Exclusive: President Trump boasts about his “zigzag” foreign policy as if inconsistency is an attribute in dealing with a fragile world, but his zigzagging endangers backchannel intermediaries handling outreach to North Korea, reports Robert Parry.
By Robert Parry
President Trump’s bellicose speech to the United Nations General Assembly last month sparked a crisis for the behind-the-scenes diplomacy that was then reaching out to North Korea and Iran, with Trump’s comments jeopardizing not only the talks but the credibility of the intermediaries, according to a source familiar with those efforts.
President Trump speaking to the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 19, 2017. (Screenshot from Whitehouse.gov)
Trump essentially pulled the rug out from under the intermediaries by insulting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as “Rocket Man,” threatening to “totally destroy” Kim’s nation of 25 million people, and calling for regime change in Iran. Trump’s bluster on Sept. 19 also deepened internal tensions with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who was privately supporting the secret diplomacy.
The next day, when one of the intermediaries complained about the harm that Trump’s speech had caused, the President glibly explained that he liked to “zigzag” in charting his foreign policy, the source said.
The immediate consequences of Trump’s U.N. speech included ratcheting up nuclear-war tensions on the Korean peninsula and torpedoing a possible diplomatic breakthrough with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. A proposed meeting between Rouhani and Trump around the Iranian president’s trip to the U.N. sank under Trump’s barrage of insults, the source said.
Trump’s “zigzag” approach to foreign policy has similarities to President Richard Nixon’s infamous “madman theory,” in which Nixon pretended to be crazy enough to launch a nuclear strike against North Vietnam in a ploy to gain concessions from Hanoi and its allies during the Vietnam War.
In Trump’s depiction of his business negotiating style, he has hailed the value of coming on tough to soften up a rival. But one problem of this approach in foreign policy is that Trump’s zigzagging left the U.S. government’s middlemen in the uncomfortable position of appearing to have misled senior North Korean and Iranian officials regarding what U.S. intentions were. The source said no one was in physical danger but apologies had to be made and the credibility of the initiatives suffered a severe blow.
In the case of North Korea, the backchannel goal had been to tamp down the heated rhetoric between Washington and Pyongyang and to persuade the North Koreans to begin talks with South Korea about the possibility of some loosely formed confederation that could then lead to the gradual withdrawal of U.S. military forces and a reduction in overall tensions.
Leaving Intermediaries in the Lurch
However, by using his maiden U.N. speech to personally insult North Korea’s leader and to threaten to annihilate the country, Trump left his intermediaries in the unenviable spot of trying to explain to North Korean officials the chasm between the U.S. administration’s private overtures and the President’s public outburst.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
That was the context behind Secretary of State Tillerson’s public acknowledgement last Saturday that the administration was engaged in direct communications with the North Korean government. In effect, Tillerson was trying to bolster the credibility of the intermediaries by putting the backchannel contacts into the public light.
“We are probing, so stay tuned,” Tillerson said. “We ask, ‘Would you like to talk?’ We have lines of communications to Pyongyang — we’re not in a dark situation, a blackout.”
Tillerson added, “We have a couple, three channels open to Pyongyang.” Tillerson even went out of his way to specify that these were American channels, not indirect contacts through China or some other third-party government.
“We can talk to them,” Tillerson said. “We do talk to them.” The Secretary of State then rebuffed a suggestion that he was referring to Chinese intermediaries. Shaking his head, Tillerson said, “Directly. We have our own channels.”
But Trump was not done with his administration’s zigzagging. On Sunday, he belittled the idea of a dialogue with North Korea by tweeting out that “I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man.”
“Save your energy Rex,” Trump added, before slipping in another thinly veiled threat of a military strike: “we’ll do what has to be done!”
However, despite Trump’s truculence, the source said the behind-the-scenes contacts with North Korea have resumed although they remain fragile amid concerns that Trump may again take to Twitter with more threats and insults – and again put the intermediaries in a no-man’s-land facing angry North Koreans leaders doubting the honesty and integrity of individuals supposedly representing the U.S. government.
The source said Trump has been apprised of this danger and supposedly has agreed not to undercut these intermediaries again.
President Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York on Sept. 18, 2017. (Screenshot from Whitehouse.gov)
But Trump lacks enough sophistication about international relations to understand the complexities of the global chessboard and the risks involved in his erratic behavior. He is also susceptible to having his head turned by the last person who speaks with him, particularly if that person is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Some people around Trump traced the President’s destructive U.N. speech, in part, to Netanyahu’s insistence that Trump get in line behind the Israeli policy of continued hostility toward Iran and Syria.
When Trump was delivering the address to a mostly stone-faced General Assembly – with many delegates clearly distressed listening to crude threats of war at the podium of an institution created to achieve peace – one of the few visibly happy people in the building was Netanyahu as Trump embraced neoconservative war policies, albeit behind “America First” rhetoric.
Trump has continued to toe Netanyahu’s line in the President’s current threats to refuse certification that Iran is abiding by the 2015 nuclear-weapons accord even though senior administration officials and international inspectors have confirmed that Iran is in compliance.
So, the fate of Tillerson’s backchannel diplomacy may ultimately rest on whether the troublemaking Netanyahu pulls Trump’s chain again or whether President Zigzag wakes up at 3 a.m. with an itchy Twitter finger and a desire to look tough.
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).
It’s a great opinion about this situation
My thoughts are that Trump is purposely imitating Ronald Reagan who gained major foreign policy advantages (particularly relating to Libya and Kaddafi at the time) from being unpredictable, a little on the crazy side, and out of touch with reality, which in his case was certainly true. But with Trump, it’s apparently a calculated strategy.
Mr. Parry, leave Nixon out of this. The Deep State ensured that he’d be near Dallas on that fateful day in November. This almost inexplicable appearance at the wrong time and in the wrong place was not a coincidence. It was a reminder, tho very subtle: you!, Richard will go far in this world. You, Richard will have it all, be it legacy of personal disgrace or place of honor. And so it came to pass, that the dishonored Nixon, suffered a rejection by a California Island community, they snubbed-refused his desire to live there. In the end he prevailed and Oh!, what a palatial estate it was, with deep and warm blue waters, all his, all Nixon’s. He, who gave both body and don’t forget America, his very Soul for our country, fighting the Council (CFR), war mongering Democrats who belonged to the murderous ilk of LBJ and his war machinery, now referred to as the Deep State. That Senator from the Pentagon, LBJ that quintessential liar. I won’t forget the memory of Nixon meeting with the hippies outside the WH. The security alarm went out that “searchlight”, Nixon’s code name, (how very apropos) was left unguarded and making a clumsy attempt to embrace their anti-war stance. It was a bizarre gesture but I was never so moved- Such a wide gap that couldn’t hope find a bridge. I lived to see this same, King’s glad hand extended to the proles, conundrum again through a new POTUS who is far less “formally” educated or politically sophisticated-Trump. Trump, who re-wrote the historical pattern of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, by throwing his hat into the ring just at the right time, gumming up the smooth gears of the Deep State. Alas dear citizens of this world, Trumps’ ousting of the Clinton team only meant a delay in feeding the blood thirsty She Wolf. The She Wolf was sated for a time by the fifty million dead of WW II, gorged on their blood but she’s hungry again and the world will never see the prosperity following the last world war until many, many more millions die. This is the cosmic force of evil, it’s rhythms, it’s satanic cycles, be it a Trump in the WH or someone else. On reflection, I now understand the full meaning behind the biblical comment by Jesus when he said ” the poor will always be with us”
Heartily disagree. If President Trump has the facts he never zig zags. IF foreign policy is anything other than a straight line, let me first say, it is the FIRST policy period that dint come from behind. It is also the first policy since Reagan that was proactive and non apologetic.
