Exclusive: President Trump’s U.N. speech showed that despite his America First rhetoric, his policies are virtually the same as the neocon strategies of George W. Bush and liberal interventionism of Barack Obama, says Robert Parry.
By Robert Parry
In discussing President Trump, there is always the soft prejudice of low expectations – people praise him for reading from a Teleprompter even if his words make little sense – but there is no getting around the reality that his maiden address to the United Nations General Assembly must rank as one of the most embarrassing moments in America’s relations with the global community.
President Trump speaking to the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 19, 2017. (Screenshot from Whitehouse.gov)
Trump offered a crude patchwork of propaganda and bluster, partly delivered as a campaign speech praising his own leadership – boasting about the relatively strong U.S. economy that he mostly inherited from President Obama – and partly reflecting his continued subservience to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
However, perhaps most importantly, Trump’s speech may have extinguished any flickering hope that his presidency might achieve some valuable course corrections in how the United States deals with the world, i.e., shifting away from the disastrous war/interventionist policies of his two predecessors.
Before the speech, there was at least some thinking that his visceral disdain for the neoconservatives, who mostly opposed his nomination and election, might lead him to a realization that their policies toward Iran, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere were at the core of America’s repeated and costly failures in recent decades.
Instead, apparently after a bracing lecture from Netanyahu on Monday, Trump bared himself in a kind of neocon Full Monte:
–He repeated the Israeli/neocon tripe about Iran destabilizing the Middle East when Shiite-ruled Iran actually has helped stabilize Iraq and Syria against Sunni terrorist groups and other militants supported by Saudi Arabia and – to a degree – Israel;
–He again denounced the Iranian nuclear agreement whose main flaw in the eyes of the Israelis and the neocons is that it disrupted their plans to bomb-bomb-bomb Iran, and he called for “regime change” in Iran, a long beloved dream of the Israelis and the neocons;
–He repeated the Israeli/neocon propaganda about Hezbollah as a terrorist organization when Hezbollah’s real crime was driving the Israeli military out of southern Lebanon in 2000, ending an Israeli occupation that began with Israel’s 1982 invasion;
–He praised his rush-to-judgment decision to bomb Syria last April, in line with Israeli/neocon propaganda against President Bashar al-Assad and partly out of a desire to please the same Washington establishment that is still scheming how to impeach him;
–He spoke with the crass hypocrisy that the neocons and many Israeli leaders have perfected, particularly his demand that “all nations … respect … the rights of every other sovereign nation” — when he made clear that he, like his White House predecessors, is ready to violate the sovereignty of other nations that get in Official Washington’s way.
A Litany of Wars
Just this century, the United States has invaded multiple nations without U.N. authorization, based on various “coalitions of the willing” and other subterfuges for wars of aggression, which the Nuremberg Tribunals deemed the “supreme international crime” and which the U.N. was specifically created to prevent.
Barack Obama and George W. Bush at the White House.
Not only did President George W. Bush invade both Afghanistan and Iraq – while also sponsoring “anti-terror” operations in many other countries – but President Barack Obama acknowledged ordering military attacks in seven countries, including against the will of sovereign states, such as Libya and Syria. Obama also supported a violent coup against the elected government of Ukraine.
For his part, Trump already has shown disdain for international law by authorizing military strikes inside Yemen and Syria. In other words, if not for the fear of provoking American anger, many of the world’s diplomats might have responded with a barrage of catcalls toward Trump for his blatant hypocrisy. Without doubt, the United States is the preeminent violator of sovereignty and international law in the world today, yet Trump wagged his finger at others, including Russia (over Ukraine) and China (over the South China Sea).
He declared: “We must reject threats to sovereignty, from the Ukraine to the South China Sea. We must uphold respect for law, respect for borders, and respect for culture, and the peaceful engagement these allow.”
Then, with a seeming blindness to how much of the world sees the United States as a law onto itself, Trump added: “The scourge of our planet today is a small group of rogue regimes that violate every principle on which the United Nations is based.”
Of course, in the U.S. mainstream media’s commentary that followed, Trump’s hypocrisy went undetected. That’s because across the American political/media establishment, the U.S. right to act violently around the world is simply accepted as the way things are supposed to be. International law is for the other guy; not for the “indispensible nation,” not for the “sole remaining superpower.”
On Bibi’s Leash
Despite some of his “America First” rhetoric – tossed in as red meat to his “base” – Trump revealed a global outlook that differed from the Bush-Obama neoconservative/liberal-interventionist approach in words only. In substance, Trump appears to be just the latest American poodle on Bibi Netanyahu’s leash.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu making opening remarks at a joint White House press conference with President Donald Trump on Feb. 15, 2017. (Screenshot from White House video)
For instance, Trump bragged about attacking Syria over a dubious chemical-weapons claim while ignoring the role of the Saudi/Israeli tandem in assisting Al Qaeda and its Syrian affiliate; Trump threatened the international nuclear agreement with Iran while calling for regime change in Tehran, two of Netanyahu’s top priorities; and Trump warned that he would “totally destroy North Korea” over its nuclear and missile programs while making no mention of Israel’s rogue nuclear arsenal and sophisticated delivery capabilities.
Ignoring Saudi Arabia’s ties to terrorism, Trump touted his ludicrous summit in Riyadh in which he danced with swords and let King Salman and other corrupt Persian Gulf monarchs, who have long winked and nodded at ideological and logistical support going to Al Qaeda and other Islamic terror groups, pretend their governments were joining an anti-terror coalition.
Exploding the myth that he is at least a street-smart operator who can’t be easily conned, Trump added, “In Saudi Arabia early last year, I was greatly honored to address the leaders of more than 50 Arab and Muslim nations. We agreed that all responsible nations must work together to confront terrorists and the Islamist extremism that inspires them.”
No wonder Netanyahu seemed so pleased with Trump’s speech. The Israeli prime minister could have written it himself while allowing Trump to add a few crude flourishes, like calling North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “Rocket Man … on a suicide mission”; referring to “the loser terrorists”; and declaring that many parts of the world are “going to hell.”
Trump also tossed in a plug for his “new strategy for victory” in Afghanistan and threw in some interventionist talk regarding the Western Hemisphere with more threats to Cuba and Venezuela about escalating sanctions and other activities to achieve more “regime change” solutions.
So, what Trump made clear in his U.N. address is that his “America First” and “pro-sovereignty” rhetoric is simply cover for a set of policies that are indistinguishable from those pushed by the neocons of the Bush administration or the liberal interventionists of the Obama administration. The rationalizations may change but the endless wars and “regime change” machinations continue.
Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest book, America’s Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com).
Watch as our president stops the Islam invasion. You keep fighting him but will you be able to defend yourself when the shit goes down. You will be over run without his help and insights. Wait and see.
Great analysis as usual Mr Perry
The part about the economy is not a positive point. He inherited a lousy economy. The books are doctored. Real unemployment is at circa 20 percent. The income gap between the rest of us as opposed to the the few of them is the widest since the Gilded age. Industrial real industrial capacity is at 1990 levels. The purchasing power of the US greenback is at 1990 levels. The only sector that has grown is the financial Ponzi sector of the economy. Hence the velocity of money is at historical lows and have only been this low since 1939 . These are stats that can be verified from Richard Wolfe left of centre economist Rikarard extreme republican right economist Rockwell republican economist Nomi Prinz left of centre economist. Since 1989the velocity of money has been decreasing and has gone on steroids in it decline since 2007. Industrial capacity has been declining since the Reagan era when fiinancialisation of all sectors of the economy went on steroids . Simple economics 101. The only growth has been in realestate and asset bubble’s and rigged derivatives and Stockmarket.
Yeah I know what does this speal have to do with the article not much just thought I mention it.
Of course Trump is doing the bidding of Netanyahoo….TRUMP IS A. CRYPTO JEW AS ARE ALL THE REST OF HIS FAMILY AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATES.
The media reported that his daughter converted to Judaism to marry Kushner.A blatant lie since she was already a Jew.Incidently Hillary’s daughter married a Jew as did the offspring of the idiot Bush.
The 15th Century Spanish knew all about CRYPTO Jews which is why they had so many names for them….like Marrano’s,Converso’s and Nueva Christians.
All this anti Trump rhetoric in the media is pure theatre….think of it as American Big Time Wrestling….
Despite this confidence trick,many people have already realised they are being conned and that the two party system is,controlled by the same people…hence Trump receiving over 15,000 “antisemitic” tweets according to the ADL.
Please spare us with stuff about Trump selling out…..THAT WAS THE PLAN RIGHT FROM THE START.
Well, that’s hard to take, but it’s a useful confirmation, nonetheless, Robert Parry, that US President Donald Trump makes no difference whatsoever to the status quo. He’s just as bad as Obama, Bush, Clinton, and so on, from this angle:
“Without doubt, the United States is the preeminent violator of sovereignty and international law in the world today”. Yet “across the American political/media establishment, the U.S. right to act violently around the world is simply accepted as the way things are supposed to be.” And so “the endless wars and ‘regime change’ machinations continue” in the Trump era, in the same way they had gone on and on and on in all the previous administrations, from Obama all the way back to Johnson.
“Falls in line” is almost too tepid a description.
“Grovels” is far closer to the mark.
Trump is a stunning disappointment along virtually every policy line.
Hillary Clinton in drag.
His UN speech was the most inappropriate speech likely in the entire history of the organization.
Bristling with threats and dishonesty and not a word of statesmanship.
I almost could not believe my eyes when I read what he said in an organization whose entire purpose is supposed to be about peace.
Every knowledgeable official from the chief UN expert on nuclear weapons to the President of France has said, in effect, Trump is lying about Iran.
Why would he do that?
Because he is completely under the influence of Washington’s Neocons and the war criminal, Netanyahu, something I doubt any Trump voter would have expected.
Instead of courageous new initiatives in the world from a maverick Washington-outsider, we have just one more typical Washington coward shouting threats at less powerful states who have done nothing.
And at a time of economic peril, we have a man who has done nothing worth doing to improve things. Instead, almost his every measure limits economic policies and threatens economic catastrophe, from imposing sanctions on Russian-European trade to threatening major steps against China.
If the man had any pride, he’d resign with an apology to the American people, but he doesn’t have any genuine pride, no one who grovels as he does has any pride.
He has only boastful bellowing, unwarranted arrogance, and no sense of shame in having proved such an utter failure.
Excellent comment!
The quote below is from a post on the following web site with respect to the devastation from natural disasters-the thrust of the post was where in the hell is the leadership in recovery efforts-instead we have bombast and threats of nuclear war:
http://wallstreetonparade.com/2017/09/the-u-s-presidents-role-in-a-time-of-devastating-disasters/
The character and stamina and resilience and optimism of the average American is being tested as never before by the daily onslaught of tragic news. What we need from the Oval Office is to put a muzzle on the arrogance, boasts and bravado and find the mature voice of calm reason and reassurance that has been so sadly lacking throughout this interminably tortuous presidency.
No surprise from this President criticising the U.N.!
Just because the U.N. is only 99% in the pocket of U.S. hegemony, instead of the required 100%!
This speech reminds us of the previous hope and promise expounded by President Obama in his Cairo speech in 2009-that was never followed up!
Instead the World saw US aided Regime Change in Libya, and witnessed a bellicose Mrs Clinton seemingly continuing with previous Bush US policies in the Middle East.
And-The same old bias on Israel/Palestine!
And-The continuation of anti-Iran/anti Hezbollah policy!
Then adding to the potential Death boiling pot-the Neocon inspired U.S. Regime Change policy in Syria!
Short term potential, prompted the U.S. into action in the Middle East to take advantage of the Arab Spring!-The Obama Cairo dream was quickly forgotten!
