’ in the Middle East. Overthrowing the Iraqi government will also cow Iran, Syria, and other regional threats…”
    http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a092401largerwarmideast#a092401largerwarmideast
    The parasitoid midget-state wants more blood and more mounds of flesh in the Middle East to achieve the delusional dream of Eretz Israel – as if the 4 million slaughtered civilians (including hundreds of thousands slaughtered children) are not enough for the Lobby and Israel-firsters.

    • Mick Mickson
      September 6, 2017 at 18:48

      Anti-Semitic comment #3 in this thread. Ray, you guys need to squelch this or shut off comment function entirely. By the way, I also saw Haley’s comment as pandering to the Netanyahu crowd but principled opposition to Israeli policies must never be defaced by this kind of anti-semitism.

      • Zachary Smith
        September 6, 2017 at 19:45

        Our new censor must be complaining about “parasitoid midget-state”

        Hey pal, you’ve gone and hurt my feelings for not noticing “murderous and thieving little shithole of an apartheid nation-state”.

        Get on the ball!

      • Joe Tedesky
        September 6, 2017 at 22:18

        Be careful Mick, your comments may be understood to be anti-American.

      • Jessejean
        September 7, 2017 at 14:51

        Anti-Israel and anti-Semitic are two entirely different things. But the lazy equating of the two by apologists for the fascist policies of Bibi do incredible damage to defenders of Semites around the world. Zionism deserves all the criticism that is leveled against it, and Israel is behaving like a mafia state. Your call for censorship of those exposing Israel is proof of what you deny.

        • Jessejean
          September 7, 2017 at 14:53

          I should gave said my comments were for Mick, not Joe or Zachary. I always like what J and Z say.

          • Paranam Kid
            September 9, 2017 at 03:55

            You are right about ‘Yahu’s fascist policies, but those policies are not just tied to him & will therefore not go away when he is out of politics.The “country”, because of its political ideology, is predicated on racism, with apartheid enshrined in law, as officially established by the UN last March. Furthermore, Israel has widened the scope of the definition of “antisemitism” to snub out any criticism, and the Zionists have, from the beginning, conflated Zionism & Judaism thus cynically manipulating the religion & the ethnic group as a tool for their own racist objectives.

      • Dr. Ibrahim Soudy
        September 8, 2017 at 12:01

        Well,

        I am a SEMITE and say that those comments are NOT antisemitic in any way. It is YOU who are a gatekeeper and using the usual stuff to scare people. Try a different trick because this one has been exposed………..

        • Paranam Kid
          September 9, 2017 at 04:02

          The Jews have keenly & proudly preserved their “own” version of racism, “antisemitism”, in order to make clear that racism against them needs special attention, is more serious than any other form of racism, and needs to be dealt with urgently, whereas all other forms of racism can be dealt with as and when convenient.

          1 of the ways to combat that is to make clear time and again that Arabs are also Semites, and that Israel is, therefore, the biggest antisemitic entity in the world. This, however, is a long shot, but it is also one I use regularly in my forum discussions.

    • Paranam Kid
      September 7, 2017 at 09:44

      Remember: 4 million is still 2 million short to qualify as a competitor for the Holocaust.

      • Dr. Ibrahim Soudy
        September 8, 2017 at 12:05

        Are you a historian?! Where do you get your numbers from?!

        • Paranam Kid
          September 9, 2017 at 04:03

          Tell me what’s wrong with them, and/or how you understand my comment.

    • Mulga Mumblebrain
      September 14, 2017 at 05:55

      Anna, in 2006, as Israel terror-bombed Lebanon in an effort to re-start its Civil War, the Yesha Council of Rabbis and Torah Sages, an influential fundamentalist group associated with the ‘settler’ Judaic Taliban, issued a Talmudic fatwah. They declared that, under Judaic Law, killing civilians was not just acceptable, but was, in fact, a ‘mitzvah’ or good deed. International Humanitarian Law to the contrary was contemptuously dismissed as ‘Christian morality’.
      Other similar groups have declared that killing children or even babies, is also acceptable, if it can be said that they would grow up to ‘oppose the Jews’. And others have declared the sanctity of the collective punishment of destroying a whole city (eg Gaza) for the ‘crímes’ (eg ‘opposing the Jews’)of a few.
      These, of course, are the opinions of the orthodox and ultra-orthodox, and agree closely with utterances of secular Israeli racists and fascists. Despite the opposition of many Jews in Israel and, more markedly, in the Diaspora, this tendency is clearly dominant in Israel. But to even notice this reality invites a fire-storm of vilification, attempted intimidation and lies and abuse. The religious fundamentalist fanatics of Judaism, ‘Christianity’, Islam, the Wahhabist death-cult, Hinduism under Modi, and even Buddhism in Myanmar, are menaces to all humanity, but only one group is succeeding in criminalising any and every criticism of their behaviour.