Secondly, we have DHD/McMasters, John Kelly, & Mattis who all believe themselves to we the president, attempt to bypass him, and who have united to prevent him from receiving info. Hence, you have 3 against one scenario and President Trump has pulled us back from the brink of catastrophes. I site Syria as one example. I mice the American ships as another.
I will take President Trump’s judgement against these three war-mongers any old day.
it’s still nothing more than one big steaming pile of red, white and blue, all-American BS. Because, think of how we started. Think of that. This country was founded by a group of slave-owners who told us all men are created equal. Oh yeah, all men, except for Indians and blacks and women, right This was a small group of unelected, white, male, land-holding, slave-owners who also suggested their class be the only one allowed to vote. Now, that is what’s known as being stunningly and embarrassingly full of shit?…..George Carlin
David, I urge you to study history a lot more before you put yourself out there. Your response is like a poster child version of, “I haven’t read a non-fictional book since High School, guilt ridden white male, who’s bought the cultural lies on slavery on American Slavery and slavery in general; the course of Christianity, and our Founding Fathers.
Trump is a disaster. Period. But we ought to count our blessings that Pence isn’t yet President.
“Mike Pence walks out of NFL game after 49ers take a knee during national anthem”
In my opinion it’ll be goodbye, frying pan; hello, fire if that happens.
This guy will be Hillary on steroids if he takes over in the White House. No zig-zagging for him. It’ll be macho military and bring on the Wars For Israel for Mr. Straight Arrow.
I don’t condone Trumpenstein’s crass vulgarity, but It’s a mistake to focus on his personality or offensive rantings.
This is just a distraction.
In this, he is actually remarkably similar to his predecessors.
American policy has displayed the same gangster like continuity for years.
Clinton (female) threatened to “obliterate” Iran.
She giggled hysterically when Gaddafi was sodomised with a knife.
Obongo routinely and regularly threatened to attack Iran with nuclear weapons, before and after he collected his Nobel Peace Prize.
A very large number of senior US politicians have called for Julian Assange to be “whacked”, talking like cheap mafia hoods.
As they have routinely advocated and celebrated the use of torture.
Like Allbright, who celebrated the death of half a million Iraqi children through sanctions.
Focussing on Trumpenstein is charging up a blind alley.
Does anybody seriously believe anything would change if he was shot tomorrow near some grassy knoll???
Of course a lot of things would change if Trump left office suddenly. To put Trump into the larger context of really awful other agents and longstanding disastrous policies, does not remove the unique problems that Mr. T has brought us. This like saying that Commodus or Nero were nothing new or special in the declining Roman Empire. Yes they were. And they represented a dangerous force rendering any kind of softer landing impossible. I will not belabor the historical analogy, because it is also true that things have changed in some basic ways since those Roman times.
One of the changes is that the President of the United States can press a button and destroy everyone. I fully expect some who read that to begin saying no,no,no in a variety of ways – but the basic truth of this is not deniable, whatever your hopes may dictate.
Having a really unstable crazy guy in the White House is a very dangerous situation. Can you just accept that, without going into some involved analysis which somehow strives to demonstrate that it isn’t as bad as we think? It is AWFUL – if you value the continued existence of this deeply flawed population of human beings on Earth. This reminds me of how so many fluff off the threat of NUCLEAR EXTINCTION with all kinds of nonsense arguments. Wake up and smell the smoke of our House (Earth) on FIRE!!
I just find it difficult to accept Trump is much of a departure from the norm. Without singing his praises, I think Clinton may have been even worse.
Thank you Bob, For your usual well reasoned insight about President Trump’s casual zig-zag approach to foreign affairs which undercuts his diplomatic staff’s efforts to reach alternatives to military annihilation for North Korea and “snap-back” economic sanctions for an Iran that is actually in compliance with its side of the Nuclear Agreement with the US, Russia, China, Germany and other noted world powers.
Would it be too naive to suggest that Trump is at the same time permitting, possibly even encouraging, his diplomats on both Iranian and Korean fronts, he is also being equally ingenuous with his bases of supporter? Even their aims of suppressing any rival to American military and economic preeminence need to be catered to in order to maintain his increasingly tenuous hold on the Presidency. True, his completely insensitive mannerisms makes one wonder where he took his leadership lessons, but maybe he’s just clever enough to bow in both directions and keep everybody guessing his real agenda. On the other hand, its is very difficult to trust a zig-zag strategy in foreign policy.
There is already a big problem in the world! And with the Tillerson statement about Trump being a moron hitting the world stage to insult the grandiose ego of the moron, looks as though we may see the exit of one sane individual from this administration soon, perhaps after Trump’s visit to Asia (i dread it).
Good to read your comments always, Joe. Where is F.G. Sanford? And backwardsevolution, Gregory Herr? Many good comments here as always, despite missing those folks’ good contributions. Glad you weathered the hurricanes, Realist. Hope your damage was not too bad. Looks like Louisiana may get hit again this weekend!
Jessica I’m glad you bring up the missing comment posters. You know since Bill Bodden left us, after his fatal car accident I have become a bit concerned of the absence of such individuals as you have mentioned. My hope, like yours I’m sure, is those missing commentary friends of ours are doing well, and that they are just sitting out of the debates.
About Tillerson, one of the replacements mentioned I read somewhere was John Bolton, and then they talk about Hitler. Yeah, Trump sure may know how to pick them. I have never seen an Administration fall apart so quickly piece by piece at a time, as this Trump collection of deviate hucksters Is now doing that the Donald has amassed.
Hoping all of our friends are safe and sound. Joe
Jessica, I sure hope the rift between Trump and Tillerson does not become too great. Of all Trump’s cabinet picks, Tillerson seems to bring the greatest degree of stability and rationality to his job. The talk is that Nikki Haley would most likely replace Tillerson. Can you imagine how absolutely insane things would become if that happened?