The US was so single minded in their Regime Change policy against
Assad-using disparate forces regardless of their motivation- that they ‘took their eye’ off the extremist Islamist ISIS!
After all this U.S. inspired death and destruction in the Middle East, how on earth can the new U.S. president criticise
other nations?
When will the US return to diplomacy! To long term Good Faith for the peoples of the Middle East- not short-term-ism and ‘knee jerk’ expediency in foreign policy!
Just a brief comment:
I could not watch , listen, or read trump’s un speech-I knew it would be horrendous and judging by the comments on various sites, this one included, horrendous prob does not go far enough.
I believe that we must find a way of turning this around but I’m certainly not full of ideas as how to accomplish this; the zeo cons are loaded with money, power, media control and have never been held accountable for trillions spent, millions killed or wounded by their psychopathic push for chaos and war.
I keep going back and attempting to understand how the hell did we end up in this situation-no firm answer but i believe the nation did lose its collective conscience on the day of the murder of JFK and the subsequent bogus coverup. Since that day, it has been RFK, MLK, etc to the present day when we have the DNC, the nauseating clintons, the putrid political parties which do not even qualify for road kill.
Anyway, here is a speech by JFK in mid 1963 which prob was the main reason for his murder: (just for a moment, imagine trump living up to his campaign blather and making such a speech-yeah, riiigghht).
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2017/09/best-speech-yet-u-s-president.html#more-69517
He did not “fall” in line with anything. Trump is, and has always been, a horrible human being and a political dinosaur. Now he represents a serious menace for mankind as a whole. The broad spectrum of excuses for this maniac and ignoramus that we have been hearing since January 20th has reached its final station with his criminal speech at the UN. At least please recognize the seriousness of the situation.
Absolutely correct. And Clinton and anybody else who replaced him would be exactly the same. Trump is an irrelevance, a distraction. What does it matter which trained monkey reads the autocue?
Being fully aware that a majority of Americans favor our minding our own business, Trump, like Obama, used the peace rhetoric trick to get elected. Of the two, Obama appears to have been far more determined to resist the war monger crowd than Trump. I voted for Trump, but have lost all respect for him.
LJ – “…micromanage Trump”? Oh, I think he’s on a very thick and short chain, otherwise I don’t believe for one second he would have said what he said at the U.N., nor would he be wasting his time with it.
The elite are busy behind the curtain, trying to keep out of sight, trying to maintain the facade of there actually being a democracy, busily pulling everything that’s been exposed back behind the curtain. The lesson: you can pretend you have a democracy so long as you go along.
Meanwhile, the screws are being tightened on you. Freedom of speech is being shredded, and this will continue to get worse and worse. All of the freedoms you thought you had will be torn away in the interest of protecting the people who actually own the country.
No, Trump should be the least of your worries. Trump is not the only person who is being crucified and destroyed, because every time they nail him, they are really nailing you. Every time he twists, you twist. A concentration camp with invisible walls.
No, you are losing something much bigger – your country.
Freedom is just another word for something…, I forgot what it was, I think I have it written down on a piece of paper with my values in a drawer somewhere in my attic where I stored some papers I wrote once back in the last millennia. . As for my country? We don’t have borders and we have open immigration for anyone with a few million cash. I’m stuck in traffic in the SF Bay Area everyday. Word me up. This is not “My country” although I was born here , This is not America- Pat Metheny/Bowie what year was that recorded? 1985, a year before Reagan’s Immigration and Control Act. I’m a 59 year old native Californian , laid back, flannel shirt, need a haircut, how are the waves? …, low man on the hip hop totem pole now. Good thing I don’t care and Marin County is about 20 minutes away. I’m still in the majority there for some reason. I think it was Catholics. American values? Ask the Indians about that, especially a tribe that has landed a Gaming Casino franchise, They can help you with your pronouncements. Obama increased Domestic Spying, what amendment was that? The Originalists say the Constitution does guarantee privacy &; Obama authorized summary execution of American Citizens without due process, &; Obama signed a NDAA that put limits Freedom of Assembly, &; Obama signed another NDAA that created an office of propaganda in the Pentagon without a Declaration of War. Trump isn’t smart enough to do any of that. He’s not dangerous . Now if you think the people around him are you are probably wrong there too but they aren’t really in control either. At this point the Military Industrial intelligence Financial Cyber Complex seems to have achieved Artificial Intelligence. Who can stop it? I’m busy , out of beer. I suggest an Underdog for President ,Super Chicken for Vice President ticket . Duck and Cover . Peace in our times.
Sorry, Originalists suggest that the the Big C does not guarantee privacy. Typo on me. Originalists like Thomas,, Gorsuch, Scalia, Alioto who owe their place on the court to partisan politics in a two party system do not believe in the 4th Amendment , Do not believe in privacy. The irony of course is that the Constitution did not enshrine a 2 party system or Judicial Activism into our system. The Originalist Scalia was the author of the worst decision in US History , Gore V. Bush 2000 which deprived the American people of their right to elect a President based on a count of a vote thereby negating the seminal clause ( There Shall Be a Vote) of the US Constitution and since we are the indispensable nation with the self imposed duty to police the World, the entire basis of all International and National Law. This decision undermined the Legal basis for the US when our court anointed an unelected government , our currency, our standing army etc. . all extralegal. This action then allowed a President, imposed by the majority vote of 1 man, Scalia, Bush the Simple, to stack the Supreme Court with Republican Activist Judges Roberts and Alioto which then led to among other things to Citizens United, Hutchinson and Ironically legally recognized Gay Marriage ( This time in combination with Democratic activist judges) as the Law of the Land in every state without a single state at that time having ratified a Gay Marriage Statute through the ballot box. Blah blah blah. This nation is f’d. It is not possible to correct what has happened. Once Again, Our Constitution did not create a 2 party system but the Originalists on the court by way of the two party system say that this system is the intent of the Constitution and they will protect the status quo. Concepts like privacy and protection from illegal search and seizures are anachronisms and could be disregarded. Illogical and disingenuous , Basically crap.
We are once again indebted to Mr. Parry for his coverage and fine analysis of the reckless and increasingly inept American empire. Here is a section of the comment I wrote after reading this January 17th article: https://consortiumnews.com/2017/01/17/a-demand-for-russian-hacking-proof/
——————————————————————————————–
…what possible motive the DNI, et al, would have for delegitimizing the election of Trump? Hmm, let’s see. For starters they might want to knee-cap the man before he even gets into office so as to ensure that detente with Russia is off the table. As the Trumpster himself would say, so sad. Yes Trump is an erratic narcissist who changes positions more often than a sex addict in a bordello but he has been remarkably consistent on wanting to defuse the tense, dangerous situation with Russia. He even stated recently that he would press for a new disarmament treaty between our two nations. Unfortunately that flies in the face of the Empire’s strategy of Full Spectrum Dominance and that will not and cannot stand. Diffusing the new Cold War is clearly bad for business especially when the client list for American arms is growing daily. But the deeper reason for sabotaging Trump is that he is not playing by the Deep State Rules which require a compliant head of state. He’s even dissed the CIA. Just who does he think he is? Now I consider Trump and his whole team unfit to govern – even under the watchful eye of the Corporate/Military/Industrial/Surveillance state. Further, I suspect he will be brought into line or will be forced to quit. Either way, we have much to fear in these ‘interesting times’, most particularly the rush to war.
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Seems I was not too far off the mark.
Sr. Gibbonk – yes, I think you were right on the mark.
The UN speech is always an embarrassing moment for the American People. Trump isn’t too cool is he? And now there is increased military spending and a tax cut for billionaires on the table that will add to the deficit as well . Meanwhile the Republicans fall silent on Fiscal Responsibility and it’s shaping up as a supply side orgy not seen since Reagan. He might as well have announced another $1trillion in quantitative easing too ., Why not?. This is a disaster and somehow Lavrov had something good to say about this speech. Now we will see how the Democrats respond. I see RESIST and a wipe out of the Republicans in the Midterm election if Trump tries to act on anything. I agree with Mr. Parry’s assessment of Trump’s pivot to Neo-conservatism but I do not see Trump as a powerful President.,, Ever. I see him on a very short leash. I have no doubt he would try Regime Change in Iran and we aren’t done in Syria (or Iraq) by any means but I don’t think that Trump can get a single vote from the Democrats for War. Now the Tea Party and Freedom Caucus, who are basically non interventionist, see that Trump is not a fiscal conservative and their dreams are road kill. They must see themselves as totally marginalized and thrown to the wolves by a man who will side with the Democrats to raise debt at a moments notice. Once bitten twice shy. They will resist also although they may try the Obamacare Repeal now but I do see McCain giving Trump anything and Heller is gone in NV if he votes to repeal without a replacement. . Trump’s speech was an insult to the world and to thinking people everywhere but in actuality he is scapegoating the usual suspects and this has been US Policy since Reagan . This guy in North Korea isn’t doing anybody any favors by emboldening a reactionary bully like Trump , he shouldn’t expect logic but the Generals will micromanage Trump but accidents can occur. Mad Dog James Mattis is probably not the guy we want right now in the position that he is in .This is not good but once again I have to think that things would not be much different under Clinton, if at all. She might have talked about all the good that the USA does for woman all over the world, particularly the Democratic Party but Iran, Hezbollah, Syria, Russia, China and Iran would all still be in the crosshairs. And Diane Feinstein and Nancy Pelosi and even Elizabeth Warren would all be nodding their heads in agreement.
“I don’t think Trump can get a single vote from the Democrats for war…….” ??????!!!!!!
Did they ever see a war they didn’t like???!!!
They all thought he was the world’s greatest statesman as soon as he started bombing Syria.
The politicians always seem to default to “sanctions” and then “more sanctions.” Sanctions are easy to sell to domestic and world audiences as a “humane form of warfare” but it is warfare non the less. No one seems to stop and ask the question of what to do when the sanctions lead to conditions on the ground that squeeze the enemy into a kinetic response. For every plan A there’s a plan B and C, one would hope. When sanctions won’t do, what is plan B?
I liked the movie “The Invention of Lying”. The main character lived in a world where everyone told the truth, and he became the first person to tell a lie. We are fast becoming the opposite, living in a world where everyone is lying, lying to others, but most especially to themselves.
Paul Craig Roberts said:
“This is the problem with being a truthful writer in these times. More people want someone to denounce than want truth. Truth-tellers are persona non grata to the ruling establishment and to proponents of Identity Politics. It is unclear how much longer truth will be permitted to be expressed. Already it is much safer and more remunerative to tell the official lies than to tell the truth.
More people want their inculcated biases and beliefs affirmed by what they read than want to reconsider what they think, especially if changing their view puts them at odds with their peers. Most people believe what is convenient for them and what they want to believe. Facts are not important to them. Indeed, Americans deny the facts before their eyes each and every day. How can America be a superpower when the population for the most part is completely ignorant and brainwashed?
When truth-tellers are no more, it is unlikely they will be missed. No one will even know that they are gone. Already, gobs of people are unable to follow a reasoned argument based on undisputed facts.”
And bipartisan vote up on Monday for the defense budget of 700 BILLION. MORE than Trump asked for, also making the rally cry by Democrats in Medicare for all just more lip service.
And more money for a department of defense that’s missing another 6.5 TRILLION?
WAR is on the horizon as Washington has sucked all they can out if taxpayers while singlehandedly destroying our country and economy while the American people … SIT in complacency. We deserve what’s coming in allowing war criminals to walk free..
The true military budget is $1,200 million. Plus $100 billion for the “Intelligence” empire.
The missing trillions from the military budget have now grown to $9.3 trillion.