  36. mark
    September 6, 2017 at 17:45

    I bet this makes Kim Jong Un REALLY eager to give up his nuclear weapons and do a deal with America.
    Previous deals worked out REALLY well for Iraq/ Libya/ Iran.
    Haley is just a 30 shekel whore shilling for Israel. She is a bought and paid for whore in Adelson’s pocket. She will probably go far. Maybe even end up as president herself, though she may have to wait her turn behind Princess Shiksa Ivanka.
    The US will almost certainly renege on this deal regardless of Trump. What the Kosher Nostra wants, the Kosher Nostra gets. All the people who are implacably imposed to Trump want exactly the same.
    And the US always breaks every agreement it enters into. Remember how NATO wasn’t going to expand “one inch” beyond Germany? Remember the ABM Treaty/ Intermediate Missiles Treaty? Remember the 1994 nuclear deal with N. Korea which Dubya tossed into the bin?
    If Trumpenstein and this brain dead bimbo trash the Iran deal, like Dubya trashed the 90s N. Korea deal, Iran should do what N. Korea did – reactivate the weapons programme and go hell for leather for an H bomb.

    • Paranam Kid
      September 7, 2017 at 09:40

      Spot on Mark, keep those comments coming, no matter how much the truth hurts.

      • Abe
        September 7, 2017 at 13:30

        The incendiary “anti-Semitic” comments keep coming from Hasbara troll “mark” precisely because the truth about Haley politically hurts Israel.

        See my explanation of pro-Israel Hasbara troll deception tactics below.

        • Paranam Kid
          September 8, 2017 at 08:17

          Incendiary “anti-Semitic” comments? What is antisemitic about them? Please explain.

        • Abe
          September 8, 2017 at 13:04

          The more vile “anti-Semitic” rants from your pal “mark” have already been removed by the site moderator.

          But you know that.

          The facts are that Trump and Haley are in Sheldon Adelson’s pocket every bit as much as Hillary Clinton is a creature of the Israel Lobby.

          Since the facts of Israel Lobby influence are impossible to deny or conceal, your pal “mark” deliberately employs the Habara smear tactic of seeding the comment above with crude “anti-Semitic” epithets like “30 shekel whore” and “Princess Shiksa”.

          But you know that.

          • Dr. Ibrahim Soudy
            September 8, 2017 at 13:33

            Abe,

            Israel and its supporters are the REAL Antisemitic, in case you did not know that……….I am a Semite and know.

          • Paranam Kid
            September 9, 2017 at 03:35

            FYI, “hasbara” is pro-Israel propaganda, so hasbara antisemitic is an impossibility since it is a contradiction in terms. You have picked up a term somewhere without fully understanding its meaning, but that you love using simply because of your obsession with proving anything critical of your beloved “country” as antisemitic.

            The fact is that the way the term “antisemitic” is abused by Israel & your ilk means the effect is exactly the opposite of what you guys are trying to achieve. So keep going with your nonsense if you are keen to shoot yourself in the foot, if not in the face.

            You do not seem to know that.

          • Paranam Kid
            September 9, 2017 at 03:47

            You took issue with Mark’s term “Kosher Nostra”, as if it was antisemitic, when it is actually a commonly used term, as shown by the Wikipedia article about it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish-American_organized_crime.

          • Abe
            September 10, 2017 at 12:00

            Hasbara pro-Israel propaganda does include fabricated “anti-Semitic” comments and other other racist provocations.

            https://www.commondreams.org/hambaconeggs

            In 2017, a commenter named “Paranam Kid” has been appearing on sites like Mondoweiss, Foreign Policy Journal and +972 making declarations about Hasbara.