A business man came to a unknown place (white house )without an experience do not know what to do. Do not know what to speak. Do not know how to behave. because of North Korean problem most of the world leaders are not happy with Trump. Even his own party members are not good with him. Some are giving bad advice to him. so it is very difficult to think what will happen next. If Trump continue like this, their will be a big problem in the world.
Dougla Adams, in “The Hichiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” declared that the function of the Presidency is to deflect attention away from the real power centers. By that definition (which I’ve always considered to be ab brill), Donnie ‘s doing a good job.
The Trump effect is already revealing to the world a broken empire that is now run by a tv reality star jackass. Here we go, now that Trump doesn’t seem to mind undermining his Cabinet Secretaries the rest of the world sits in confusion to how to move forward with anything the U.S. presents as a solution. Trump’s apparent idea of foreign policy, is for him to strut around throwing out jingoistic comments as to warn off all evil, while acting like a over eager salesperson trying to sell some a boat load of weapons to his adoring allies. Domestically Trump can be counted on for Disaster Relief only if your territory or state is paid up in full. What a guy. Take a picture now, because what you are seeing is the end of American Empire in all of it’s glory for ever shall wave….plain & simple.
Just joining in on your comment Claude. Joe
All this is true, but so what?
Would Clinton have been any better?
She may have been even worse.
If Hillary had won it is speculative at best to say what she would be up to, but hey for the sake of conversation we could try doing some Hillary speculation.
I could see Hillary wanting to enforce a ‘no fly zone’ over Syria, and any opposition to her may have possibly been met with Hillary crying out the dreaded word ‘misogyny’ to make her point that all the men are ganging up on her, and thusly Hillary would have secured the support of the women to go bomb Russian air fields. Nothing wrong with appealing to women, except on these grave matters of life or death why would we want to use ‘identity politics’ to secure those disastrous warring ambitions?
Hillary like the Donald would only divide the American electorate that much more, because she loves to seek out the most popular clique there is, and then seize upon the niche to gain their support. This game plan would be reused over and over again by Hillary to achieve whatever it were she wished to achieve. So insert issue, and implement plan.
If Hillary were president I would not doubt that by now that the U.S. would be in steadily lockstep with Israel on the subject of Iran. In this case maybe Hillary would be wherever it is Trump is on this Iranian Israeli issue, but I could see her being ten times more rabid in her enforcing it. Hilary would take our relationship with Israel to the ‘next level’ for whatever that were to be interpreted.
Hillary would of course pander to the BLM movement, but I would suspect that it would be wise for minority leaders to keep an eye on her crime bill legislation, because there is where her deception could occur. The Clinton’s specialize in this field where they put their arm around the downtrodden minority while stabbing them in the back legislatively.
Hillary on healthcare is a already done deal, if we recall her efforts at this from back in the nineties, but being Hillary it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if she were to recreate a new way to sell Wall St Health Insurance to the unsuspecting ill American public. Here I will surmise that Hillary’s tax policy would be a makeover of Bill’s NAFTA deception.
In short, Hilary wouldn’t be any less of a threat to our democratic wishes than Trump, but she would be a little less tweet-less, and quite a bit less outrageous on the whole. Hillary would be driving us all nuts, because she has a thin middle personality composition. Hilary either gets highly agitated, or she gets overly exuberant with her success. In other words Hillary is either pissed off, or she is throughly silly, but not so much somewhere in the middle.
I’m still glad Hillary isn’t in the Oval Office, because I do consider her to be overall worst than Trump. (I didn’t vote for Trump, so don’t let my wording give you that impression) All of this conversation over these two political clowns makes me even more disappointed that we Americans are always left with the lessor of the two evils, and with that the whole world suffers.
Hope I covered this Hillary vs Donald thing well enough mark to acknowledge what you wrote. Joe
Joe T
Thanks for that. Shrewd speculation there. I think the only sensible ones were the 120 million who didn’t vote at all. I must admit I was a bit relieved Clinton lost at the time, without having any illusions either way. I have had a lot of dealings with mentally ill people, and there were a number of incidents that left me convinced she actually was demented.
My impression is that Zionism isn’t a religion other than a political one. It’s a political ideology cloaked as Judaism. Mearshimer and Walt’s book “The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy” is the best book to lay out the Israeli government’s outsized influence on US politicians. Now we have Jared Kushner’s influence on Trump as “senior advisor” on foreign policy. What a joke!
I agree with Seer and others who said Trump has laid bare the lies of the USA with his nuttiness (zigzag?). Excess militarism is all that has kept the US as world dominator for decades, and the rest of the world is certainly onto that and doesn’t like it. Nobody likes a bully, and Trump is the bully front for the US bully.
If I were forced to draw a proper caricature of a leader who heads up a very exceptionally arrogant nation my imagination couldn’t out do the resemblance of Trump being any other than that person. That well known poster of Uncle Sam ‘wants you’ should be replaced with a picture of Donald Trump with his long red tie and combed over blond hair pointing at you saying, ‘your fired’. Although there were many before Trump who may not look much better if researched, Trump will forever be the poster boy for all that’s wrong with the U.S.. In the end I feel as bad for the Trump voter, as I do for the Obama voter, because both voters were deceived to believe that something was nothing of what they thought they were voting for.
Always good to hear what you have to say Jessica. Joe
The voters chose him (except in California) because they EXPECTED to get fooled again by Hillary. Reputation matters and hers was one of being a power-hungry conniving liar with little concern for who gets hurt by her policies. Trump was known as a strong personality and successful businessman mostly from his TV shows and profiles in the celebrity news (write-ups in Playboy and the NYT). The public had assumed those traits would transfer to successfully running the country but had yet to discover his deficiencies in both garnering a consensus on domestic policy and tactfully conducting foreign policy, especially when the entire rest of the government, including both the Dems and the GOPers, intended to impede him from day one. Even the suave but slippery Obama was not able to overcome such obstructionism. The Donald is less flexible and more confrontational than any recent president and is therefore trapped deeper in the mud, like a truck just spinning its wheels. He doesn’t see the virtue of backing up a bit to possibly gain some traction.
Ye who lives by the mouth, dies by the mouth.
Ha, ha! I get it. You named the prez after a popular brand of rolling paper because his mind seems to function like he’s high on reefer most of the time. He seems to think that nuking the Norks will be just some dazzling light show followed by lucrative reconstruction projects for Cheney’s Halliburton. Everybody wins, man! He did say we’d do so much winning we’d get tired of it.
Picture for yourself which one you would like to do business with, Trump or Putin? (There’s no right answer, just picture it)
Imagine if you were in need of a used car. Would you buy one from the Donald? I think not. However, after watching Stone’s Putin interviews, and many other interviews and speeches, I think he is an honest broker. He doesn’t come across to me as an obvious sociopath like his Royal Orangeness.
