President Donald Trump’s appointment of John Bolton as his national security adviser is his most dangerous move yet, argues Marjorie Cohn.
By Marjorie Cohn
Nothing Donald Trump has done since his inauguration 14 months ago is more dangerous – to the United States, and indeed, to the world – than his selection of John Bolton for National Security Adviser. It is not surprising the president would feel most comfortable receiving advice from a fellow bully.
John Bolton
Trump bullies people on a nearly daily basis, directing his ire at immigrants, Muslims, women, LBGTQ people, the poor and the environment. He hurls Twitter attacks at those who disagree with him.
The president has encouraged police brutality, suggesting in a Long Island speech that law enforcement officers bang suspects’ heads against police car doors. “Please don’t be too nice” when arresting people, Trump advised. “Like when you guys put somebody in the car, and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put your hand over” their head, “I said, ‘You can take the hand away, OK?’”
After being told someone might throw tomatoes at him at a campaign rally, Trump urged his supporters to “knock the crap out of them … I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees.” He stated on Fox News that a Black Lives Matter activist who was attacked at a Trump rally “should have been roughed up.”
Trump’s fellow bully Bolton also engages in abusive behavior. Melody Townsel, working on a USAID project in Kyrgyzstan, became the object of Bolton’s wrath in 1994. Townsel had complained about incompetence, poor contract performance and inadequate funding of the project by a contractor Bolton represented.
In a letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Townsel wrote that Bolton “proceeded to chase me through the halls of a Russian hotel throwing things at me, shoving threatening letters under my door, and generally behaving like a madman.” Townsel claimed Bolton threatened employees and contractors who refused to cooperate with him. She maintained Bolton’s behavior “wasn’t just unforgivable, it was pathological.”
Carl W. Ford, former Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Research, and a conservative Republican, called Bolton a “kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy” who “abuses his authority with little people,” characterizing him as a “serial abuser.” Bolton chairs the Gatestone Institute, which publishes hateful, racist anti-Muslim rhetoric, calling refugees rapists and hosts of infectious diseases.
Bolton was such a lightning rod that in 2005, even the GOP-controlled Senate refused to confirm him as US ambassador to the United Nations. To avoid the need for Senate confirmation, George W. Bush named Bolton to the post in a recess appointment.
But Bolton doesn’t just bully individuals. He pushed for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, advocates military attacks on North Korea and Iran, favors Israel’s annexation of the Palestinian West Bank, and falsely claimed that Cuba had biological weapons.
As undersecretary of state for Arms Control and International Security in the Bush administration, Bolton was instrumental in withdrawing the United States from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which heightened the risk of nuclear war with Russia.
Anthony J. Blinken, deputy secretary of state in the Obama administration, wrote in The New York Times, “Mr. Bolton had a habit of twisting intelligence to back his bellicosity and sought to remove anyone who objected.”
Colin Kahl and Jon Wolf, writing in Foreign Policy, described Bolton’s “pattern of warping and misusing intelligence to build the case for war with rogue states; a disdain for allies and multilateral institutions; a blind faith in US military power and the benefits of regime change; and a tendency to see the ends as justifying the means, however horrific.”
When he left his position at USAID in the late 1980s, Bolton’s colleagues presented him with a bronzed hand grenade.
Bolton Eschews Diplomacy and Slams the UN
Bolton sees every international situation as an opportunity to make war, notwithstanding the United Nations Charter that mandates the peaceful resolution of disputes and forbids military force except in self-defense.
After two world wars claimed millions of lives, countries around the globe – including the United States – came together and established the United Nations system, “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”
Yet in 1994, Bolton famously claimed, “there is no such thing as the United Nations.” He stated caustically, “If the UN Secretariat building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.”
When Bolton officially withdrew the US signature from the International Criminal Court treaty, he declared it “the happiest moment of my government service.”