            And here we have a commenter named “Paranam Kid” shooting his mouth off and defending the likes of “mark”.

            Perhaps not so surprising.

            By the way, I took no issue with “Kosher Nostra”, a common term Jewish-American organized crime, also referred to variously in media and popular culture as the Jewish Mob, Jewish Mafia, Kosher Mafia, or Undzer Shtik (a direct Yiddish translation of the Italian phrase for “our thing”).

            Not to mention international Jewish organized crime, which is often mistakenly identified as in the media as the “Russian mob” since it largely consists of Russian Jews based in Israel.

      • Abe
        September 7, 2017 at 14:05

        Here’s the truth about Haley, minus the hysterical “anti-Semitic” rant of “marc” the Hasbara troll:

        “Last year [rabid Israel-Firster Sheldon] Adelson gave $250,000 to a political committee in South Carolina that targeted opponents of then-Governor Haley:

        “‘Conservative mega-fundraisers Sheldon Adelson and the Koch brothers gave Gov. Nikki Haley’s political advocacy group a major infusion of cash to help in her bid to remove four Republican state Senate rivals in primaries this spring.

        “‘Adelson, a Las Vegas casino mogul who was the top Republican donor of the 2012 presidential campaign, sent $250,000 to Haley’s A Great Day SC three weeks before the June primaries.

        “‘The Koch brothers gave the group $50,000, according to quarterly Internal Revenue Service filings.’

        “Haley had come through for Adelson in 2015, when she passed the first law against boycotts of Israel— about the same time as Adelson convened an anti-BDS summit in Las Vegas.

        “And Haley was the belle of the ball at the AIPAC conference […] she went on and on about kicking Israel’s enemies with her high heels and stomping on BDS and UN apartheid reports and even moderate Palestinian appointees at the U.N.”

        Tillerson and Haley’s trash-talk on Iran was brought to you by Sheldon Adelson
        By Philip Weiss
        http://mondoweiss.net/2017/04/tillerson-brought-sheldon/

      • Leroy
        September 7, 2017 at 19:41

        I second that remark.

        • Leroy
          September 7, 2017 at 19:42

          Panama Kid, that is.

    • Abe
      September 7, 2017 at 13:19

      Hasbara smear tactics have intensified online due to Israel’s collusion with the United States in “regime change” projects from the Middle East to Eastern Europe, as well as Israeli military aggression and outright racism.

      Hasbara deception tactics include:

      1) accusing anyone who offers legitimate criticism of Israel or Zionism of being “anti-Semitic”

      2) masquerading as an “anti-Semitic” commenter: deliberately posting “anti-Semitic” comments or links to “anti-Semitic” material

      Readers of Consortium News are alert to these deceptive tactics.

      There have been a number of efforts by international and governmental bodies to define “anti-Semitism” formally.

      The U.S. Department of State states that “while there is no universally accepted definition, there is a generally clear understanding of what the term encompasses.” For the purposes of its 2005 Report on Global Anti-Semitism, the term was considered to mean “hatred toward Jews – individually and as a group – that can be attributed to the Jewish religion and/or ethnicity.”

      In 2005, the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (now Fundamental Rights Agency), then an agency of the European Union, developed a more detailed working definition, which states: “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

      The European agency adds that “such manifestations could also target the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity,” but that “criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.”

      Criticism of particular Israeli actions or policies – even harsh and strident criticism or advocacy – in and of itself does not constitute “anti-Semitism”.

      Israel’s propagandist Hasbara narrative directly applies to the US/Israel-backed terrorist war against the people of Syria.

      The basics of Hasbara propaganda are easy to identify: simplistic phrases, repeated over and over, designed to engage emotions rather than produce rational arguments, all shaped to fit into a narrative of good (Western-oriented Israel, the Middle East’s only true democracy) versus evil (Arab/Muslim terrorists who seek not only to destroy the Jewish state but kill all Jews).

      To persuade Americans to accept this impoverished account of the conflict, Hasbara propaganda rewrites history, rejects international law and ignores the struggle over land and resources that is at the heart of the conflict.

      Hasbara Propaganda Manual – “Global Language Dictionary”
      https://www.transcend.org/tms/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/sf-israel-projects-2009-global-language-dictionary.pdf

      Written by Republican pollster and political strategist Frank Luntz, the Hasbara handbook was commissioned by a group called The Israel Project in 2009.