Putin is trustworthy. He scrupulously keeps his word as he realises the value of reputation. Moreover, he is usually fair and rational. He tries to implement policy that’s in the best interests of his people, which is why he gets over 80% approval ratings from them. Sure, the oligarchs, who hold Russia’s economy in their hands, still reap disproportional benefits but so do American oligarchs mainly benefit from American government policies. At least Putin challenged and somewhat diminished the power of the Russian oligarchs. In America, the government and its media mouthpieces do not even admit the existence of our oligarchs.
From what I could discern of Trump’s business practices on his reality television programs like “The Apprentice,” he basically tries to roll his competitors at every turn and ruthlessly drives his employees, so I’d be very wary of dealing with him, though many Americans embrace the cut-throat world of big business, considering its “survival of the fittest” winner-take-all nature to be what god intended. The “invisible hand” sometimes delivers a sound thrashing to the weak and gullible, no lesson or lunch ever being free.
Realist – Excellent post. Very true.
Haven’t replied to one of your postings yet Joe; you come across as measured and thought, both of which are rare qualities in online discourse these days.
I would zubmit that at least Vlad the Irradiator (as a martial artist), would at least give the benefit of the doubt about potential resourcefulness. Trump just immediately goes for the sucker play.
I’m glad you’re around to interject a little rational thinking, Joe.
Wow that was probably one of the nicest compliments I ever received, and I hope I deserve it, thank you robjira.
You bring up Putin’s martial art composure, and that is worth noting about the man. As you no doubt know robjira, self control is a virtue. I will admit that over these last few years there were many a time if I had been Putin, the war would have been over and only the cockroaches would be left to talk about it. I mean what happened in Crimea, and is still being portrayed as an invasion, is not only disingenuous, but it’s criminal in every way. But then there’s Vlad, who somehow keeps trucking along stating what he needs to say, while at the same time he still reaches out for America’s friendship. I mean to tell you, that’s Jesus thinking by my interpretation of our Lord and Savior’s time spent on this earth.
Now with Trump the multi billionaire, mr class, he is as raw as a piece of 40 grit sandpaper. I realize this manner of his has worked wonders for him in business, but call me old fashioned but I would prefer that Trump select his words more carefully on many an issue, but especially that he would refrain from his blistering insults, and his schoolyard bully routine for the sake of diplomatic coherence. Trump lacks sincerity, and he often likes to take the low road. For the fact of how well this is working for him, this only goes to show you how bad of shape the American electorate is in. Hopefully this may change in time, and there is no time like now for this to begin.
Thanks for the nice words robjira. Joe
My pleasure, Joe. Please excuse the rather disjointed postings; I was in a taproom after a bike ride, deep into an 8% Begian blonde or two ; )
Alrighty then robjira. Nothing wrong with a little exercise, and socializing. Thanks again for your comment. Joe
robjira – I agree with you. Joe is a very thoughtful conciliator – a rare quality. It helps to read his comments, as we get carried away many times, in our comments.
Now you are getting carried away, so cut it out, but thanks, and you all are great as well. This isn’t a solo show, we are all together. Thank you Dave you are great. Joe
I remember the first time I did business with a European. A marketing friend of mine, had forewarned me of how with the Europeans it is always good to talk about personal backgrounds first, before talking business. It was good advice, because we Americans do that in reverse. Now, with that in mind go read a Putin speech, and then go read a Trump speech. I regret that more of my fellow American friends and neighbors don’t keep up on Putin’s speeches, because Vladimir always seems to be coherent, and his words do unravel as he goes through his speech to cover all things of importance with logic. And then there is Trump, who always seems to me to be meandering and go off script in a variety of different directions, and being the man he is he always ends up serving the ‘red meat’ to his audiences (notice I didn’t refer to Trump’s supporters as voters in this case) that so crave for his entertaining bluster filled rants, and with that he is a rousing hit. Apparently this isn’t a bad idea, because look at all the free media coverage he got during the 2016 election, per JP Sottile Trump received 4.9 billion dollars worth of free air time. In America that’s considered smart, and maybe in America it is, but I’m not buying it.
JFK I read in James W Douglas’s book ‘JFK and the unspeakable’ always enjoyed reading Khrushchev‘s long letters, because Nikita always wrote about the beautiful starry winter night sky over Russia, or something along those lines. Khrushchev by doing this impressed John Kennedy, because by the Soviet Leader’s always opening his letters with this kind of thoughtful writing, JFK could tell that Nikita was a warm and reasonable man. Well, to those who would argue otherwise, I will remind them that I am only telling you what Kennedy had thought about his Russian equal, and not making a factual statement. Please don’t beat up on the messenger.
Trump gives me the impression that he loves being the outrageous character that he is. I guess the best I can give him, is that his actions are at least honest. Only ask yourself, is this the kind of person you want representing you to the rest of the world? Obama may have been to cautious with his words, where Trump on the other hand is as crude as one can get. The sad part is, is that Trump’s bombastic acting is what sells in America these days, and with that this should make everyone want to take a good look in their mirror, and then they should ask themselves, is this what really I want?
So, Skip & Realist, if I were to be approached by a salesperson such as Trump or Putin, it goes without saying I would be fearful of the slick Donald, and no doubt be more comfortable with the good soul of Vladimir.
Vladimir the Oligarchy Killer. Joe
Joe, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in his writings liked Nikita the peasant – but not as the head of the Communist Russia. Solzhenitsyn wrote: Nikita always talked about our common humanity on Earth, and that Nikita failed to recognize his true soul – he would have been a very benevolent Czar. Nikita, the Peasant was a warm person.
Well Dave, it has been said about myself how I am a different person at work than the person I am off the job. Although I will tell you this of how history has proven that the Russians stuck to the treaties better than the U.S. ever did. Also no one has even come close to matching the peace tryst of Nikita and Jack. Joe
Other than Trump being a loud mouth shnook, I fail to see any real difference between him and any other prz since 9/11 anyways. Could someone here please illuminate? I mean is it that important the prez is a smooth talker when the policy is pretty much death, mayhem and lies.
Tannenhouser, He texts his policy preferences and pet peeves at 3:00 AM because he can’t sleep and wakes up weird wired. He’s not a normal ego driven self assured Type A personality. I think that he’d do a little better with a prescription of some drug that ends with…zine that he could take to help him sleep,,,. perchance to dream. But in terms of policy I have to agree that he is maintaining America’s “indispensable” posture in the world in our Neoconservative era of foreign policy. In my opinion it is mostly a matter of style and he is awkward at best.
Exactly right.
It’s the system, not which trained monkey is currently reading the autocue.