Bolton Led the Charge to Invade Iraq
Bolton led the charge to invade Iraq and forcibly change its regime in 2003, falsely claiming that President Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction (WMD). In 2002, former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter affirmed that Hussein had destroyed 90-95% of its WMD; the remaining 5%, Ritter said, “doesn’t even constitute a weapons program . . . just because we can’t account for it doesn’t mean Iraq retains it. There’s no evidence Iraq retains this material.”
To bolster the case for war, Bolton pushed Bush to include in his State of the Union address the false statement that Iraq was seeking uranium from Niger, over the objection of the State Department.
Before the US invaded Iraq, Mohamed ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said there was no evidence Hussein had any viable nuclear program. Hans Blix, chief inspector of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, verified that weapons inspectors had found no evidence of WMD.
In 2002, Bolton orchestrated the ouster of Jose Bustani, head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, to prevent him from inspecting and revealing that Hussein had no chemical weapons. When Bustani argued he should stay in the post, Bolton threatened, “You have to be ready to face the consequences, because we know where your kids live.”
No WMD were found after the US invasion of Iraq. Some one million Iraqis were killed and the US-led regime change led to a vacuum of leadership that was filled by ISIS.
A 2006 report prepared under the direction of former Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan) concluded that “members of the Bush Administration misstated, overstated, and manipulated intelligence with regards to linkages between Iraq and Al Qaeda; the acquisition of nuclear weapons by Iraq; the acquisition of aluminum tubes to be used as uranium centrifuges; and the acquisition of uranium from Niger.”
Those “misstatements were in contradiction of known countervailing intelligence information, and were the result of political pressure and manipulation.” A key source of that pressure and manipulation was Bolton.
In spite of the horror the US military unleashed on Iraq 15 years ago, Bolton wrote in 2016 that the removal of Hussein was “a military success of stunning scope and effectiveness, achieved in just three weeks.”
After the disastrous US invasion of Iraq, Bolton tried to get the Iran file removed from ElBaradei in order to lay the groundwork for an unjustified attack on Iran.
Bolton Wants to Rip Up the Iran Nuclear Agreement
Bolton favors bombing Iran and changing its regime and he opposes the Iran Nuclear Agreement. He has advocated an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities and encouraged the United States to support it.
In the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran agreed to cut back its nuclear program and in return, received billions of dollars of relief from punishing sanctions. Iran has complied with its obligations under the deal, says a bipartisan group of over 100 national security veterans called the National Coalition to Prevent Nuclear Weapons.
Under the US Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, the president must decide every 90 days whether Iran remains in compliance with the JCPOA and whether the agreement continues to serve US interests. Trump reluctantly certified Iran’s compliance in April and July 2017. But in October, to the consternation of his secretary of state, secretary of defense, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Trump refused to certify Iran’s compliance with the agreement. He did not, however, pull out of the deal at that time.
On May 12, Trump will decide whether or not to end US participation in the agreement. Bolton and CIA director Mike Pompeo, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, both favor renouncing the deal. If the US breaches the agreement, Iran may well resume the unlimited production of nuclear fuel.
“Bolton is an unhinged advocate for waging World War III,” according to Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council. “Bolton now represents the greatest threat to the United States,” he added, stating, “Trump may have just effectively declared war on Iran.”
Bolton Wants to Attack North Korea
In February, contrary to the overwhelming weight of legal authority, Bolton argued in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that mounting a first strike on North Korea would comply with international law.
Bolton stated on Fox News, “I think the only diplomatic option left is to end the regime in North Korea by effectively having the South take it over.” During another Fox appearance, Bolton declared, “the way you eliminate the North Korean nuclear program is to eliminate North Korea.” He maintained that North Korea having nuclear weapons was worse than the “millions” of North and South Koreans who would be killed if the US attacked North Korea.
If Trump destroys the Iran deal, it will send a dangerous message to Pyongyang that his word cannot be trusted. North and South Korea are slated to meet in April and Trump has indicated he will meet with North Korean President Kim Jong-Un. Diplomacy at this moment is critical.