      Labeled “Not for distribution or publication”, the Hasbara manual is a treasure trove of scripted propaganda canards. For example, page 96 of the manual recommends: “‘Defensive’ and ‘preventative’ are the words that best describe Israeli military action.”

      In 2009, Israel’s foreign ministry organized volunteers to add pro-Israeli commentary on news websites. In July 2009, it was announced that the Israeli Foreign Ministry would conduct “internet warfare” to spread a pro-Israel message on various websites.

      The program has expanded to a real Hasbara troll army that promotes pro-Israel policies in the press and online media.

      US/Israel-backed al-Qaeda terrorists in Syria advance the geopolitical goals of Israel, which include permanent annexation of Syria’s resource-rich Golan Heights area that Israel has occupied since 1967.

      The illusion of a “threat” to Israel guarantees an ever greater cascade of military and economic aid supplied by slavishly pro-Israel politicians in the United States.

      Hasbara propaganda additionally aims at promoting fake news and conspiracy theories to divert attention from an actual and very public conspiracy: the efforts of the Israel lobby to manipulate politics in the United States.

  37. Zachary Smith
    September 6, 2017 at 14:31

    The performance should cement the ambitious Haley’s place on Trump’s short list of candidates to become Secretary of State once Rex Tillerson’s unhappy and probably short tenure in the job ends.

    It’s difficult for me to believe even Trump would do that. This bubble-brain ought to be working at a fast food joint somewhere. That’s about the limit of her actual capabilities.

    • LJ
      September 6, 2017 at 15:33

      I read an Op-ed piece in England’s Guardian 2 days ago. , (Guardian is supposedly a Pro Labor and a liberal News source) that intimated that replacing Tillerson with Haley would be a positive,, perhaps even moderate,, action. by the Trump Administration. Brit media is even more F’d up than ours regarding Iran but this is where the Neocons earn their keep. I don’t see it happening but the narrative is that Trump rubs these “men” the wrong way and yells and talks too much shit. I don’t think Iran can expect anything good from Trump with or without Tillerson and/or Haley.

      • John A
        September 6, 2017 at 15:50

        The Guardian in England was historically an independent publication with strong journalistic values. Sadly, it is now no different than the New York Times in echoing whatever the CIA wants.

        • Mick Mickson
          September 6, 2017 at 18:44

          “Kosher Nostra” ? This is the second case of anti-semitism in only ten comments. Consortium News needs to get a grip on this garbage – or else shut down comments entirely.

        • Zachary Smith
          September 6, 2017 at 19:39

          First time I’ve ever heard that term, so I made a search to see if our self-appointed judge, jury, and executioner was on the level. Turns out he/she isn’t.

          From a piece written by a Rabbi:

          A Mafia-like reputation (“Kosher Nostra”) has been attributed to the kosher certification industry. Fishkoff tells stories of strong-arm tactics and extortion when it came to kosher meat. “Corruption and scandal also plagued the processed food industry,” she writes. “Keeping kosher is a mitzvah, but giving kosher certification is a business. And that means money, politics, and all the other unpleasant temptations that can distract a Jew from fulfilling God’s commandments.” There’s a sordid history of lax supervision of kosher-for-Passover food, substitution of cheaper treif meat in butcher shops, and rabbis selling high priced kosher certifications with no oversight in exchange. Rabbi Don Yoel Levy, the head of the OK kosher agency was interviewed by Fishkoff. He told her, “Kashrus today is power and money. And unfortunately, it’s extremely competitive. Instead of people working together to improve kashrus, everybody tries to get business away from the other one.” Levy even blames kosher politics for his father’s death. He attributes the 1986 scandal that included death threats against the state inspectors to be the cause of his father’s demise.

          h**p://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-jason-miller/ending-kosher-nostra-how-_b_794219.html

        • September 7, 2017 at 16:46

          I second your comment. Seems The Guardian went 95% MSM when Assange released his treasures and The Guardian, being a basically cowardly establishment rag, lost its soul and did not support Assange. I barely scan their publication’s headlines now for many years, since they crashed and went right wing during Assange’s entry onto the world stage.

      • September 7, 2017 at 21:12

        Change your news sources. The Guardian is faux liberal, as, in fact, are most “liberals”.