Trump is the best thing to happen to the US and the world. Each day that passes brings everyone, even the staunches supporters closer to the realization that they have been LIED to about almost everything. He’s like TOTO from the wizard of Oz. It’s glorious to behold.
And do not forget the joint lunar project that is now sealed between whom? Russia and the US. So all of this anti-Russian sentiment is for the masses; and meanwhile the techno giants in both countries are assiduously working to colonize space.
The tech giants are intent on grabbing a ton of money for their looney tunes dreams. This colonizing space scam runs a close second to eliminating terrorism from the world, as a mega bucks con job.
Mike K , PT Barnum would be proud. Any excuse is a good one to fleece the public, any public , of it’s hard earned cash.
Well, at least a joint Lunar program is more like like to produce tangible success than, say, “missle defense.”
mike k –
I agree. colonizing space is a scam, when there are so many urgent and pressing problems in this country and in the World to be solved.
But I think it is just kind of a face saving or delaying tactics on the Russian side to keep this cooperation in space going. Relations between the two Nations are at all time low and worse. Russians have been pushed around in all sort of ways for a quarter century now. Neither it is in their interest nor they can afford a direct confrontation with U.S. and The Western Europe. They will respond only if they are really cornered.
Trump’s behavior is erratic but the behavior of The Ruling Elite is no better than Trump; and the actions of both are endangering the security and survival of the human civilization.
The truth will not set you free and it can make you feel frustrated. Mr. Parry of course is correct that Bibi Netanyahu got everything he wanted and more from Trump’s UN Catastrophe/speech. That’s why his Chief of Staff Kelly sat head in hands most of the way through it. Now we read Secretary of Defense Mattis and Pentagon Generals in the last week have come out unequivocally in favor of maintaining the Nuclear agreement with Iran, I think a relevant question to ask is whether decertification of the JPCOA will be the straw that breaks the Camel’s back regarding the Trump Presidency. Nobody wants an attack on North Korea. Notice that news of Tillerson’s back channel dialogue with North Korea was leaked just a few days after the blowhard Trump doubled-down like he always does on a hard line with Kim. . There is ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT in my mind that public opinion put Trump in his place and this was an attempt to sooth the uproar regarding American Public Opinion’s rejection of his hard line approach to North Korea. Let’s see the metrics regarding the calls and emails to the White House on this. I suggest that they may have been just as overwhelmingly negative as were the responses to Obama’s proposal to attack Syria for the purported sarin attack outside Damascus. Trump decertifies the JPCOA ,, I say Mueller files charges for obstruction soon and Trump is gone. Assad outlasted Obama. I would not be surprised if Tillerson outlasts Trump.
Netanyahu got WORDS. Always, watch what they do and not what they say.
Perhaps Trump is challenging everyone to defy his statements/positions, and that this is a reverse psychology? Doesn’t matter as people will have no choice other than to subvert/undermine his words. Perhaps Tillerson manages to pull off the near-impossible? I never thought I’d be pulling so hard for someone like Tillerson, but here we are. He may be the only real sane person in the entire executive branch.
Oh seer you are wise
It is true that the militarists have got little more than words, weapons, and money so far. Israel has received more fake “aid” money to cover their bribes, and deals for far more weapons, but they have not received the war they purchased on sale from Hillary. It will be interesting to see whether there is a theory behind the zigzag belligerence of Trump; negotiating by threat certainly follows militarist groupthink, not surprising for one surrounded by generals, whatever his intent in doing so.
Trump this Trump that, What and the heck difference was there between His bombastic speech to U.N. and that which preceded him by US U.N. rep Haley?
For that matter I cannot remember a year when US did not threaten N. Korea and block any nations attempts to treat them as world nation?
Every move N. Korea tried to normaluse trade and international financial dealings wether through U.N. or private/corporate dealings US sabotaged them
US even screwed them their entry in Olympics.
Trump is doing no more than what used to be done on more or less the QT, he is just saying outloud, veryy loudly, what has always been policy.
Many times using third party diplomacy there were meetings but until Clinton era, the US acting as if they were Gengis Lhan, made demands and obfuscated like a nation demanding unconditional surrender terms.
Militarily US constantly was running clandestine operations into and encroaching upon N. KOREA’S lands.
Remember Pueblo Incident, when a US warship deliberately provoked a response by sailing right next to Korean beaches. It was a spy ship.
US military, especially today’s Command Strucures and it’s private corporate may as well be a desperate and unified corporate identity.
Their control of State Dept has made DOD States Boss.
Our Diplomatic Corp,as in Iraq yellow cake BS, no more than a Naval and CIA intelligence arm.
The fanaticism of Right Wing Christin dominionist extends throughout our military ranks, such as Bush minor saying ( ) told him to attack Iraq and our military gleefully attacked.
Let’s not think the PZnac group was a fluke, nor the down right harsh and Fascist mentality of all those Bush supporters has disapeared.
Trump has been portrayed as if a loner loose cannon but he most assuredly is being supported by a lot of important behind the scenes personages.
The talk of at diplomacy with Korea is but more than DC smoke and mirrors, the real secret QT meets we need to know more about are those taking place far from public eye.
Donald Trump has done more than any other single person has done to completely expose all the sicknesses of the US: I cannot say whether his brain can even think in any such strategic ways, but the results are, eventually, going to show/seem to converge as such (exposing the sickness). Sadly, even standing there totally naked the stupid masses believe he’s wearing clothes!
Yeah but he uses Rogaine ( Not the Reagan didn’t) and dyes his hair ( not that Reagan didn’t) and has a stupid comb over hairstyle but worst off all he’s just lame and only Apprentice watching vide-its think he’s cool. F North Korea. If not for the nuclear disaster I would be in favor of liquidation . Please include Los Angeles , Mumbiai , Tokyo and NYC and all Chinese cities with over 10 million population in the deal. You want absolutes ? and yes and no. How about Billderberger and elitist fu. F the dude get rid of him
WALL STREET….WALL STREET… WALL STREET LOVES HIM OR ELSE THERE WOULD BE NOISE ABOUT IMPEACHING HIM..
He is a representative ONLY of a rotten decaying system that has outlived its usefulness.. Any resemblances to the DEATH STAR STAION and the REBELS IN STAR WARS IS TOTALLY APPROPRIATE.. Wall Street MUST become the true target of our anger..
Have we consider PENCE as the alternative to this Strangeloveian MONSTER????
It is NOT the person!
Trying to dump the blame for Trump’s words and behavior on Israel is typically American, rather trendy in some circles, and an unfortunate, unnecessary addition to the article.
That said, Trump’s boasting about his “zig-zag” approach is a declaration to the world that the US is erratic, unpredictable, and not to be trusted. It was a remarkably efficient means of wiping out years of diplomatic efforts toward creating a measure of stability necessary for our survival.