As always, Ukraine is in the middle of all this. “Obama also supported a violent coup against the elected government of Ukraine”. Indeed he did, but why didn’t Putin simply march in and restore Yanukovych to power? By not doing so, Putin put himself in the wrong, regardless of anything the US might have done. “Without doubt, the United States is the preeminent violator of sovereignty and international law in the world today”. Without doubt, but I don’t see how that affects the national sovereignty of the Ukrainian people or their right to have a sovereign nation-state of their own. America’s wrongdoing isn’t the fault of the Ukrainians. Indeed, as Mr Parry points out, Ukraine’s problems arise, precisely, from US wrongdoing. Having caused Ukraine’s sovereignty to be violated, the US has a moral obligation to put right the damage it has caused. Mr Parry seems to regard Ukrainians as being, not human beings with human rights, but a herd of cattle to be bargained over by two wealth ranchers. Whether he intends to or not, he is thereby advocating, not just US global hegemony, but an American master race ideology.
The latest “Michael Kenny” delusion is a Pottery Barn rule of “sovereignty” whereby the United States is somehow the moral custodian of any nation-state in which it backs a coup d’etat.
The “You broke it, you bought it, America!” advanced by “Michael Kenny” hardly seems respectful of those precious Ukrainian “European” aspirations that required rooftop snipers.
Of course, “Michael Kenny” is concerned neither with Ukraine’s “sovereignty” nor the absolute mess and violence wrought by the post-coup regime in Kiev at the behest of the US. It’s just his insistence, as always, that dastardly “Putin” is somehow in the middle of all this.
January 5, 2017
When Gangsters Are In Control
When gangsters are in control, endless wars slaughter millions of souls
And countries are destroyed by the hit men of the gangster ghouls
The unethical money changers finance their dirty depredations
And corporate cannibals profit from the bloody confrontations
Government by gangsters is now “the rule of law”
And “justice” is in the hands of criminals and outlaws
The language is twisted and debased
To suit these evil demons of the “human race”
Fancy titles and Houses of ill repute
Is where these villains consort and debut
Making “laws” to screw the masses
Yet, people continue to vote for these asses
If there really was “law and order”
These gangsters would be charged with genocide and murder
Instead these war criminals parade on the world stage
When they should be in a big enormous prison cage
They sell arms and weapons to bloody head choppers
They don’t know the meaning of improper
Grovelling and saluting financiers of terrorism
They are in bed with the dictators of barbarism
Such is the sick state of the world today
And much, more could be said, of the gangsters’ way
Evidence abounds of these criminals roles
That’s why we know gangsters are in control…
[much more info at link below]
http://graysinfo.blogspot.ca/2017/01/when-gangsters-are-in-control.html
Sages of ages knew that conning and cunning is often more effective than being truthful to the masses.
So, we did not need conning and cunning Trump to prove it.
The only flaw is “falls in line”. Intervening in everything under the Sun is a Trump normal.
Hopefully not to stray too far from the comment boards conversation, but here is Netanyahu’s UN speech.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/full-text-of-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahus-un-speech/
Look for my next comment block for a rebuttal.
Here’s the rebuttal to Netanyahu’s speech.
http://theduran.com/fact-checking-benjamin-netanyahus-general-assembly-speech/
What I find most interesting with Trump’s UN speech, is his promotion of sovereign nations. While Trump struck a theme for nationalism, and sovereignty, is there no questioning of America’s continued ignorance of any countries sovereignty when it comes time for the U.S. to invade another ‘sovereign’ nation’s assets and treasures? Does President Trump have any idea of what business the U.S. is in? Someone please tell our sitting President what his nation has been up to for over the last 70 years. Why, if the U.S. sees a smaller nation inhaling too much nationalism, well then the U.S. will send in the financial hitmen and woman, and never look back for their selfishness for installing their Zio-brand of globalism. Hypocritical is a word that by its own definition doesn’t begin to describe the arrogant lying hubris which goes behind crafting such a speech, as what President Donald Trump delivered in front of the UN this September 26th 2017. Which leaves me to wonder, do these leaders of ours even listen to themselves?
This wins my vote for the most diabolical campaign so far to be launched from these shores of the USA, and with that here is the website so honored with my award for ‘the Most Diabolical Schemers of the U.S.’.
https://investigaterussia.org
Seriously of all that was in the news this Tuesday 9/26/17, hurricanes, Trump UN speech, this ‘Committee to Investigate Russia’ thing blew me away the most. Is there no end to the Shadow Governments chicanery, and evilness? Does Morgan Freeman, or Rob Reiner, even have a clue of who, and what they are promoting? What world do these Hollywood celebrities even live in, certainly not the world you and I live in, as we citizens watch the environment of humanity turn to ashes, only so the monied powered interest conquer new territory.
Joe: The committee to investigate Russia formed by Rob Reiner and others, and Morgan Freeman on the TV with these ads, surpasses all what the people in U.S. have been subjected to during the last year.
These are the people in Media who are supposed to be enlightening the public with some truth. The book by Victor Navasky “Naming Names” which came out during 1970’s, is all about the McCarthy Era witch-hunt. The victims were people in the Hollywood Industry and other Media. Now the very people in Hollywood and Media have become inquisitors. The country is fast becoming a bizarre place.
Agreed Joe. To have Rob Reiner, who should know better, be a part of this scam propaganda piece is a crime. Morgan has just invalidated all of his life’s work as an artist beloved by millions.
I’m sure Rob is technologically savvy enough to know there is no proof against Russia, and to be in bed with an ex-intelligence official who lied and perjured himself before congress shows a great level of instability and a misplaced agenda on his part.
One can only think of the feeling of ‘dry heaves’ as an appropriate equivalent feeling to this garbage.
Dave P, and Curious, allow me to combine my reply, since both of you are fairly close to being on the same page. But yes, it’s like the whole upper half of America has gone mad. Listening to Hillary cry a river on every American talk show there is, is proof that the woman suffers from a severe case of paranoia. Hillary thinks that Putin thinks that Hillary interfered in his Russian elections, and that unwarranted payback is taking place against her under his supervision. Guilty conscience is a bothersome burden to carry around with you, and even worst when you are as guilty as sin. Well, at least that’s what my mother tried to instill in me. My mom always said that one lie would lead to another lie until the truth would bite you in the ass (my Mother was a Southside girl) when it surfaces. If we all follow Hillary’s lead, by this time next month we will be doing public hangings off the lamp posts along our country’s many Main Streets, much to the disgust of the Spartacus Fan Club who hates that sort of thing. As a society America is now heading off the proverbial ‘cliff’.
What a year for celebrities. First we get a reality tv show host to become our 45th President, and now we have ‘Meathead’ and ‘God’ warning us good liberals to run for the hills, because the KGB Homophobic Russians are coming to make us be men of grit. (I threw in the grit part for drama) Take that nonsense, and throw in Trump’s UN speech, and I do certainly believe we have enough of clinical evidence to claim our nation ‘certifiable’ and to get this country of ours committed, before more people get hurt from this out of control self described exceptional empire.
If people such as us are having a hard time accepting this looney stuff, then what does the rest of the world’s population think of us in the U.S.? If the UN is the salvation for the democratic processes, well then there should have been made an arrest or retainment of a certain few distinguished individuals who made such contradictory worded violently hate filled speeches there that other day at the UN, and/or men in white coats should have grabbed what was left of these dirty scoundrels that the law had to let go due to it had little chance for indictment. Other than that, I think I will hide out in the backyard until the ‘Red Scare’ is over, and watch old Silent Movies for entertainment.
The morning after the great speeches were made that Tuesday at the UN, Trump’s and Bibi’s of course, the world mourned the loss of an ideal that the UN could through arbitration broker a better world, but instead all humanity must wait for the next ‘God is on Our Side’ American invasion.
Wow, I didn’t even talk about Mnuchin’s Trade War with China. Or did I mention to how in the hell we are going to bomb Kim Jung un off the face of the earth without killing off a 3rd of S Korea along with a quarter of the Japanese population, just because we can…well there again maybe another day perhaps. Joe
Here’s something to read. I’m not advocating for it, because I’m still processing it myself, but it is interesting regarding America’s trade war with China. This may be the real thing to watch, maybe?
https://mises.org/blog/trumps-china-sanctions-madness-imperils-dollar
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/where-are-the-brave-military-voices-against-forever-war/
By now the streets should be full of demonstrators and the jails should be full of those arrested for demonstrating!
Donald Trump is a con man. Take a good look at this You tube video. That should have voters running out the exist doors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBKu9OJ8Ltk
A distinction must be made in the role of Iran. It is an ally of a sovereign state in Syria, and an occupier in a conquered and dismembered Iraq.
Also, the sectarian divides are a creation of the U.S. conquest of Iraq. The different factions would be much better described in political terms – collaborationist, national resistance, recognized government, feudal/ terrorist, etc.
David Hungerford – Most of these sectarian divisions have been created by The West to divide and control. Russia is also on their list. The current Indian Leader Narendra Modi, a kind of a Hindu nationalist, is cozying up to Israel, U.S., and The West. He seems to have forgotten History. After The West is finished with other victims, it will be turn of India next.
“Good, Anakin, good.” Bob is FINALLY waking up to the total disaster that is Trump. Welcome to the club Mr. Parry!
And you wanted the avowed warmonger of course. What club is that?
How many more gods that failed can America — and the world out there — possibly abide?
Seems to me that world ‘leaders’ need to take a lesson from Putin, the only one who’s upright
and has delivered. — Mind, I don’t imagine Dr. Jill Stein would have needed any such tuition
— she was the only POTUS candidate with any real erudition, coherence, lucidity, articulacy,
sentience, and all round intellectual competence. Just too bad that such a de facto prophet
was without honor in her own country.
In a sane and just world, Trump would have been booed off the podium by the diplomats at the U.N., a worldwide organisation dedicated to the eradication of war and the maintenance of peace. Instead, the mainstream media tells us that Trump received applause from the UN general assembly for shamelessly threatening North Korea, Iran and Venezuela. Why such a disconnect between narrative and reality? What can account for an assembly of worldwide diplomats concurring with the absurd notion that the world will be a better place when North Korea and Iran get nuked by the planet’s bully and once the natural resources of Venezuela are again safely in the hands of a small cadre of wealthy capitalists, freeing its government of any responsibility to share the benefits with its people. I call it Trump’s “let them eat my hot air” solution for feeding the hungry. Left to Trump, in one way or another all three countries are fated to share in the liberating democracy of the grave, compliments of that well-known American generosity.
Every fool knows what convinced Trump that the road to “better living through warfare” was basically an act of self-preservation: he was given the “talk” by the real rulers of this country and opted to continue breathing, at least until he becomes a liability on some other count. As to why the U.N. diplomats all seem to salute the tripe that Trump dispensed like loyal employees of AIPAC or the American neocon movement, well, that is basically what they are. As Paul Craig Roberts, former editor of the WSJ and Reagan’s assistant secretary of the treasuy, repeatedly advises us, these people have, in fact, been bought for truckloads of money delivered in cash by the U.S. government. They are made millionaires by toeing the line set by Washington.
As Roberts states in his current response to this latest travesty at the UN: “One question is: why did not the UN audience shout Trump down, a man standing before them telling obvious lies? The answer, of course, is money. The US taxpayers pay roughly one-quarter of the UN’s annual budget, leaving the other 130+ countries a light load. Washington is succeeding in driving the world to Armageddon, because the world’s leaders prefer money to truth, to justice, to survival. The UN diplomats see in their cooperation with Washington the opportunity to make money by sharing in the West’s exploitation of their own countries.” (That last sentence was in italics for emphasis in the original.) These people routinely sell out their own countries in return for taking beaucoup American bucks in bribes. Of course they will look the other way when Washington smokes three more countries one way or the other. This is money we are talking about!