Bolton has provocatively suggested a linkage between Iran and North Korea on nuclear weapons. In January, he wrote in the Wall Street Journal, “Little is known, at least publicly, about longstanding Iranian-North Korean cooperation on nuclear and ballistic-missile technology. It is foolish to play down Tehran’s threat because of Pyongyang’s provocations. They are two sides of the same coin.”
The dangers inherent in following Bolton’s favored policies in Iran and North Korea cannot be overestimated.
Bolton Falsely Claimed Cuba Had Biological Weapons
Bolton argued unsuccessfully for the inclusion of Cuba in Bush’s “axis of evil” (which consisted of Iraq, Iran and North Korea). Bolton advocated a military attack on Cuba one year before Bush invaded Iraq. After Bolton falsely claimed Cuba was developing a bio-warfare capacity, a congressional investigation found no evidence to support such an allegation.
As Nicole Deller and John Burroughs from the Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy have documented, Bolton is widely credited with the defeat of the Protocol to the Biological Weapons Convention, which would have created an inspection system to protect us against those deadly weapons.
Bolton Wants to Give “Pieces” of Palestine to Jordan and Egypt
Bolton’s solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to give “pieces” of Gaza to Egypt and “pieces” of the West Bank to Jordan since, he thinks, Palestine is composed of “bits and pieces” of the former Ottoman Empire.
In January, Bolton wrote in The Hill: “Once it becomes clear the two-state solution is finally dead, Jordan should again be asked to exercise control over suitably delineated portions of the West Bank and have the monarchy’s religious role for holy sites like the Temple Mount reaffirmed. Accepting Jordan’s sovereignty would actually benefit Palestinians, as would Egyptian sovereignty over Gaza, by tying these areas into viable, functioning states, not to the illusion of ‘Palestine.’”
Neither Jordan nor Egypt supports this proposal, and Palestinians are vehemently opposed to it. Jewish Voice for Peace stated, “The appointment of Bolton is a complete disaster for the Middle East, the US, and the entire world.”
Bolton’s Appointment is “a Disaster for Our Country”
The National Security Adviser’s job is to inform the president of the different options that affect national security, briefing him on the National Security Council’s findings. Bolton is such an ideologue, he will invariably slant his advice toward waging war. Bolton is so extreme, he reportedly promised Trump he “wouldn’t start any wars” if appointed, according to CNN. In light of Trump’s aversion to reading daily intelligence reports, Bolton will play an even greater role in the formulation of policy.
Unfortunately, National Security Adviser is not a cabinet position, so Bolton doesn’t need Senate confirmation.
Former President Jimmy Carter said in an interview with USA Today that Bolton’s appointment is “a disaster for our country,” adding it may be “one of the worst mistakes” of the Trump presidency.
But as Stormy Daniels and Robert Mueller close in on Trump, the president will seek to create a major distraction. With bully Bolton egging him on, that may well be a military attack on North Korea or Iran. The consequences would prove disastrous.
Marjorie Cohn is professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, former president of the National Lawyers Guild, and deputy secretary general of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers. She is the author of Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law, and her latest book, Drones and Targeted Killing: Legal, Moral, and Geopolitical Issues, was recently published in a second, updated edition. See http://marjoriecohn.com/.
A little help here, please. Ms Cohn states, “Iran may well resume the unlimited production of nuclear fuel.” I thought it was generally understood that Iran gave up its nuclear program years ago.
<blockquoteMaybe if Trump got Biden to be NSA then we could partition Syria and attack Iraq and do all the other kinds of things that Neocons and Liberal Interventionist Democrats like so much but then it would be way cooler.
You’ve got to be kidding with that “maybe”. In my humble opinion Biden is a smiling, smooth-talking version of Bolton who would do all the things you mention and lots more. You can bet the folks at Daily Kos and the other fake “progressive” sites would turn on a dime and start cheering again. Just like they did when Obama’s reign changed into Bush The Dumber’s third and fourth terms.
BTW, Trump cannot be elected again unless the Democrats facilitate it by running the likes of Biden against him. I fear they’ll do precisely that, for they share many if not all the same Paymasters as the Republicans.