      • Mulga Mumblebrain
        September 14, 2017 at 05:37

        The Guardian is these days hard Right, Blairite ie anti-Labour, grovellingly pro-Israel, pro the takfiri butchers in Syria, fanatically anti-Russian, pro-Ukronazi, viciously anti-Venezuela, increasingly anti-China, etc. A loathsome shit-rag, that was once ‘Left’, but no more.

    • Andrew Nichols
      September 6, 2017 at 21:08

      Haley as UN rep iis the culmination of years of US contempt for the UN and follows several previos incumbents who were barely any better. It’s a reversal of the 960s when it was the Communist bloc that had the ranting oddballs as UN reps. The UN should just sideline the US in such matters.

      • September 7, 2017 at 21:14

        You must be referring to such as Jean Kirkpatrick and John “the Dolt” Bolton.

    • MEexpert
      September 7, 2017 at 08:13

      Agree one hundred percent.

    • MEexpert
      September 7, 2017 at 08:23

      mark said, “Compared to them, Haley is a real intellectual.” How so? What are her qualifications? A bachelor’s degree in accounting from Clemson does not make one an intellectual.

      • Paranam Kid
        September 7, 2017 at 09:37

        You sadly missed the sarcasm.

    • GMC
      September 7, 2017 at 12:37

      Speaking of Obama – he stopped the financing of the agencies that watched how much money goes to that deep state UN! The US was financing those 30,000 + employees and he didn’t want anyone seeing how much money the US taxpayers paid out for that worthless organization.

    • September 8, 2017 at 10:45

      NOT A “BUBBLE BRAIN” AT ALL…

      It possible (probable?) that things are going on twixt Trump
      and Tillerson of which we are unaware.

      I seems unlikely that Rex Tillerson will serve as Secretary
      of State for Trump’s entire term and even less likely
      that—should he still be around—tat he be considered
      by Trump for the term for which he has already announced
      his candidacy.

      —-Peter Loeb, Boston, MA, USA

    • Jenny G
      September 15, 2017 at 00:28

      Haley was hand picked for that job. She did not get there by accident. Despite popular belief, nothing happens in DC by accident. She is accurately carrying out the policies of those who put her in that position.

  38. Sally Snyder
    September 6, 2017 at 13:49

    Here is a look at the real impact of the anti-Iran sanctions that the American mainstream media seems to ignore:

    https://viableopposition.blogspot.ca/2017/08/who-is-being-hurt-by-americas-anti-iran.html

    This is yet another unintended consequence of a poorly executed foreign policy.

    • Mick Mickson
      September 6, 2017 at 18:42

      Anti-Semitic responses like this about “Talmudic Masters” should be removed as unworthy of Consortium News and would be more suited to Breitbart. It would be helpful if there were a means to flag such comments to moderators.

      • mark
        September 6, 2017 at 19:01

        The truth hurts people like you. Your 30 shekel hasbara cheque is in the post.

        • Abe
          September 7, 2017 at 13:43

          Hasbara troll “mark” is masquerading as an “anti-Semitic” commenter.

          The Hasbara troll brigade uses internet alerts to warn them when hot keywords are mentioned. Keywords such as Israel and Haley. When those words are mentioned they are alerted and they go to investigate who is talking about what.

          One way to spot the Hasbara troll is the deliberately inflammatory “anti-Semitic” language.

      • September 6, 2017 at 20:04

        Thank you, Mick.

      • JWalters
        September 6, 2017 at 20:08

        There is plenty of evidence that Israel is guided by ancient beliefs that God intends for Jews to rule the world, as absurd as that would seem to most educated people today. For example, here is documentation on Israeli thinking about acquiring “Greater Israel”.
        http://www.globalresearch.ca/greater-israel-the-zionist-plan-for-the-middle-east/5324815