Embarrassing for Americans perhaps, but for the much of rest of the world it will come as a relief to see the planet’s biggest sponsor of terrorism show its true colors. Some of us have known the truth for a long time. Though the news is extremely bad, a lot of people needed to know just how bad.
Trump is prompting the drowsy to wake up and see what has happened during their long sleep. It is not Trump, who is responsible for U.S. imperialism, he is just responsible for revealing the extent of it, and how deeply embedded the promoters of U.S. military expansionism have become.
Now we do know how bad things have got perhaps leaders in Europe and elsewhere will start to distance themselves from this monster. And I don’t mean Donald Trump specifically.
Though completely unwittingly, he has done us all a great favor, citizens of the U.S. included.
Hmm – the Man with a Plan (actually the man behind the curtain) keeps revealing his true self over and over. And Robert – like Capt Renault in Casablanca – is SHOCKED.
It’s impossible to take Robert seriously now after months and months of his pandering, supporting, and excusing the complete ignorance, racism, misogyny, and criminal fraud by T. But let’s just stick with the ignorance. T is and always has been the most unqualified and unknowledgeable candidate & Prez in our modern history. It’s not even a horse race. But not if you have read Robert’s stuff – which pretty much exudes how T has all sorts of “great ideas” to make US ‘great again”. Just give the poor wise man a chance. Personally I actually think Bannon ghost writes most of Robert’s stuff.
So now we get this sophomoric rhetoric, this excrement of nonsense, this business as usual narcissistic egomaniacal rant.
Let me see now – If T tells the world he will break the Nuclear Agreement the US has with Iran, would you as Korea really think it prudent to negotiate an agreement with T to give up your nuclear weapons? Ya that’s going to happen. Just brilliant – I guess this is that ‘art of the deal’ stuff T keeps bragging about.
Would/will any country ever work with the USA as long as this lunatic is in charge? Would you, as a foreign leader? Of course not.
But what is new ? Please I ask anyone with an IQ over 50 to tell me how this is any different than T’s whole life, and most certainly his political life and Prez. This speech is a TEXTBOOK example of who he is and always has been. Nothing new at all.
Any person who is surprised at this speech should be disqualified from ever voting again.
I have – and will keep repeating – because it is absolutely true: this will only get worse and worse and worse and worse.
ADL I don’t know what web site you have been reading, but it certainly isn’t Consortium News! Nothing that Robert Parry has written bears any resemblance to your irrational rant about him. As for “sophomoric rhetoric” – take a good hard look in the mirror, bro.
Hmm, if what you say is right about me then please point out. Show me how and where I am wrong.
Actually Robert is T’s biggest promoter. The man with a plan to make Uncle Putin our best friend and all the world live in peace and harmony. Robert constantly promotes T as some new Prophet who will steer the USA away from our excesses in Foreign Policy. Which is hilarious and also sad, since T never ever once actually presented any plans. Or showed any actual knowledge, or experience. No – Just name calling and spouting the opposite of others in cliched terms. Like the Reality Show host he is. And Robert, you and others somehow think this constitutes thoughtful policy.
T’s speech at the UN is exactly like his campaign speeches. EXACTLY.
Lies, braggadocio, ignorance, constant ignorance, and narcissism of what a great guy he is. Yes completely sophomoric.
Name calling like ‘Rocket Man’ seems to impress you, Robert and T supporters. Like calling a woman ‘a fat pig’, or Hillary ‘crooked Hillary’. When you support that kind of stupidity and childish nonsense then looking in the mirror is not an option.
ADL is a zionist troll. Sure, if only everyone had voted for the zionist militant Hillary.
Sir, you are clueless. ADL are my initials.
When you write that T promised to end Mideast Wars – you are clueless.
T also promised to find out where that black President was born. I’m sure you believed that also.
I think you’re obsessing about Trumpenstein. Whatever you think of him, hate him as much as you like, nothing much different would have happened had Clinton won. People who obsess about gender and identity politics might have cheered a bit. Otherwise not the slightest difference. Possibly Clinton would have been marginally even worse. If Trumpenstein was shot tomorrow passing some grassy knoll, absolutely nothing would change. Playing the personalities game is just a distraction.
We should ask Trump’s Cabinet Secretaries what they all thought of Trump’s UN speech.
“the US occupation of Afghanistan is really about one thing: spreading chaos and antagonizing the surrounding countries.
“But why would the USA want to keep Afghanistan unstable?
“Look at a map. Afghanistan is located in central Asia. It is an impoverished, underdeveloped country that is landlocked. It borders the three top opponents of US power on the global stage, Russia, China, and Iran. Since 2001, not only has Afghanistan been a mess of terrorism, drug trafficking, and societal chaos, but this chaos has spilled over into the three neighboring countries. […]
“Why does the US continue to target Iran, Russia, and China? Is it because they are unstable? No. It is because they are stable.
“The Islamic Revolution of Iran involved a mass uprisings of the people. The government established in 1979 has nationalized Iran’s oil resources and used the proceeds to develop the country, and build up the domestic economy. While the bordering countries of Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan are quite dangerous, since the end of the war with Iraq, Iran has been one of the safest countries in the region. The life expectancy has increased. The economy is centrally planned.
“Since 1949, China has brought 700 million people out of poverty. It has responded to terrorism and instability in the Autonomous Regions of Xianjing and Tibet by pouring in investment and infrastructure, providing the people with economic opportunity. Before the 1949 revolution, when Republicans said the USA ‘lost China,’ it was a very unstable place. Now it is far more stable than ever before, and the second largest economy in the world.
“Russia recovered from the financial and humanitarian disaster following the collapse of the USSR. Starting in 2000 with the rise of Putin, Gazprom and Rosneft, state controlled natural gas and oil companies, have been used to centralize and plan the economy. […]
“These three Eurasian countries serve as bastions of stability, and more than that, they are competitors with Wall Street. Russia sells oil and natural gas on the international markets. Every barrel of oil sold by Russia, is a barrel of oil that could have been sold by a US or British oil company. Iran is also an oil exporter, and it has recently joined the natural gas trade.
“While China does not have very much domestic oil, it is starting to innovate natural gas extraction, and it produces steel, copper, and aluminum more than any other country on earth. Cell phones produced by Huwai, the state controlled telecommunications manufacturer, are sold across the world. A stable China is also a competitor.”
Why is the USA in Afghanistan? An Answer To The Big Question
By Caleb Maupin
https://journal-neo.org/2017/09/18/why-is-the-usa-in-afghanistan-an-answer-to-the-big-question/
There are any reasons the U.S. is in Afghanistan, not least is to oversee and protect the Caspian Sea Basin pipelines. Please everybody go to History Commons.com and find Pipeline Politics. This should clear a lot of it up.
“One of several treaties singed during the later stages of the Cold War included the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABMT). It limited anti-ballistic missile systems to two per country. The reasoning was to hinder anti-missile technology development and leave nuclear-armed nations open to retaliatory attacks should they initiate a nuclear first strike.
“The treaty helped further enhance the concept of ‘mutually assured destruction’ (MAD). After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, member states upheld the treaty with the United States until 2001 when the United States unilaterally withdrew from it. […]
“However, the United States would spend the next decade and a half, not developing anti-missile systems aimed at stopping non-existent weapons of mass destruction launched from ‘rogue states,’ it instead spent that time encircling Russia with anti-missile systems, including those placed in Eastern Europe.
“In essence, the United States has begun to fulfill the sum of all fears during the Cold War, that a nuclear armed nation would attempt to monopolize missile defense technology and use it as a means to develop a nuclear first strike capability without fear of retaliation. […]
“As predicted by opponents of America’s 2001 decision to withdraw from the Cold War ABMT, America has undermined non-proliferation efforts, not only inviting other nations to discard efforts to rein in nuclear proliferation and the number and variety of nuclear weapons deployed by a nation, but in fact leaving nations with no other choice in the face of America’s own attempts to obtain a nuclear first strike capability.
“NATO’s Expansion is a Lit Fuse
“As NATO expands and as the United States digs in along Russia’s borders, a proverbial fuse lit by America’s withdrawal from the ABMT and its belligerence toward Russia ever since becomes shorter and shorter.
“By provoking Russia into developing and deploying nuclear-capable intermediate-range missiles able to negate the possibility of a US nuclear first strike, the amount of time between launch and all out nuclear war has been significantly shortened.
“Despite the US provoking this chain of events, instead of taking stock and retreating to a more sensible position, it is using Russia’s predictable reaction to rush even further forward. By posing a greater nuclear threat to Russia, the United States through its own irresponsible behavior upon the world stage encourages many other nations to pursue, develop and deploy nuclear armaments as a means of defense and deterrence.
“While the United States poses as international arbiter of nuclear non-proliferation, it appears instead to serve as the premier provocateur of new nuclear weapons gold rush.”
US Missile Machinations Undoes Non-Proliferation Efforts
By Ulson Gunnar
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2017/09/us-missile-machinations-undoes-non.html
“Russian and Chinese state oil companies will cooperate on joint oil development around the world, a major cementing of a bilateral relationship that has emerged as a direct consequence of Washington stupidity in the past years, first with the 2007 ballistic missile defense stations in Poland and across the EU aimed at Russia, then the 2014 Ukraine coup d’etat by the CIA and US State Department, obviously intended to drive a wedge between Russia and the EU, a coup that has cost the EU economies an estimated $100 billion since 2014 according to a new UN report.
“Like most Pentagon and neocon projects, the Ukraine coup boomeranged and turned Russia in a most significant way to an Eastern pivot towards cooperation with China and all Eurasia. Now with Russia’s Rosneft–the world’s largest publicly traded oil company–in a strategic partnership with China’s huge CEFC Energy, a significant new element is added to Russia’s potentials of energy geopolitics, as well those of China. […]
“Russia, China, Turkey, Iran, Qatar. They are weaving deeper peaceful economic ties, walking away in the case of Qatar and Turkey from their ill-conceived US-inspired war against Syria’s Bashar al Assad, developing long-term energy cooperation and defense ties. At the heart is Russia’s emerging new oil geopolitics.
“The response to this all from the sinking Titanic that used to be known as the United States of America, of its military lobby and their Wall Street bankers who actually run Washington policy via their web of think-tanks, is infantile: war, destabilizations, color revolutions, sanctions as a form of economic war, demonization, lies.”
Russia’s Interesting New Oil Geopolitics
By F. William Engdahl
https://journal-neo.org/2017/09/19/russia-s-interesting-new-oil-geopolitics/
Control of middle east is a carrot on a stick because of it’s raw energy/oil and natural gas….Without the further implementation of Kissinger’s US dollar exchange plan the mighty USA will sink sooner than later. This is why the CIA does covert deals with the likes of Israel / Al Qaeda / ISIL or any other that prolongs the dollar game……..The spoiler of the mid east dollar game is Iran….that is why the American MSM portrays them as evil and the parasitic Israel needs protection to continue purging the Palestinians ……Without a major war the continued monopoly of the USA is over…..and don’t forget western Europe ……Lol
As time goes on and as Trump and his entourage slowly begin to realize the POTUS is and most always has been a symbolic position, he will also begin to understand his only real power is granted by the international banksters. As Mr. Parry has eloquently explained above, Trump is already bowing to the parasite lords of gross materialism.
An on-the-money analysis as usual,tho i expect the rhetoric to change against Saudi Arabia , whilst the real question remains,how can the American people in all its current difficulties not least the media where Robert is but one voice in the desert ,the uselessness/cowardice of the Judges,,election fraud , deliberately-manipulated divisions ever find serious political representation ? The US economy is not in fact at all strong and Trumps administration will continue to wreck the Middle Class on behalf of the 1% …..