D.H.-
The USA didn’t need Trump to be viewed as “not to be trusted”. Just ask the Native Americans. Israeli influence on US politics is obvious and undeniable, and it doesn’t matter who the President is.
I will quit blaming Israel when the U.S. Congress quits giving Netanyahu 29 standing ovations. I will quit blaming Israel for their interference into American Foreign Policy, when the U.S. quits Bombing everything Israel wishes for the U.S. to bomb in the Middle East, all because of the Yinon Plan. Quite honestly, Israel needs what the U.S. also needs badly, and that is a new government. It takes two to tango, and it’s time these two, the U.S. and Israel leave the dance floor because their dancing to the broken record they move to, is killing a lot of innocent wall flowers who never had a chance to pick the music.
People call me crazy for claiming that, besides the USA itself, Israel and Saudi Arabia are the biggest threats our citizens will, eventually, have to face and come to terms with. Proof? Look at the attacks of Sept 11, ’01, or the US’s subsequent attacks on Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, etc. Six trillion$ and counting, returning soldiers committing suicide, general decline of social assistance, you get the picture. Real leadership would stand up to these powerful forces leading to a collapse of the US empire and I’m afraid it’s probably too late to stop it.
Wahhabism is the most extreme sect of the Muslim religion. It originates and is the number one sect of Saudi Arabia: the place where more head-chopping occurs than anywhere else.
US military is the number one consumer of oil. Saudi Arabia is, for the most part, the number one producer of oil.
Zionism is the most extreme sect of the Jewish religion. Whatever their claims of secularism,, Left Zionists share the same extremist mentality as Right Zionists. State terrorists flying US-made Israeli warplanes are quite adept at decapitation and other forms of dismemberment. ISIS mercenaries were conscripted by Israel’s BFF, Saudi Arabia, to help out in Syria and Iraq, and to help put Israeli escapades like “Cast Lead” in the desired “perspective”.
If you are so hell bent on attacking Zionism at every opportunity there Abe, you are going to have to condemn ALL religions. And that would include the religion of the perfect world. If you are complaining about Zionism being religiously associated with the state of Israel, welcome to the real world where EVERY government is influenced by religion in one form or another. So what is your complaint exactly when you write about extremist mentality? And if you care to respond, I’d appreciate you keeping it within the context of the world we live in and not the planet Eykis. :) ( Interesting, that near the end of his life, poor old Wayne turned to traditional religion when he finally realized human nature really doesn’t change and the perfect world, or anything close to it, was just a pie in the sky). :)
Nonsense, WC: he speaks of the particular problems posed by zionism (not Judaism). You attempt to distract by claiming that other religions have caused problems, which is propaganda for fools.
Conventional Hasbara (pro-Israel, pro-Zionist) propaganda troll “WC” displays the extremist mentality of the Zionist sect that guides the Israeli government and its Israel Lobby agents, who constantly strive to manipulate US foreign policy.
When Israeli state terrorism or land grab policies are under scrutiny, the Hasbara trolls start mumbling about a “perfect world”. Desperate to change the subject, they use rhetoric and illogical arguments to deflect the discussion.
This is as crazy as if somebody claimed that “attacking militant State Shinto” in pre-WW2 Japan was the equivalent of condemning ALL religions.
That’s final-nail-in-the-coffin stuff for me.. The guy is a propagandist for the shithole nation of Israel.
Ol’ Hippy your not crazy, but the patients did take over the asylum. Your also right on the problem of our country having real leadership. I mean where is it? This deterioration of our government goes back along ways, but my hope is that there is still the will in all of us to change this downward slide. So, thanks for your comment, and let’s keep the faith, that is if it’s not to late already. Joe
Joe…well spoken. I think you and I are about the same vintage based on some parts of comments you’ve made in the past. I’m a 74 yo registered as an Independent voter since the mid eighties. I’m on board with your comment above. We need a Congress that will confiscate their dance cards…..enough already.
Stephen thanks for the supporting words. I’m not that far away from you in age, I’m 67, but through out my whole life I was always excepted by the not too much older kids.
Stephen, I like you wish the best for this country in the coming years. Whether it be grandchildren, nieces and nephews, or the little kid next door, we older folk should do what we can to fix this darn country, and do it quick. I would suggest to claim down on the lobby system. I also believe that task is easier said than done, but nothing will change if we citizens don’t rally for it. So let’s hope, that somehow we can turn this all around for the sake of the coming generation.
Thanks Stephen. Joe
Congress should be replaced by trained seals balancing rubber balls on their noses. That would be a lot more entertaining.
How true.
“Trump lacks enough sophistication about international relations to understand the complexities of the global chessboard and the risks involved in his erratic behavior. He is also susceptible to having his head turned by the last person who speaks with him, particularly if that person is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Some people around Trump traced the President’s destructive U.N. speech, in part, to Netanyahu’s insistence that Trump get in line behind the Israeli policy of continued hostility toward Iran and Syria.”
There’s no zigzag from Trump when it comes to Israel.
Trump’s head is turned whatever direction the Israel Lobby wants it pointed.
Trump’s purported “deviation from foreign policy orthodoxy” was a propaganda scam engineered by the Israel Lobby from the very beginning.
Trump received the “Liberty Award” for his contributions to US-Israel relations at a 3 February 2015 gala hosted by The Algemeiner Journal, a New York-based newspaper, covering American and international Jewish and Israel-related news.
“We love Israel. We will fight for Israel 100 percent, 1000 percent.”
VIDEO minutes 2:15-8:06
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiwBwBw7R-U
After the event, Trump did not renew his television contract for The Apprentice, which raised speculation about a Trump bid for the presidency. Trump announced his candidacy in June 2015.
Trump’s purported break with GOP orthodoxy, questioning of Israel’s commitment to peace, calls for even treatment in Israeli-Palestinian deal-making, and refusal to call for Jerusalem to be Israel’s undivided capital, were all stage-managed for the campaign.
Cheap theatrics notwithstanding, Israel has unconditional support from Trump.
1000-percenter Trump’s “erratic behavior” is a Hasbara propaganda script. Soon we’ll discover how many of “his generals” are on board for Israel’s long coveted hot war on Iran.
Trump is specifically speaking about Hezbollah now.
“Trump takes new aim at Hezbollah, part of tougher Iran stance”
h**p://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/05/trump-iran-hezbollah-lebanon-243515
Trump may have disappointed Israel for failing to take down Assad in Syria, but he has managed to do the next best thing for the little cesspool state by giving excessive freedom to the US military to raise hell as much as they please.
Not a good situation, this combination of ignorance and stubbornness and power.