Of course I was being sarcastic or facetious about Biden and Liberal Interventionists in general. We all noticed that Robert Kagan was listed as a Hillary Foreign Policy Adviser when she was Senator for New York and he later supported her Presidential Campaign against Trump . Kagan was and is one of the most notable of Neocons. But I should have typed Iran instead of Iraq because that’s the real target for the Beltway politicos & we’ve already attacked Iraq several times now with both Republican and Democratic Administrations. PS I prefer Bush the Simple. We may still have need of a Bush the Dumber. Never say never.
Well I think Bolton is an ass and Trump is too , so what? Apparently though this writer thinks it would be different if Trump got someone else who’s not a bully ( A partisan Republican bully anyway).. Seems like Joe Biden is plenty tough. 75 year old man who wants to kick ass behind the High School gym. He and Trump must have a lot in common besides fascination with their hairlines. Nobody thinks Biden’s a bully. How could he be?. He differed to Hillary , he’s a feminist and a self proclaimed Goy Zionist. Maybe if Trump got Biden to be NSA then we could partition Syria and attack Iraq and do all the other kinds of things that Neocons and Liberal Interventionist Democrats like so much but then it would be way cooler. Kind of like Bill Clinton coming from a State ranked 49th in environmental protection ( And that ain’t easy) getting Mr. Environment Al Gore as VP and balancing the ticket so well that when Bill was sworn in with 42% of the vote things changed a real whole lot. didn’t they?
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Thanks for attacking the “warmonger” Bolton. Rest assured you are doing your small part to scare the living s..t out of Rocketman which will give our President more leverage when the talks begin.
This walrus, moustache faced idiot, John Bolton is going to lead America into a Third World War? If this moron invades Iran or Nth Korea, China & Russia will not stand, idly by, & allow this arrogant rogue, out of control nation called America, to destroy these Countries? Enough is enough? America loves its murderous wars & regime change agenda’s in order to steal other Countries resources, that’s the simple fact why all this warmongering is happening? The US is shaking down Nations like common criminals that they are? America is a giant, Mafia crime organisation thieving assets & resources via fighting endless wars in multiple theatres, around the World, particularly in the Middle East? But like every previous Empire in decline from the Roman Empire onwards, America refuses to accept the reality that’s it’s now at it’s imperial overreach limit which can’t be sustained much longer? Just like Nazi Germany couldn’t fight wars on multiple fronts, America will find itself in the same situation & facing the same fate as Germany if they allow this idiot Bolton to egg them into a war with Russia, China & Nth Korea, Iran etc? The rot in the American political system is now beyond the pale? It’s now making total sense, why Russia has completely revamped their Nuclear arsenal & missile weaponry as a detriment to the suicidal American empire?
John Bolton
Trump’s very own Weapon of Mass Destruction
If anyone dares wonder what this Israeli loving psychotic maniac who’s really nothing more than an Israeli spy implanted in our government is capable of then just watch this
https://youtu.be/wcW_Ygs6hm0
He’s downright scary. A real psycho.
Commenter “freedom lover” mentioned an article from RT saying that Bolton was hired to rid the NSC of Obama administration holdovers who are suspected of undermining the administration and leaking to the press. I am unable to reply to freedom lover’s comment because there’s no “reply” button (probably to limit comment nesting), but I want to inform him/her that I although I couldn’t locate the referenced article on RT, there is something very similar at Foreign Policy website.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/03/23/bolton-expected-to-clean-house/
So, yes, if this article is accurate, then it appears the hiring of Bolton was for the purpose of self-defense against Deep State operatives within the White House. I hope Trump will keep an eye on Bolton, as its doubtful he could be satisfied with an advisor position.
Oh, and one other thing. Freedom lover mentioned Trump’s unpredictability in first congratulating Putin and then expelling 60 Russian diplomats. Well, it continues: it came out this morning that Trump has invited Putin to a WH summit.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-04-02/trump-invited-putin-white-house-summit-kremlin-says
Never a dull moment!