Trump is an idiot, but he won because a) outsider candidates had the advantage last year. b) the Democrats insisted on nominating a terrible insider candidate c) Americans aren’t allowed viable third party choices.
These foreign policy setbacks are grim, but America’s stance is essentially now what it would have been with Clinton nine or ten months ago, except her malicious intent to greatly extend intervention in Syria has been blunted now by new facts on the ground established over those months. That’s one positive.
Trump has completely upended the smooth functioning of the US Empire and created not only intense partisan bickering but ended the dozy Obama years when many progressives went to sleep. Politics are back and much is possible, particularly for the left if they can clearly see who and what the corporate Democrats are and stand for.
The TPP would have nearly ended any influence of we the people in favor of a polity solely governed by corporate interests and investor rights. In the wake of a Clinton victory, it was scheduled to be ratified during the lame duck Congress last winter. No debate, no questions asked. Whether he knew what he was doing or not, Trump’s decision to kill it did us all a huge favor.
Good comment. Trump is a buffoon, but we have at least gotten a couple small positives compared to a reign by the Queen of Chaos.
All the Left are interested in is bathrooms for transvestites, pulling down statues, and inventing fairy stories about Russia stealing the election. They couldn’t care less about the needs and aspirations of ordinary working people. That’s why Trumpenstein won, though it doesn’t make the slightest difference who gets to read the autocue.
Mr. Trump’s speech at the 72nd Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly was both disappointing and highly disturbing for a number of reasons. Reasonably well-informed men and women might have sensed Mr.Trump’s insincerity when lining up the false assertions of his speechwriter(s) to his “performance”, in reality delivering his lines as would an actor. Insincerity is not the human quality Americans desire their president to possess.
People might become more disturbed when America’s president, while attempting to convince the entire world of fantastic, almost new-age political rhetoric using his best theatrical talents, mentions spiritual aspects of life during his presentation. One could go so far as to describe inclusion of references to human spirituality by Mr. Trump as a form of blasphemy, evidenced by the absence of reference to, or crediting, people living in Iran, Syria, Venezuela, North Korea, etc. as equally sacred in the eyes of God. People hold all positions possible in this world when it comes to spirituality, but despite their minor differences most would likely agree that it is a sin to speak of sacred matters from a standpoint or disposition measuring anything less than total sincerity and seriousness.
What stands out as most saddening about Mr. Trump’s U.N. address is the focus placed on what theologians, students of comparative religion and seekers of spiritual truth about ultimate reality call “duality-consciousness”, a worldview which holds on to the negative, unevolved idea that humanity consists of “us and them”. Mr. Trump referenced God during his address, while at the same time drawing separation between people sharing the Earth during this period of eternity.
We always knew that Trump was a loose canon.
But we also knew, even though you hide your head in the sand, that Hillary Rodham Clinton was not a loose canon, but a loaded one that was primed and ready to fire at the Kremlin which she’d do immediately on being elected.
Trump has caved, yes. But he is still not as bad as what Clinton would be if she was in power. She wouldn’t be caving, she’d be screaming at the generals that they’re not fighting her wars fast enough. We’d already be in a shooting war with Russia.
Anyone who thinks Hillary Rodham Clinton would be a better president than the idiot we have is either a liar who also wants her wars or is a selfish creep who doesn’t give a fig about what that woman would have done to the world as long as they get their first female president and a judge on the supreme court who protects abortion. Everything else can go to hell, right? Or worse yet, a person who doesn’t really know what the hell Clinton was about.
Right now Bernie Sanders is touring the country trying to build momentum to move the Democrats to the left and get support for single payer medicare for all.
At the same time Hillary Clinton is touring the country smearing Bernie Sanders.
How could anyone defend that criminal, liar, war monger, Wall Street lackey, two faced, hypocrite, narcissistic, Goldwater Girl is beyond me.
Yes, I’m angry.
Attack Trump all you want. But stop with the disgusting defense of the Beast, please.
It is an unfortunate disappointment but the absolute truth which is carried in this article. I don’t see how things can significantly improve. Trump has been neutered by the power structure.
He was always in line. Statements to the contrary during the campaign were just noise to appeal to anti-war Democrats.
When the South African deputy President, F. W. de Klerk, on behalf of his government and military, (discretely) acquired a few nukes, with help from Israeli scientists, it hardly ruffled a feather among the Western Occident Intel communities. Why? because Mandela and de Klerk had “stature”, education, well heeled, mental stability, and responsibility. Un on the other hand spent a few years abroad cooped up in a Swiss private educational institution, shared nothing of himself with the EU culture around him and in terms of formal education, could hardly be compared with the likes of a man like De Klerk. In shocking contrast, when the South African government decided to SURRENDER those nukes to the UK via the Baroness, Margaret Thatchers “boy”, Dave Cameron, then Sh***it the proverbial fan within Intel circles. At that point, the weapons went unaccounted for, some believe, a few were diverted to Israel and others say one or two were delivered to an “agency” in Chicago, Illinois (USAF base at O’Hare? airport) we’ll never know. So, the more relevant point or story now begins: What happens should the North Korean’s suddenly find themselves with a new king/successor? Un’s child? a fanatical general or generals?. I can assure CONSORTIUMNEWS readership that it won’t be an issue voted on by open referendum!! To point specifically to our British allies wouldn’t be fair. ASIDE: perhaps Putin needs a reminder that after the fall of the USSR, his country’s weapons scientists and their technical expertise went missing, some of whom ended up in North Korea. In summary, both intellectual know-how and nuclear materials, proliferation (s) are, once again, front and center on the world stage. No expert can predict, as to what individual or group will procure weaponized Uranium/plutonium from the North. Perhaps some terrorist state? or group? in particular, should Un suddenly die, become incapacitated or suffer from the phrase LBJ so hated to hear, “there’s been a coup Mr President”. Why delay America? Since 1945, all the United States ever got from the United Nations were unenforced resolutions (we’re all still waiting on 224 and 338 to actually change reality), then the excuses, delays and especially, dithering about with endless meetings. From birth to death, and even with the best intentions; the creation, maintenance and retirement of a sovereign nations possession of commercial or nuclear weapons clearly invites so many unnecessary and unforeseen catastrophes; in particular, during and after the fall of a government (diversion-loss of nuclear material) , Chernobyl like incidences (by mother nature, accident or terror acts), export of such dangerous technologies, substances and or scientific methods to unknown groups and their intentions..May I remind the EU, GCC and the new SCO members that the USA has invested a great deal of blood and treasure in the Korea’s, it tallies to some 33,000 plus soldiers buried at Arlington Cemetery and a half a trillion spent during the Korean War, adding hundreds of billions over the succeeding decades. The U.S. has lot of skin in this particular game but the rest of the world?- just talk…
“All the US ever got from the UN were unenforced resolutions……..”
Including about 66, I think, at last count, against the Zionist Apartheid Regime of Israel.
That doesn’t count all the resolutions against Israel vetoed by the US that were supported by every other nation on earth.
I made a search to see if I could find anybody saying good things about Trump at the UN.
Result: total failure.
What I did find was a story titled “People are really identifying with John Kelly’s distraught facial expressions during Trump’s UN speech”.
h**ps://www.buzzfeed.com/johnhudson/why-trumps-un-speech-is-bad-news-for-human-rights-around?utm_term=.hqGA5N5YM#.rfa13g3MN
The best possible outcome is that Trump was just blowing a lot of hot air and doesn’t plan to do anything rash. More embarrassment for the US would be the worst of that. Kelly’s behavior worries me though….
WAR is a FORCE that Gives Us Meaning!
WAR is how many Americans make their living………………
Militarism is one sure way for many Americans to get very rich…………
See how many Generals and Colonels join Weapons Manufacturers as Vice Presidents or Consultants after they guarantee a hefty “pension” from the Pentagon………………
Stop talking about America’s insatiable appetite for war as if it is not the norm………….
In the 1300s and 1400s, England fought a war against France. It was called the Hundred Years’ War, but it actually went on for about 120 years.
It devastated France, and impoverished England with heavy taxes to pay for it.
This resulted in the Peasants’ Revolt in England in 1381.
But the war went on regardless.
A small number of people did very well out of it.
Mercenary companies and captains (like Blackwater) who made a killing in more ways than one.
Aristocrats/ noblemen who grew fat on all the loot.
Does anything sound familiar?
i believe the American people are being betrayed by their leaders (past and present). Billions of their tax dollars are handed over to a country that appears to make America’s foreign policy. Something is very wrong, and could be called treasonous. Meanwhile, millions of Americans are on food stamps, while bankers on Wall St. were bailed out. Now many Americans have lost their homes in Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Harvey. How much more are the American people going to take, before they say ENOUGH?
The sheeple will just carry on doing as they’re told. 63 million of them actually took Trumpenstein’s promises seriously.
Trump says that the Venezuela people are starving. Really?
This from the President of a country that has some 45 million people living in poverty, People dying in the streets because they do not have medical insurance. Millions who live on the street or in cars because the crooks of Wall Street stole their homes. Millions of kids going to bed at night without sufficient food to eat. Has he taken a good look at Detroit and Cleveland? Most other American major cities look the same. Appallacia , The Rust Belt? Has he taken a good look at the Opiod Epidemic , The 33,000 gun deaths every year? The official torture policy which he thinks is great..
If he would like to do some good in the world, he should start looking after the USA and Americans. He is doing a pretty sh**y job of that. But no he needs to go looking for demons to slay around the world when there are litterally millions right under his nose. North Korea and Venezuela are the least of the world´s worries and will stay that way so lok as that buffoon is in office.
On top of a crumbling empire, some economists believe that we are in the late stages of capitalism. Countries are merely assets for multi national corporations to exploit and people,people who are not them, are expendable if they in any way affect their bottom line.
And when they can no longer make profit selling us their “built-in obsolescent” junk ( happening now), they make profits off our debt!
This is a very depressing reality to accept. But we can’t fight against it if we are constantly being polarized. |”Power concedes nothing without a demand”. We have to find some commonality that would enable us to march in larger numbers – and globally if necessary.
Y – the elite were very clever to split the people by using identity politics. Funnel a ton of money into lefty groups, get them all stirred up and thinking someone actually gives a sh*t about their particular cause, and divide and conquer. Hey, they’ve been doing it all over the world for decades, pitting one country against another, couping, overthrowing. They just used the same playbook on their own citizens.
I know you were hopeful, Mr Parry, that Trump would be a breath of fresh air. But you mistakenly assumed he had a moral compass. Here we are, back to the norm – and as long as Herr Trump gets praise and accolades and adulation, here we go !!! It ain’t pretty.
There was reason to think that Trump would deviate in significant ways from the neo-con Christ-Zionist agenda. Not much, but a little. The question to me is, what are the other nations of the world going to do about the Bully States of America. Not an easy question to answer, and not and easy bully to stand up to. It’s clear that the top leaders have since WWII (and before) been Jonesing after the new American Empire, and the only ones who have opposed it have been those who are destined to be slaves. Even most of them don’t know what is happening. Now there is no reason to think that Trump is not part of the Plan for the New American Century in all its glory. Perhaps he will bake N. Korea in a convection oven and personally sodomize Putin with a Saudi sword. Worse things have happened and worse things can happen again.
Bob Parry writes:”However, perhaps most importantly, Trump’s speech may have extinguished any flickering hope that his presidency might achieve some valuable course corrections in how the United States deals with the world, i.e., shifting away from the disastrous war/interventionist policies of his two predecessors.
“Flickering hope” is one way of putting it. Another is the more accurate depiction of Trump being worn down and transformed. And let there be no doubt about it, if Trump did not make this transition, impeachment, poverty, jail and maybe worse awaited him. Hillary and buddies showed what they do to adversaries who defy them with the way they dealt with Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein.