Abe and Zac again. And no holds barred now with respect to “the little cesspool state”. You sound like a couple of pissed off New York Jews on an anti-Zionist bandwagon. Which is okay, but for those of us who are not so enlightened, how about getting down the nitty gritty of your complaints. So, instead of throwing digs at Trump for doing what any captive of Wall Street would do, tell us what the real problem is and what realistically can be done about it. You both harp on like this is a regional issue only idealistically solved by simply loving one another and not something tied in with a bigger picture. Zbigniew’s book “The Grand Chessboard” is a good indicator that something else is in the works and not just a little cesspool state gobbling up Lebensraum and threatening their neighbors (not exactly a new concept in this world of ours and not always something done for the wrong reasons).
And spare me the “Hasbara troll” accusations. This is symptomatic of Jewish paranoia, which (after 2000 years of violent pogroms) is probably justified but not always accurate given the emotional turmoil it can cause. :)
It’s not the whole of foreign policy, but regarding the Middle East it is 90% the desires of Israel, and 10% of Saudi Arabia.
Your insults of Abe and Zachary are speculative and wrong. You are the one pushing diversion from the zionism problem in foreign policy.
The Brzezinski doctrine applied to Afghanistan, but it also enables neocons to threaten Iran as they do now to gain zionist campaign money. Ukraine also appeals to both, because Israel’s destabilization schemes in the Mideast were broken by Russia. But nearly all US foreign policy is Mideast policy controlled entirely by Israeli bribes, and now so is Afghanistan and Ukraine policy.
I answered to Abe’s Zionist phobia on a post below.
And you are doing me a disservice there Sam by saying I have been insulting. All I want from either of them is a rational (key word there) explanation of where they (or you, for that matter) see this as a such a huge problem given all of the rest of the shit that is going on in the world around us.
The Brzezinski doctrine points to a world where everything is interconnected and it would be fairly safe to assume the .01% that actually pull the strings have an end game in mind. Therefore, any problems in the middle east are just zones in the Grand Chessboard.
I am also amazed since coming to this site how many commentors view things in black and white terms. Good guys here and bad guys there, as if to suggest there is some sort of over-riding morality at play. When Abe and Zac finally come clean and tell me their god is better than the Zionist god, I’ll know then how truly f**ked we are. :)
Sam F – I agree with you completely.
Read the articles and comments here to see the extensive evidence and reasoning on zionist influence on US foreign policy, as well as its destructive effects on US democracy. Many comments have links to articles to expand your reading. Generally commenters try to stay on a particular subject, and cannot also present the knowledge base.
Conventional Hasbara (pro-Israel, pro-Zionist) propaganda troll “WC” insists that Israel’s land grabs are “just zones” on a chessboard.
This gross denial of reality and humanity reflects the bizarre mentality of the extremist sect that has a stranglehold on Israeli politics for 70 years.
Name just one US foreign policy disaster not directly tied to “the little cesspool state” and AIPAC.
WHO IS “THE LITTLE CESSPOOL STATE” MR SMITH????
If you are referring to the State of Israel, perhaps I could agree.
It sounds to me like you mean the Sovereign State of Syria.
Syria, in fact, fought courageously for its own self-defense.
I urge you not to muddy your responses with such unwarranted
name calling.
—-Peter Loeb, Boston, MA, USA
He was referring to Israel, having used the description in other contexts.
Hasbara propaganda troll “WC” is marching up and down demanding “solutions”.
Israelis interviewed in Jerusalem recently advocated extreme “solutions” such as killing all Palestinians and transferring them to other Arab countries. “I would carpet bomb them – it’s the only way to deal with it,” one Israeli said in the video by the TeleSUR television network. Another young lady said, “We need to kill Arabs.”
American journalist Abby Martin, host of the investigative news program The Empire Files, visited Jerusalem’s Zion Square to interview Israelis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e_dbsVQrk4
One Israeli after another who responded to her question about how best to end the conflict with the Palestinians with calls for violence, bombing, and ethnic cleansing.
Many of those interviewed were American Jews who had “made Aliyah” or immigrated to Israel.
Abby Martin Responds to Attacks From Pro-Israel Organizations:
Addressing the accusation that Palestinians share the same attitudes towards Jewish Israelis, Martin explained “I spent nearly a month in the West Bank, asking countless Palestinians the same questions. Never once did I hear a Palestinian express desire to kill Jewish people or to ‘kick them all out.’ But what you see in our new episode is what I found during just three hours in Jerusalem. It was truly shocking.”
Today, most of the remaining Palestinian territory remains under brutal military occupation, and is shrinking from rapidly-expanding illegal settlements. While the Netanyahu government plans big moves with greater freedom from the Trump Administration, this colonial project survives on lavish US funding, a carefully-crafted public image campaign, and threats against public figures who question Israel’s moral supremacy.
https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Abby-Martin-Responds-to-Attacks-From-Pro-Israel-Organizations-20171006-0029.html
Israel has got what it wanted.
Iraq has been destroyed.
Libya has been destroyed.
Syria has been destroyed.
Maybe Iran soon.
All without lifting a finger.
Just order the dumb goyim 30 shekel whores in Congress to do it.
Hasbara propagandist “WC” first checked in to “defend Israel” by declaring “The Jews aren’t doing anything different than the rest have done since the beginning of time.”
https://consortiumnews.com/2017/09/23/israels-stall-forever-peace-plan/
Conventional Hasbara (pro-Israel, pro-Zionist) propaganda portrays Israel’s constant military threats against its neighbors, the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, Zionist claims of an “unconditional land grant covenant” for Israel, or the manipulations of the Israel Lobby, as somehow all based on some sort of lunatic “realism”.
Millions of religiously and culturally Jewish people around the world are revolted by the openly racist ethno-nationalism and grotesque militarism of the Israeli state.
Jewish people who dare to stand up for Jewish religion, Jewish intellectual and spiritual history, and Jewish creative culture in the face of twisted Zionist propaganda and outright terrorism are often attacked by Jewish Zionists.
Hasbara troll “WC” offers slurs about “Jewish paranoia” and “Zionist phobia”, presenting an interesting example of just how twisted the Zionist propaganda can be.
In fact, both Left-wing (secular and religious “liberal”) and Right-wing (religious “conservative”) Zionist ideologues in Israel and abroad actively terrorize Jewish people to advance their agendas.
Jews are constantly bombarded with propaganda about a “New Anti-Semitism” or a “Second Holocaust”. Zionism vigorously promotes fear and paranoia among Jews.
Conventional Hasbara (pro-Israel, pro-Zionist) and Inverted Hasbara (false flag “anti-Israel”, “anti-Zionist”, and sometimes “anti-Jewish”) propaganda operatives are steeped in this paranoia.
The Hasbara troll army is ready and willing to deny reality, and will say just about anything to “defend Israel”.
Given President Trump’s avowed 1000 percent support for Israel, it is important for Americans to know what their tax dollars are paying for.
American journalist Max Blumenthal Israel’s aggressive shift to the far-right and its crackdown on local activism.