        There is also plenty of evidence that in pursuit of those goals Israel has repeatedly deceived and manipulated the U.S., including its attack on the USS Liberty, its control of U.S. Congressional elections by huge amounts of money, and its control of U.S. major news outlets to cover up the crimes of Israel. For some of the documentation of the latter see:
        “NYT should stop hiding the truth: settlements are illegal under international law”
        http://mondoweiss.net/2017/02/settlements-illegal-international
        “NYT bias amazes: long article about online incitement in Israel/Palestine only blames Palestinians”
        http://mondoweiss.net/2016/12/incitement-israelpalestine-palestinians
        “Critiques not fit to print: Students and allies respond to ‘NYT’ coverage of Palestine activism on campus”
        http://mondoweiss.net/2016/08/critiques-students-coverage
        “Let’s talk about Russian influence”
        http://mondoweiss.net/2016/08/about-russian-influence/
        “Why Not a Probe of ‘Israel-gate’?”
        https://consortiumnews.com/2017/04/20/why-not-a-probe-of-israel-gate
        “How the NYT Plays with History”
        https://consortiumnews.com/2017/01/19/how-the-nyt-plays-with-history

      • September 6, 2017 at 20:32

        Repost from the comment section of Sic Semper Tyrannis: http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2017/09/httpwwwjpostcomopinionwhy-israel-needs-to-prepare-america-for-the-upcoming-conflict-in-syria-504323.html#comments
        “The ziocon treason has deep roots: http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=neoconinfluence&neoconinfluence_prominent_neoconservatives=neoconinfluence_richard_perle
        “October 1970: FBI Wiretap Records Perle Disclosing Classified Information to Israeli Officials.
        Early 1976: Neoconservative ‘Team B’ of Outside Intelligence Analysts Created.
        March 1978: Congressional Staffer Offers Israeli Classified Material.
        March 1981: Richard Perle Receives Large Sum from Israeli Arms Dealers. –March 23, 1981: Richard Perle Appointed to Position at Defense Department [!!!]
        1982: Likely Israeli Spy Leaves Job in Washington for Position at Israeli Defense Firm after FBI Investigation.
        March 1982: Neoconservative Fired for Giving Classified Information to Israeli Official.
        1983: Neoconservative Arrives at Pentagon, Allegedly Acts as Israeli Agent within Defense Department.
        May 1988 and After: Defense Official Attempts to Provide Israel with Classified Weapons Technology.
        1991-1997: Group of Foreign Policy Analysts Recommends Interventionist Policy.
        Autumn 1992: Influential Neoconservative Academic Advocates Breaking Up Middle Eastern Countries, Including Iraq…”
        The ongoing slaughter in the Middle East (on the US dime & limb) was designed by ziocons in the 90-s, which is a well-documented fact. Let Israel-firsters send their sons and daughters and grandkids to defend their pet project of supremacist Eretz Israel, on Israel-firsters’ dime.”
        http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=neoconinfluence&neoconinfluence_prominent_neoconservatives=neoconinfluence_richard_perle

      • Zachary Smith
        September 6, 2017 at 21:25

        I wonder if Censor Mick realizes that Reform Jews are “Anti-Semitic” too.

        Shlomo Amar, the chief rabbi of Jerusalem and the former Chief Rabbi of Israel had some extremely choice words for Reform Jews, a liberal denomination of the Jewish religion, following the government’s decision. “It’s like Holocaust deniers, it’s the same thing,” he said. “They shout about Holocaust deniers in Iran, but they deny more than Holocaust deniers.”

        What could prompt such a heinous accusation?

        Reform Jews want men and women to pray together at the Western Wall.

        The old boy isn’t shy about sharing his opinions. In another piece he lectured the Roman Pope about his proper role.

        He later told Benedict that it was his duty to spread the message that the Jewish people belong in the Land of Israel.

        So Censor Mick probably ought to spread his wings and smite the other Anti-Semites. But then, his work assignment might be right here at this tiny little nest of vipers.

      • Joe Tedesky
        September 6, 2017 at 22:15

        To what po box may the U.S. send Israel the bill for Nikki’s performance?