So those who insult Parry, because they “knew it all along” are silly people. There was a struggle that went on here – although the Hillaryite progressives will never admit it. For them Trump was always a devil and his supporters little more than vulgar, racist deplorables. But the rulers always hold the people in contempt.
There is another fact here. Israel and Iran. Getting along with Russia was Trump’s promise for which he paid dearly and may yet pay with impeachment. But hostility to Iran is contradictory to peace with Russia, a strategic ally of Iran’s. And so Trump had to make a choice. The crucial factor in this choice was Israel and its amen corner in the US. They made it clear that regime change in Iran was their order. And in the end Trump obeyed that order.
No doubt Trump will be widely praised for this speech. Bibi was only the first to cheer.
But one wonders whether the neocons and the Israelicons won the day only because there was no counterbalance? Can the forces of peace who were calling for the impeachment of Trump even as he was trying to forge Detente 2.0 with Russia as he was right up to Hamburg be entirely absolved of responsibility? Were they unable to oppose Trump on some things and yet support him on Detente 2.0 – and did that make the difference in the balance of forces? We shall never know – but it sure did not help.
Great column.
John V. Walsh – Your comments : “And let there be no doubt about it, if Trump did not make this transition, impeachment, poverty, jail and maybe worse awaited him. Hillary and buddies showed what they do to adversaries who defy them with the way they dealt with Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein.”
Yes, this sums it all.
I agree, much more of a struggle than Obama ever gave the deep state. Obama, who had Citigroup pick his cabinet at a time in which politicians actually had some power, rather than the current state of affairs of a military coup d’etat. If Trump weren’t putting up a real fight, do you think there would be any discussion about Russia?
turk151 – ” . . . rather than the current state of affairs of a military coup d’etat. ”
Yes, this is the article from ” Counterpunch” on Sep. 19, which tells some of it – who is in control now. It is getting bizarre.
The link to the article:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/09/19/rohrabacher-vs-the-machine/
Regime change in Iran was always in the U.S plans (read PNAC), watch the video(made in 2007) in which general Wesley Clarke outlines the middle east plan. ‘Made no difference who was sitting in the oval office, as far as the wars being planned, Trump or Hillary.
I don’t insult Robert Parry; he’s one of the very few investigative journalist I trust, Seymour Hersh is another. The information has always been there, now thankfully archived outside of the U.S.
The military/industry/congress surely wanted war monger Hillary for President, but now have successfully trained Trump to do their bidding, just as they did with Obama. Gotta keep the war machine well fed so it can continue to buy politicians who vote for war.
Wrong! Almost all elections each major party takes turns every 8 years like clock work. first term always land slide. Except one term Jimmy Carter who made the mistake of supporting Palestine
You also forgot G.H.W. Bush, Bush the Elder, cast out by Billionaire Ross Perot and 17% in the National Election after just one term. Bush the Elder foolishly made the mistake of not extending guaranteed loans to Israel for construction in the West Bank. A precipitous decline in his favor ability rating soon followed.
“Stiv” is a rightwing troll to be ignored.
In my opinion “Hillary” true believer would describe the fellow better. I’m really surprise he didn’t put a “I told you so” in there somewhere.
I believe Trump has joined the war criminals. He fired 59 missiles into Syria that was an illegal act of war that killed some people.
Therefore I ask:
Has Trump Become a Chump For the War Criminals?
http://graysinfo.blogspot.ca/2017/04/has-trump-become-chump-for-war-criminals.html
I appeal to the American people to do something to help the rest of the world and their country of this murderous cabal that rules them and us. It has to come from within! These plutocrats have to be destroyed.
HEAR! HEAR!
Only Americans can fix this, but not with their guns. The second amendment will not help here … it is going to require a lot of generals following MGen Smedley Butler’s example.
You have mentioned the winning strategy: what will work amounts to a “coup to restore the Republic” led by some dissenting Power Elite insiders, in military, finance, intelligence, MSM, etc… They’ll have an army of citizens willing and ready to rally to their flag. VIPS and the whistle-blowers form the core of the dissenting intelligence community. An army of 2nd amendment deer rifle-toting commoners, without leadership from the Power Elite, will go nowhere but into the grave or prison quickly. The point is to WIN this war, NOT just bravely stand (and quickly get cut down) for what is right.
Insiders are essential but do not act without the armed support of the people who so greatly outnumber them. Historically they have acted mainly by refusing to suppress riots in capital cities. The people of the US have been neutered by the bland urban indoor life, and will not act until their economy is in ruins and they cannot feed, clothe, or house themselves. Its future depends upon its armed lower middle and lower classes. A few of the other classes may lead or cooperate with the restoration of democracy, but most will go along with whatever happens.
A government of insiders may be overthrown by insiders, but does not thereby become democratic.
They will only be stopped by a combination of military failure, economic and financial collapse, and social chaos. All these things are already in place and far advanced. No popular movements will emerge to pre-empt this. After the collapse, they will proliferate.
If there was foreign interference in the election, cui bono? After hearing Trump today any benefit to Russia or Putin seems to be if not illusory, at least pretty vague. Tearing up the Iran agreement, though is the openly stated goals of the Netanyahu government.
I agree with Stiv. Anyone who thought for a second that Trump would be an improvement over Clinton was fooling him or herself.
To see a good example of where the anti Hillary animus really came from, check out Jeffrey St Clair’s piece over on Counterpunch and try to imagine that Jeffrey didn’t have his wife-beater shirt on when he wrote it.
You know and knew that Hillary is an enthusiastic warmonger while Trump promised to end mideast wars.
So you are clearly lying that others “should have known.”
And your characterization of anti-Hillary voters as “wife-beaters” shows that your product is trashy propaganda and nothing more.
Do you sit with “Stiv” in the same room at the Pentagon/NSA, or are you Stiv himself?
“So you are clearly lying that others “should have known.””
I am one of those others and I knew …
Point is that his neocon advisers are absolutely right and that there is no alternative to war. Trump can either tells his people to enlist or to give up their car and start living like the Amish. The latter is the least acceptable to them and he knows it.
Really you knew? You preferred the declared warmonger to the one who vowed to stop the wars? Or you preferred tranny bathrooms at the expense of millions of lives? How prescient.
Your memory is faulty. The clearest difference between Clinton and Trump during the campaign was that Trump promised to break the agreement with Iran and put us on a path to war with that country. Too many on the left pretended not to notice, then. You pretend not to notice now.
Whatever else the neo-cons may have done to Trump, they weren’t necessary for him to start a war with Iran. That’s been his policy all along.
“The clearest difference between Clinton and Trump during the campaign was that Trump promised to break the agreement with Iran and put us on a path to war with that country.”
No, Clinton wanted that war just as much as Trump. As anon described above, there was no difference, although Trump may not want the war with Russia as Clinton does.
But you missed the main point: war is necessary for the USA in order to survive economically in the way it does right now. There is no choice.
Obviously false: ending the mideast wars was the primary common ground of the Trump faction. Look at the reversal of rhetoric on Russia: you can see that, and substitute your propaganda.
You’re wasting your time and energy by focussing on personalities like Trump. Trump or Clinton, it doesn’t make the slightest difference to anyone except those two, who gets to read the autocue. If Trump was assassinated tomorrow, as the Left has been calling for over the past 9 months, do you seriously think anything at all would change?
Trump is a silver spoon billionaire. How could anyone expect that a proven liar with only the interest of himself and his money making adventures in mind, as well as his outrageous narcissism, make him a better option than Clinton? They are FRIENDS and this was well known prior to Trump’s run. He hob knobs with the billionaire wall Street, Goldman Sachs ELITE.
And yet ordinary Americans really believe this man could possibly imagine that he understood their everyday struggles?
The American love for celebrity and addiction to personality over substance is exactly what Trump represents. And the elite knew it.
Trump is THEIR MAN…
We’re getting closer to that “I told you so”.
As always Mr. Parry is right on the mark.
More war is coming, and I believe what we are seeing is:
The Biggest Warmonger on the Planet
The biggest warmonger on the planet is seeking more wars
This warmonger and its helpers are responsible for lots of blood and gore
They have slaughtered millions and destroyed a number of countries
Now they are seeking more targets, is their no end to their effronteries?
Their propaganda pushers are promoting more military confrontations
Could North Korea, China, Iran and Russia be their next target nations?
Will the ‘Great Satan’ and his Nato-rious gang bring about the end game?
Will we all be nuclear incinerated by politicians and generals, who are insane?
The latest “war leader” talks about fighting terrorists along with his war criminal crew
At the same time he is part of a coalition, that arms and trains terrorists too
Hypocrisy is the forte of this evil satanic war mongering dirty coalition
Unfortunately they are in the halls of power and will lead us all to perdition
Has the rule of law become the rule of outlaws and war criminals?
Are we in the hands of depraved and deranged bloody imbeciles?
Has the world stage become a platform for killing and those that plan it?
Are we all prisoners of the biggest warmonger and its helpers on the planet?…
[more info at link below]
http://graysinfo.blogspot.ca/2017/09/the-biggest-warmonger-on-planet.html
China and Russia built a profitable free market railroad to London, Barcelona, Germany, Poland, Afghanistan and Iran while the us pivoted to the Pacific with war ships built on borrowed money.
Venezuela is no longer accepting Petro dollars. Iran, China and Russia have already stopped using it.
No empire lasts forever and I believe this one is in its death throes. Assets or “allies” as they are affectionately referred called, need to be very careful.
Worst, and most vomit-inducing for me personally, is Trump’s complete reversal on challenging neocon/establishment programming. What appeared an impulse toward some honesty in him is scrapped once The Ruler sits on the throne, with his velvet slippers and Kelly guarding the door to make sure (for example) Rohrabacher cannot get in to see him with evidence the Russia story is hoax. Further vomit-inducing, Trump likes his new status, including that in wearing no clothes, and with the globe at large (and even many Americans) seeing right through the falsity and self-righteousness, he’s now comfortable and has resolved his difficulties as a “rebel.” You can run your hand back and for the through his backbone and there’s nothing there. As Shakespeare put it, “The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on . . “
During the campaign, Trump manifested so much effort, passion and dedication to drawing the swamp and restoring power to the people.
How can he look in the mirror after going back on all that so called caring restorative campaign rhetoric? His hypocrisy is off the charts.
If he is truly a narcissist, this doesn’t bother him at all.
How could anyone have believed a silver spoon billionaire HEIR?
This is what’s WRONG with America. We assume that elite sociopaths are looking out for the common man best interest when it’s NOT possible. This lack of discernment by itself is ALARMING..
drawing the swamp -> draining the swamp
Misbegotten, obsolete idea. The very wording is from old times when people were unaware that wetlands are a vital part of our ecosystems and rather than draining, they require protection. For starters, they provide irreplaceable habitat to many species, ranging from fowl, fish, amphibians to lobbyists. They also provide many salutary effects felt in a much wider area, like retention of water in the time of floods and release of moisture during the draught, and providing essential nutrients to many parts of the ecosystem. Of course, there exist difficult choices: is it better to protect more swampy parts of a metropolitan area from development or to protect the swamp in the state capital where real estate lobbyists live (and who form a hard to replace part of the food chain).
This misdirected crap against R Parry is really really tiresome. Give it up, man, for pity’s sakes!
D5-5 – A large portion of the “misdirected crap” is done by the ever-present government trolls I presume, as I simply can’t believe there are that many morons per capita in the U.S. Oh, wait, let me think about that!
Besides Bibi, did Stephen Miller help write his speech? So sad.
He declared: “We must reject threats to sovereignty, from the Ukraine to the South China Sea”; how dare China dispute any part of the South China Sea, or Russia dare to object to our overthrow of the elected government of her neighbor?