In 2009, Blumenthal posted a documentary video on YouTube showing Jewish-American young people in Jerusalem in June 2009, shortly before Obama’s Cairo address.
Feeling the Hate in Jerusalem
https://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b62_1345075293
The Jerusalem Post acknowledged that the video “garnered massive exposure and caused a firestorm in the media and the Jewish world”.
After YouTube removed the video from its website, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency quoted Blumenthal as stating: “I won’t ascribe motives to YouTube I am unable to confirm, but it is clear there is an active campaign by right-wing Jewish elements to suppress the video by filing a flood of complaints with YouTube”.
Blumenthal said that he had received death threats for his publication of the video. He identifies the radicalism of the interviewees with the “indoctrination” of Birthright Israel tours, a program in which several of the interviewees were participating.
In Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel (2013), Blumenthal notes that “Americans’ tax dollars and political support that are crucial in sustaining the present state of affairs” in Israel. He presents the facts “as they really are today, in unadorned and unsanitized form, without sentimentality or nostalgia.”
In The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza (2015), Blumenthal examines ” Operation Protective Edge”, the Israeli attack on Gaza during the summer of 2014. Using weapons made in the United States, Israel directly bombed schools and hospitals. It also tested weapons on the civilian population of Gaza, including Dense Inert Metal Explosives (DIME).
Y’know, I was looking at a chat thread on the hallowed 2nd amendment, wherein someone cited the “aeons old” right natural born right to “bare arms.” I thought, “huh, men also used to club women over the head and drag them back to the lair. These days, a first date (at least) is now involved…”
This whole “everyone’s been doing it forevever” argument is the same justification regularly made by addicts for their particular behavior.
I guess we all can attached to our respective, analogous hamster wheels.
Addiction to AUTHORITY and CONTROL of others is not safe or effective. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. http://biblehub.com/matthew/5-9.htm
I think it is plain to see the our President is a sociopath. He has no moral compass. From his multiple bankruptcies to his “pussy grabbing” he shows that he cares for no one but himself. The lives of millions hang in the balance, but for him it is more important that he look like a tough guy. God help us all.
Well so much for the ‘outsider’ draining the DC Swamp. Here again Trump like the previous presidents before him will see to it that Israel gets their 3.8 billion dollars in loot for whatever reason it is we Americans give it to them, as Trump will throw it up in Puerto Rico’s face that they must pay up, for that is the price the colony must pay for all of the Wall Street looting of that islands precious assets which has brought that territory down. Also Trump dare say he will see to it that Puerto Rico receives the 32 million dollars he owes them in back taxes, after his failed business venture went sour there.
So here we are all stuck with the ‘outsider’ who promised his constituents of how he would make us all great again. Yes, here we are waking up each morning to Trump’s bombastic tweets, and his news conferences where ‘there is a calm before the storm’, or ‘fire and fury will rain down on N Korea like never before’, or that Arnold Schwarzenegger couldn’t match him in the tv ratings wars. The one thing that Trump is good at, is keeping his keeping all of our attention on him. It’s just to darn bad that what we get more of, is what we have had too much of, and that’s a government who does what it wants, when it wants, and damn the we the people if we try to get in the way of all of their destruction. Good comment Skip. Joe
I HAVE GOT HIM UNCLE WILLIE!!!.
A friend here tells a story (probably no more than a story) about his
his cousin in a fight . His cousin is being held to the ground , helpless,
by his assailant. His uncle asks “Do you need some help?”
“It’s alright, Uncle Willie…I got him. I got him!”
I could not help but think of politicos retiring because “they want
to spend some more time with their families” Crap! (They always
end up in a lawfirm….)
If Tillerson is NOT thinking of leaving, why did he say he had
no such thought? (“I’m alright Uncle Willie! I got him!”)
I have written here before that I doubted Tillerson would last as
Secretary of State. It is perilous to predict anything
in the future, but I still doubt that Tillerson will last..
—-Peter Loeb, Boston, MA, USA
Peter I read somewhere where John Bolton is busy measuring drapes for his new office as Secretary of State. Now if that makes your day a happy one, then I suggest you go take a nap on a shrinks couch somewhere near by. ‘I got him uncle willie’.
Peter, the new Secretary of State will be confirmed once Tel Aviv gives this appointment the green light, or is it blue and white? I swear, if Israel doesn’t approve it, then there is no U.S. foreign policy. The real reason for all this noise about Russian interference in U.S. democracy, is really a case of the Israeli’s getting jealous. I mean, what nerve the Russians have for if they did hijack the American electorate they should have known better since Israel has that right locked up all to themselves. Seriously haven’t the Russians ever viewed an American AIPAC conference?
Good to read your comment Peter. Joe
“Never believe anything until after it’s been denied by a government bureaucrat.”
No brains, no morality, no impulse control, and a huge ego – great qualifications for a President of the most powerful and dangerous nation on Earth. I won’t even comment further on the nit wits who elected him – after all they are my fellow Americans………(damn it!)
63 million voted for this clown.
A slightly larger number voted for Clinton, the most corrupt, dishonest, mendacious, and probably demented, political figure in US history.
120 million (48%) didn’t vote at all, totally bemused or disgusted by the whole tawdry, degrading spectacle.
I’ll be joining the 48% in the next presidential election. The process is clearly rigged.
Minus the ‘grabbing’ Obama was no different. Nor has any post-WWII US President. If you think he is so much worse, think about the Koreans killed in N. Korea, or the Vietnamese, or ….
Obama was bad in many ways. The press for the most part didn’t report it. But Trump is much worse. Most of Obama’s misdeeds grew out of his outsized case of American Exceptionalism. He really does believe that the US is the one “essential nation”. But Trump is just cynical and self-interested. He believes only in “Trump Exceptionalism”. The other 300 million people in the country or the 8 billion in the world just don’t matter to him except for Ivanka in a very unhealthy way. If anyone draws attention away from him for even a minute, he just has to draw it back, regardless of the consequences. Thus the zig-zaging. It’s just “look at me, look at me” with nuclear weapons.
Do you seriously think people like Obongo and Hitlery care about ordinary Americans???
Is anybody that stupid???
While the world focusses on the nuclear programmes of Iran and North Korea, here is an interesting look at what is happening in United States nuclear modernization program:
http://viableopposition.blogspot.ca/2017/09/the-renuclearization-of-america.html
Given the political power that lies in the military-industrial complex, it’s not terribly surprising to see that hundreds of billions of dollars will be flowing into the coffers of the main players in America’s defense industry.
Of course. It has always been thus.
All that bluster is a diversion.
Barack “Nobel Peace Prize” Obongo authorised $1,000 billion for more WMD.
The true US military budget is $1,200 billion a year.
Plus $100 billion for the “Intelligence” empire.