      • September 7, 2017 at 13:01

        Is this also anti-Semitism or an expression of a human desire to survive and fend off the bloody predator?
        From comment section, http://theduran.com/syrian-victory-terrorists-deir-al-zour-horrifying-israel-israeli-tv-reported-israeli-concerns-advances-syiran-army-east-syria-deir-al-zour-one/
        “… the only deterrent left for most sovereign nations such as the free Syrian state is to arm itself to the teeth with the aid of nuclear arsenal helped along by the only other Muslim nuclear powerhouse Pakistan.
        North Korea understood this and have shown a relentless steadfast attitude towards any type of aggression towards its borders by the Zionist agenda namely THE uNITES STATES OF ISRAEL.
        The Plan to fragment and destabilize all the Muslim nations surrounding the zionist apartheid state of Israel may have come to fruition if not for the intervention by the might of the Russian military and its air forces; Bashar Al Asad should really count himself very fortunate to have a friend in Putin.
        This idea of a NEW PEARL HARBOR certainly has been working for over a decade and without a doubt taken diverse paths, including the Mythical war on Terror accusing Muslims and Muslim nations of atrocities knowing full well the atrocities committed are predominantly false flags perpetrated by the CIA, MOSSAD AND THEIR proxy army ISIS… ISIS FIGHTERS ARE ALL SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE and have no apparent affiliations or loyalties to any nations but their own selfish wants and needs.”
        Shame on Israel.

    • Kelli
      September 7, 2017 at 11:45

      I read the article and it’s correct. THE US sociopaths have sent jobs overseas, killed unions, leaving us with harsh economic disparities between the wealthy and the 80% of us who struggle to survive.
      One might suggest that since the one percent have parasitically sucked the American taxpayer dry, that they now have nothing left to offer but a bloated military defense budget and threats/sanctions.
      We did this to ourselves. We allowed our racism and bigotry to be exploited to pass policies of hate.
      Our government needs to be over thrown. But Americans are too stupid to do so.

      • September 7, 2017 at 16:43

        I’d say instead that Americans are too spoiled, greedy, self-satisfied, ignorant and uninformed to mount an organized, armed, well-funded massive military attack on the Beltway, which is what is needed to save life on Earth now. That goes for me too. Most of us are intelligent, just not courageous warriors I’m sorry to say. We’re soft cowards mostly, afraid to get hurt and afraid to hurt our enemies.

      • September 7, 2017 at 21:09

        I agree with Kelli completely. And ” But if the Republican-controlled Congress re-imposes nuclear-related sanctions, which non-certification would be an invitation for Congress to do, make no mistake: it would be the United States that will have reneged on its commitments and violated the agreement.” Wow, I am shocked, shocked that the US would violate a treaty. I thought we over that after violating over 400 Indian treaties, two treaties and an armistice agreement with Korea, the G H W Bush/Baker agreement with Gorbachev/Shevardnadze not to expand NATO beyond Germany in exchange for the latters’ agreement on German reunification and…. well, you can understand my shock.

    • Peter Loeb
      September 8, 2017 at 11:05

      NEGOTIATING IN BAD FAITH

      On many occasions during the so-called “negotiations” with Iran
      and the other major internal powers, I strongly suggested that
      the Iran deal would not hold.

      The US on most levels negotiated in bad faith(to put it
      mildly) and never in its wildest dreams considered easing any
      sanctions on Iran whatsoever. Prior to beginning the
      process Iran considered not becoming involved at all.
      It was thought by many that whatever was put on paper
      would be meaningless. Such has turned out to be the case.

      (When the deal was signed—hardly “sealed and delivered”)
      Obama was already aware not only of Israel’s opposition
      but of strong opposition in Congress. The agreement just
      did squeak by. And Obama’s two terms came of its end.)

      One of the reasons North Korea will not negotiate is that
      its leaders are intensely aware of the reality that the US itself
      and its allies will never keep any deal.

      So what gain would there be for North Korea? What would
      the US give up? The essence of negotiation is that both sides
      concede.

      This observer vaguely recalls the refusal by the US to sign
      the Geneva Protocol of 1954 on Vietnam. The US felt that
      they could never “trust the Russian”. So they US did not
      sign. The expectation was that the US would easily win
      any war with North Vietnam and that easily. In fact
      the US lost. the war. Many Americans died, more suffered.
      More Vietnamese died. Admittedly North Vietnam would
      gave won an election but then…they won anyway.

      The major plus for the US was the production of many
      American “heroes” dying in defense of America.(Which
      it had not attacked in 1954).

      So too, North Korea has yet to attack the US. With or
      without new nuclear capabilities, one wonders if
      they would. So far they are testing weapons developed
      by the United States, perhaps assuming that no one
      in the world disliked by the US would ever use them.

      They have not been used. They have been tested.

      —-Peter Loeb, Boston, MA, USA

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