The only good thing, I hope, is that the rest of the world will start to withdraw from the submissive following of the USA calamitous judgments on what is needed for our survival.
Thanks to Robert for this expert summary.
EU leaders have already forged new pacts with Russia and other countries after Trump made his USA-1st speech earlier in the year. Trump’s ego has him all over the place because he’s easily manipulated. It’s like having a teenager in the WH with the nuclear codes. His war buddies build up his Ego and then tell him what to do. Our national propaganda press is as worthless. Next to campaign season, war coverage is very profitable. War is a win-win-win for the Washington Establishment.
Rude and unfair. A lot of people listened to Trump’s words, which he certainly seemed to mean (read the Inaugural address). Hope springs eternal, especially when the alternative was the most sinister candidate for President in my lifetime, which includes Richard Nixon.
“Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime. The United States is ready, willing, and able, but hopefully this will not be necessary. That’s what the United Nations in all about. That’s what the United Nations is for. Let’s see how they do.”
There is something very peculiar in this piece of Trump’s speech. Trump, wearing no clothes while wrapped in a saccharine self-hypnosis, is here declaring the United Nations at the will of the United States’ interpretation of the issue with North Korea.
We are reading today how recently the Generals put Trump in a briefing room and dowsed him thoroughly with the globalist-neocon prescription, and that this orientation was made doubly clear as essential to the well-being of Corporate America.
Presumably Trump at this point said, “Ahh! Now I see. Well, I was just an ignorant talking cowboy with money to burn in the election. I didn’t know what I was talking about! Sorry, folks! But now what a beautiful thing it is I woke up!”
Trump may well be giving his Deep State controllers an excuse to attack N.K. and get rid of him at the same time as he is the perfect patsy to take the blame for the consequences. He has been living so close to a mirror that his breath has fogged up any vision of how he has made himself useful to his antagonists.
It took them nine months.
The militarists and Zionists now have total control over Trump. It was refreshing when he swept into office promising a peaceful approach towards the Kremlin, but this rhetoric terrified the Washington militarists and their lapdogs in the establishment mass media. After just 9 months the militarists have succeeded in totally neutering Trump and turning him into a potential violent warmonger for the next 3 (7?) years.
North Korea has been acting very rationally over the last few years, The DPRK fully understands that the only way an independent state can stop Washington from bombing, invading or obliterating its people is to play the madman and never give up its WMD potential. Iraq and Libya gave up their WMD and they were completely destroyed by the Washington-Zio-militarist terror network.
It’s all so tragic but not altogether unexpected.
Meanwhile, much of my brethren in the progressive-left are obsessed over tranny bathrooms, professional women’s promotions, and punching it out with the “alt-right.” The “alt-right” being small potatoes compared to who actually wields genuine power and influence in the United States.
Very true; and the article is a very well written epitaph on the false promise of Trump.
Those who would like to petition the NYT to make Robert Parry their senior editor may do so here:
https://www.change.org/p/new-york-times-bring-a-new-editor-to-the-new-york-times?recruiter=72650402&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink
While Mr. Parry may prefer independence, and we all know the NYT ownership makes it unlikely, and the NYT may try to ignore it, it is instructive to them that intelligent readers know better journalism when they see it. A petition demonstrates the concerns of a far larger number of potential or lost subscribers.
Agreed!!
Amen Drew Hunkins, you could not have said it more accurately.
I fully concur. This is how it seems to me as well.
First few comments were on target, then somehow comments veered away from the main issue of Parry’s piece.
“Tranny” is a derogatory term to the Transgender community. Would you attack people on the left for being concerned about “N-word bathrooms?”
Transgender people have been using the bathrooms of their identified gender for decades and it wasn’t the left that made this an issue- it was the religious right and realize this attack on one of most marginalized and at risk populations was intended as a spearhead to mobilize the right wing cultural wars against all of the left’s agenda in order to win elections, which they did after they lost the battle of equality. Standing up against this is not ‘obsessing’ nor is it a trivial issue.
You see if Transgender people do not have a restroom they can use in public, at work, or at school, if they are forced by law to use the restroom of the gender they are not, they are put in a very dangerous situation. This is already a population that proportionally has the highest rate of hate crimes that lead to murder, especially Transgender Women of Color. On top of this society in general accepts that Transgender people are legitimate targets for jokes, put downs, being arrested simply for being who they are, no job or housing protection, and being mistreated by the police and medical systems.
Standing up against the bigots is not something that means we can’t also stand up against class warfare, the national security state, and Imperialism. But all too often I see leftist act like it must be and the reason why the Center and/or Center-Left is out of power, losing elections. Are you saying the solution is to throw Transgender people off the bus and force Transgender women to use men’s restrooms where they are in danger of assault?
You make Drew’s point with your 4-paragraph response. If the World is reduced to a Martian landscape, via war and environmental catastrophes, and the few remaining survivors are living in veritable concentration camps run by warlords with very harsh enforcement methods, and we’re all taking a dump in a sewage ditch in front of God and everybody, NOBODY is going to give a good goddamn about transgender issues at that point (in fact you’re liable to get a rifle butt in the face, or worse, for broaching the issue). Prioritize. Not EVERY battle is a life-or-death epic one. Some are skirmishes that would be good to win, but not if it results in too few hands onboard for the big epic battle where ALL is LOST if we the people lose it.
I actually agree with Drew except for the usage of “Tranny” and asserting that Leftists are ‘obsessed’ with Transgender bathrooms.
Of course stopping nuclear war is the paramount concern, which if someone is familiar with my posting history here would know that is my thinking too.
But I don’t think that means we can’t at the same time be concerned about ‘lesser’ concerns of social justice nor that we just dismiss the issues of the Transgender as trivial.
Nonsense: I demand your statistics on risk vs. benefit for transgender bathrooms. That is propaganda to force a public advertisement of their ridiculous “cause.” They are at no risk at all compared to a thousand other specific conditions correctable at far less public expense.
I should say that I have no data about the risks of Transgender people using the bathroom of the gender assigned to them at birth. My statement was meant to be that such targeting increases the demonization of that population that is already at risk just in general.
As to the risk of Transgender people using the bathroom of the gender that is their identified gender the statistics are ZERO assaults by Transgender people on others in bathrooms.
Here’s some information on the risks of Transgender people in general.
https://www.glaad.org/publications/tdorkit
Listen dummy— 50 years ago women wanted to act like men because men had power. Today, some men want power trying to become fake females. Trans are mental cases.
Why do people still continue to want to tell others how they should express their sexuality/ Can’t we just mind our own business??
You needn’t worry about that when bombs are dropped inside our borders. I do not mean to invalidate you, but this can be dealt with once a government that works for the people is in place.
If there is absolutely ONE thing we ALL must unite under is that we will not tolerate anymore WARS.
Our foreign policy illustrates how racist and bigoted we are as a country too. I’m certain that there are millions in other countries displaced by our US government elite who don’t have the convenience of a bathroom at all.
Agreed: a Government that works for the people, and no more tolerance for wars, the ultimate “hate crime”, enough of hatred and intolerance. We don’t need to be adding to anyone’s psychological grief due to their own personal circumstances. Redress of grievances is part-and-parcel of a Government that works for the people, and there is a long list of such grievances to be redressed here in America, just as soon as we can eject the imperial gov’t and replace it with one concerned with the General Welfare of, and justice for, the citizens of our Continental Republic.
Yes, you are right.
But we don’t have to stop working for issues of social justice because working for peace is the paramount issue. That’s my concern plus the seeming dismissal of the right’s current attack on Transgender people as really being a leftist obsession.
I was clear in my first post. We can fight against war and imperialism at the same time as we take a stand on respect and dignity for all people.
I agree Miranda. The problem now is that since we all are so finally frustrated to way beyond the breaking point we are still continuing to stay divided, while at the same time we are becoming a circular firing squad unto each other, and we are killing our own out of desperation to find a common consensus to what went wrong with this past 2016 presidential election results.
Transgenders should not suffer due to Hillary never finding her message. Bernie on the other hand, possibly may have pulled it off to stay relevant while supporting important LGBT issues. I think Bernie showed better judgement to how he kept a perspective of importance to certain groups and factions of the Democrates voter base, but I recall Hillary always throwing out the LGBT card every chance she could, when she had nothing better to say. What Hillary did Miranda is called exploitation. Yes exploitation on every level, was fair game for a candidate like Hillary, and right above exploitation was lying and cheating to get the Democratic Party nomination. Now, it’s the Transgenders turn to fend for themselves.
Joe,
Hillary’s playing the LGBT card was always hollow and empty. The Clintons did Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act. Up until it was inevitable that the SCOTUS was going to enact marriage equality, Hillary constantly spoke about how she was for the marriage of one man and one woman.
The right wing chose to attack LGBT people by attacking Transgender folk and trying to force them to use the bathroom of their original assigned gender, even after full and complete medical transition. It was easy after these state bills were passed for liars like Hillary to bemoan them. But the real battle for Transgender folk are the much more serious issues of housing and employment protection and justice when dealing with the police and the medical systems. Where was Hillary on that? No where.
But even if Hillary had been the perfect advocate for LGBT folk, including real social justice for Transgender folk, I still would have opposed her with every fiber of my being precisely because of the concerns Drew posted about. War trumps everything else.
I wouldn’t have had a problem with Drew’s post if it had read:
“Meanwhile, much of my brethren in the progressive-left are ONLY obsessed over TRANSGENDER RIGHTS, professional women’s promotions, and punching it out with the ‘alt-right.’ The ‘alt-right’ being small potatoes compared to who actually wields genuine power and influence in the United States.” (My changes or additions in caps.)
several hundred million americans have no toilet at all..their identity is “the homeless”…maybe after we agree that toilets are – primarily – places to rid the body of waste under sanitary conditions that mean a flush commode and place to wash after its use, and not some social center like a coffee shop or wine bar, it might put things into a healthier perspective..war, peace, housing, food etc are very very important and access to a privy or toilet should be a right of all of us…who we toilet with really should be lower on our list than things which are far more important to our survival as a race, after which we can deal with many other social inequities and make life better for everyone in doing so..
Drew Hunkins, the real issue is and remains, nuclear proliferation- nuclear material diversion-not what you often hear from those general policy pronouncements from Bush, Obama or the Trump administration(s). The original North Korea policy, outlined by Bush Jr. removed the North from the state sponsor terror list (2008) , succeeded by Obama who sternly warned them, not to re-process plutonium for weapons production. What did the Kim’s (Un) do? ignored their political agreement with the west, took down the monitoring camera’s installed to view reactor core and storage area activity and now we cannot account for any materials diversion, plutonium re fabrication for bombs or what will become of various components of the atomic waste stream material should Un suddenly die, suffer at the hands of a coup and or be replaced by fanatical generals.
Consider the possibility that the real issue is this idea of enmity, and the supposed necessity of geopolitics,of “us vs. them” and that , for “us” to “win”, “they” must “lose”. I doubt nukes can be uninvented, but hearts & minds can be changed, and in fact, MUST be.
You might need to review your history regarding who violated the non-nuclear agreement that North Korea abided by faithfully for many years, and even a few years after Bush tore it up, before finally restarting their nuclear program as a last resort, to protect themselves. Trust the US to abide by agreements?? You must be kidding…….
The above comment was to elmerfudzies’s post.
Mike k….I don’t care who’s on first, second or third…when the North dismantled the monitoring cameras ..that was it–expect BIG trouble. China’s CCP, Russia (Duma) and the United Nations better wake- up-and- smell- the- coffee-!! because THEY STILL, DON’T GET IT, the U.S. cannot allow this nuclear proliferation to continue unabated, nor can this festering and still open Korean war come to an official close. Not until our POTUS says so. Good luck Chancellor Merkel ! there’s not much time left….
It was the US, not North Korea, that failed to honour its commitments under the 1994 nuclear agreement.
The US has broken every agreement or treaty it ever made – ask the Red Indians.
Or look at how it is currently tearing up the nuclear agreement with Iran.
N. Korea agreed to dismantle its nuclear programme.
It did so.
The US was committed to supplying NK with fuel oil and supplying it with 2 power stations in return.
Clinton was succeeded by Bush, who came up with all the Axis of Evil garbage.
He just refused to supply either.
So NK reactivated its nuclear programme.
If the US had kept its word, today there would be no NK nuclear weapons.
The US has an unbroken record of bad faith and broken promises.
Any agreement with the US is worthless. It is just so much toilet paper.
Its all about protecting the dollar and transitioning into a world currency government. Gotta get those rebellious easterners to give up sovereignties and heel. If unable, the dollar fails, the US economy along with the west implodes and tyrants dreams of absolute power, controlling from hardened bug out resorts, are shattered.
No certainly not unexpected, quite to form actually. Trump has no real power in foreign affairs, nor does any U.S. president really. Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission and other corporate and elite filled organizations determine U.S. policy. Democracy in an empire is an illusion and a great inconvenience for the powerful.
I just read an article in Variety about the formation of InvestigateRussia.org and saw their recent tv spot featuring Morgan Freeman. I got a real sick feeling in my stomach.
http://variety.com/2017/politics/news/rob-reiner-david-frum-committee-to-investigate-russia-1202563293/
Y – I went to the InvestigateRussia.org site. Look who sits on their Advisory Board:
“Max Boot Military Historian and Foreign Policy Analyst
James Clapper Former Director of National Intelligence
Norman Ornstein American Enterprise Institute Resident Scholar
Rob Reiner Director, Actor, and Activist
Charles Sykes Conservative Commentator”
Here’s what Wiki has to say about the American Enterprise Institute:
“Some AEI staff members are considered to be among the leading architects of the Bush administration’s public and foreign policy. More than twenty staff members served either in a Bush administration policy post or on one of the government’s many panels and commissions. Among the prominent former government officials now affiliated with AEI are: Dick Cheney, vice president of the United States under George W. Bush, is a member of AEI’s Board of Trustees; John R. Bolton, former Ambassador to the United Nations; Lynne Cheney, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities; Paul Wolfowitz, former Deputy Secretary of Defense.”
When AEI resident fellow David Frum was fired in 2010, he said: “AEI represents the best of the conservative world…But the elite isn’t leading anymore…”
Note what he said: the elite are not leading anymore. Then, who is?
Always assumed that because Morgan Freeman sounded intelligent that he must possess intelligence. Fail! They must have paid Freeman a lot of money to do this commercial. Who put up the money? And what a complete fool for doing it. This will not help his career.
Very nice research B.E.!
We’d all better watch out! Bad things happen whenever Morgan Freeman sits behind a desk in the Oval Office.
Freeman made a very deep impact on day 4 of the 2016 Democratic National Convention with his voiceover for the video introduction of Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Freeman’s latest recitation, “Investigate Russia” is the long-awaited sequel to “The Poop that Took a Pee”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8mTwCRZLWA
Morgan “lead me where ever you need me” Freeman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf4QMWg_rho
MAN OF WAR
This writer did not HEAR President Trump’s speech at the UN
9/19/17. I had taken a short rest in a comfortable chair. In
front of me was a TV screen on the wall —just as in doctors’
waiting rooms—and The Presidents hands were waving
furiously. I did not HEAR the speech. The sound was (mercifully)
completely off.
Robert Parry’s report is on target. It neglects that President Trump
was preaching aggression to an organizations whose origins and
purpose were to prohibit aggression. Admittedly (and in large part
due to the power of the US) it has failed in its primary mission
more often than not.
A second major point is that featuring its sense of inherited
superiority, the President made the pretense of unilaterally
speaking for 1. the interests of only one nation alone
(the USA) 2.abrogating to itself alone the right to decide
the course of all of “our allies”.
If the so-called “al;lies” take this lecture lying down, it would
be a surprise to their citizens.
Personally, I would hope that Russia and China and every other
thinking sovereign nation veto/oppose every single draft, suggestion, action
(in the Security Council) by the US which makes not even the
slightest pretense of complicity with the mission of the United Nations
and which has made clear its intention to do what it wishes in
any case. Including the elimination of another country. That is:
AGGRESION. In its “textbook form” as the current saying goes.
As Robert Parry mentions, this may have been a campaign speech
before some organization which had endorsed his candidacy. It was
entirely inappropriate at the UN.
Yes, this time it has been obvious. The Empire has had to show its hand in public. That is the big deal of Trump, with his ham handed stupidity he is ripping the Schwarzenegger skin off the hideous monster beneath for all to see. If you haven’t read “The Brothers” about the Dulles brothers and how they, through the CIA, effectively made and executed a vicious, aggressive imperial foreign policy and manipulated Eisenhower at every turn. Eisenhower! A general who knew how things worked and he still was “guided” into slaughter after coup after slaughter.
The record clearly shows, Stalin himself offered legitimate peace, Ho Che Mien offered to negotiate, Kim Jung Un today is ready to talk and there is a good proposal on the table. No matter what, the Empire, the US Government and the US people choose war. Their idea of negotiations is first you surrender then we talk.
I lived through Vietnam and I learned about the American people then. No matter how many demonstrations, and “teach-ins” were conducted making the case against that and all war, the American people responded by electing Richard Nixon, voting again and again for war and warmongering politicians. And, can I remind everyone that Lyndon Johnson was a Democrat – take a look, the Democrats have been more responsible for US wars than the Republicans they are the political power of the empire.
We see how the power that moves the world is in the institutions, as we saw with Bush/Chaney some administrations can come in and take control of the institutions for their interests but only because – like Clinton – they have deep connections within those institutions and the same goals. It is just so obvious that Obama was, in the end, was just a sycophant to the forces of Imperial aggression to which he surrendered in return for the prestige and hundreds of millions he will now collect.
“Global full spectrum domination.” That has been the imperial goal sense WWII nothing has changed.
By the way, the perpetual war everyone keeps talking about as something new actually started with the atomic bombs – from then until now over 72 years the US has killed people every single day.
Thank you MaDarby. The one thing that has been positive about the Trump presidency is that it has shown most clearly that the president is no longer in charge of foreign policy. It’s been that way since they off’d JFK, nearly my entire life. I was 7 when they killed him. He was the last president to try to stand up to the war machine. We will need a consciousness raising revolution to undo the power they wield. Like Jimmy Hendrix said, “When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.”
Venezuela just dumped the dollar and a United China and Russia, with plans to build and unite with growing economies, want to dump the dollar too. In light of this and because the American elite have no such plans for their people and in fact are stealing their money (looting of the treasury with 6.5 TRILLION missing from defense), and parasitically feeding off of them for years, has resulted in poverty and a vanishing middle class. This means war as a means to more money and regime change so that Russia and China, Iran, Venezuela and N. Korea BEND to the will of Wall Street, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, Genie oil, etc.
Won’t happen.
America is breathing it’s last unless we unite against War and our foreign policy that is bankrupting us. Washington wants world HEGEMONY while Israel wants to be the only country in the middle east with nukes.
We are allowing this to happen and only the American people can stop it
I have been following the progress of possible de-dollarizaton of debt which Russia is definitely doing but other countries are quietly doing. Thirty plus percent of trade now is non-dollar and growing. China has been building global RNB clearing network, legal structures for the 60+ B&R countries as well as multilateral credit ratings agencies all to get out from under the Britten Woods dollar reserve system. The RNB/oil/gold trading platform is complete now but has not opened when it does – no more petrodollar no more global financial hegemony.
I’m a little older than you are, I was drafted at the height of Vietnam but got out had friends who went to prison or Canada. We marched and worked very hard, I was in SDS.
Sadly, I don’t believe we shortened the war by a single day and in election after election the American People voted in warmonger after warmonger, I mean Nixon and Kissinger for Christ’s sake. Tomorrow they will vote for war again.
The problem is that war is necessary to end war. The tyrants will not surrender power until they are in fear for their lives, and cannot command a single division of military/reserves/national guard/police to put down riots invading and ransacking their gated communities.
This is a fact of history, not any wish or careless generalization. Persuasion and demonstrations may help build a movement, but until the people are angry and violent it will have no effect. Those who waste their energy on demonstrations are not speaking the language of the tyrant and are ignored.
The tyrants control all mass media and spy on all private communications now, unlike even the Vietnam years when demonstrations did no good. Totalitarianism is here in force.
Thomas Jefferson (approx): “The tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants.”
While it does seem like the neocons have painted Trump into a corner, I cannot see how a nuclear theocracy can ever be trusted on the world stage. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard does not appear to be under Rouhani’s control and their government seems to be one long balancing act between the Islamic hard liners and the western leaning moderates. When the JCPOA runs out we’re all back where we started from except, by that time Israel may have acted unilaterally, reading the writing on the wall, and thinking they have Trump in their corner. All your points are valid but I see no easy exit here.
The US brought in nuclear weapons and has been tyrannizing the world on false pretenses ever since. The US overthrew the democratic government of Iran in 1953, and has been dumping money and weapons in Israel ever since. So it would be fitting that Iran has its revenge upon Israel if not the US.
It is always US aggression that forces entire peoples to fall back upon religion or nationalism or communism or less open governments or whatever can resist US imperialism.
The course of diplomacy is simple, but both sides must seek a peaceful solution.. The US is controlled completely by zionists who serve only Israel and subvert the interests of the US and the rest of the world. They hate having their greed controlled by socialism, and have been using the US military to attack such governments around the world since WWII, in abject violation of the Constitution. There has been no diplomacy by the US at all; nothing but propaganda. So the problem is caused entirely and very deliberately for generations by the US, which should pay the price.
The US is no more than a theocracy in this context, an enemy of the interests of the world, and its government is an enemy of the interests of We the People. The world will take a great step forward if the US is neutered and recycled as a democracy. We will be lucky if that is done by economic force.
“North Korea has been acting very rationally over the last few years … Meanwhile, much of my brethren in the progressive-left are obsessed over tranny bathrooms”
Judging from the responses, the first statement is not debated because it is so obvious, while the second statement seems much open to debate. Personally, I would agree with those who frown upon the use of “tranny” in what should be serious discussion, and opens a can of worms: is it a good idea to legislate how schools, municipalities and perhaps any business that offers restroom to the public should handle transgender people in respect to restrooms. I would say no, but I also agree that self styled liberals have two characteristic: deep need to show that they are “mainstream”, not “extreme” — and whatever the merit, the position that KPDR can be good or reasonable in ANY respect is totally outside the mainstream (a heavily policed territory where people of note may exchange views with relative politeness, and interlopers are ejected).
Sorry, I got distracted and I did not write about the second feature of liberals. They need causes about which they are passionate, and they select them with care. Putting bathroom access among the unenumerated freedoms (The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people) seems like a no brainer. Extending abhorrence of genocide to the blood bath in Indonesia in 1965 is something that an extremist would do — not a liberal.
Redesign bathroom regulations to build individual, private single units within the rest room (like the unisex “port-a-potty” units but with clean plumbing, not chem toilets), which is no longer designated men or women. After the Fed has been nationalized, it will be made to utter credit that is monetized as greenbacks to fund this project through a WPA-type organization for the nation-wide refit. Problem fixed. Now, can we move on to more pressing, life-and- death matters now?
Did anyone seriously expect anything else? If Trumpenstein dropped dead tomorrow, does anyone seriously believe anything at all would change? How is all this in any way different from Dubya and Obongo? You only have to change a few words and you have Dubya’s Axis of Evil speech.