S. Black – great post. A few people talk about Trump’s lack of empathy on here (true enough, that), but they never ever seem to have any empathy for him, for his situation. They appear unable to picture themselves surrounded by wolves and how they might react if they were, incapable of coming to any other conclusion but that Bolton was hired to help Trump push the nuclear button.
This is survival, people! But maybe Trump’s “survival” is something they’re secretly wishing against.
Putin at the White House? Damn, now that is unpredictable.
“We have this 30 percent slice of Syria, which is probably where 90 percent of the pre-war oil production took place,” said David Adesnik, director of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “This is leverage.”
Herein lies the “Greatness” of America;that as [the last?] EMPIRE, we are Entitled to take-by-force the resources from any other nation of people as we decide, and in the process, utterly Destroy the country, take Countless lives and create Refugees and Squalid conditions of hopelessness and despair. Power Corrupts, and we are a Nation of Military Gangsters with self-asserted Singular Authority to literally Rule The World and it’s Disparate Populations of Peoples/People Groups, Nations/Nationalities. As if WE, Americans have assumed the Right and Authority to Rule the World.
Michael Klare’s prophetic book “Resource Wars” foretold/foresaw this rancorous reality, and if there exists true Justice in the world, America will pay a heavy price for the manifold crimes against humanity they have perpetrated, for the sake of Greed, against all other Peoples/Nations on this world. …
Resource Wars: An Interview with Michael Klare
In the wake of the Cold War, a familiar object of strife has reemerged — resources — only this time the world has fewer of them.
By Tamara Straus /
AlterNet April 30, 2001
Klare’s new book, Resource Wars, argues that resources — water, timber, minerals and especially oil — will be the main cause of strife in the post-Cold War era. Although domination of resources has always been central to government strategy, Klare believes this will become more true as the world population grows and resources become depleted.
Gone will be the days of war waged for ideology. In its place will emerge a battle of economic interests with the earth’s natural resources as the ultimate trophy.
This may sound overly simplistic, but resource competitions are already sparking tension and conflict in every corner of the globe. The motivation behind the Persian Gulf War — protection of U.S. oil interests in the Middle East — is the best known example.
Yet it is not the only one. Klare shows that the U.S. government (and foreign governments as well) are currently shifting their foreign policy strategy away from technology and alliance politics to oil-field protection and defense of maritime trade routes in the Caspian Sea region, the South China Sea, the offshore oil fields of Africa and, of course, the Persian Gulf.
Take the CIA. In 1997, it staged a simulated combat mission against “renegade forces” in southern Kazakhstan. The CENTRAZBAT 97 war game included the longest airborne operation in human history — flying troops some 7,700 miles from Fort Bragg, North Carolina to Shymkent, Kazakhstan. Such a military exercise was economical in the eyes of the Clinton administration, as the Caspian Sea region is believed to house approximately 665 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, or one-eighth of the world’s gas reserves.
To secure access to oil in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Klare reports the U.S. government has been just as willing to make huge investments. Between 1990 and 1997, the U.S. provided these oil-rich countries over $42 billion in arms and ammunition — the largest and most costly transfer of military equipment in recent history.
Resource Wars is full of such information about oil politics. It also looks at a much less talked-about resource: water. Klare predicts countries that share major water arteries — like the Nile, the Jordan, the Tigris-Euphrates and the Indus — may well come to blows over this increasingly scarce resource. He is not alone in this opinion. “The next war in our region,” observed then-Egyptian foreign minister Boutros Boutros-Ghali in 1998, “will be over the waters of the Nile, not politics.”
{recognize also, that Gaddafi’s -(“we came, we saw, he died”)- Libya has one of the worlds largest fresh water aquifers — I’m sure the World’s Capitalists are already pumping this resource to sell to thirsty Europeans, Moroccans, and world-wide… .
AlterNet talked to Michael Klare about his new book and what may be the next great shift in international relations.
https://www.alternet.org/story/10797/resource_wars%3A_an_interview_with_michael_klare
Josh Rogin’s Op Ed in the Washington Post on March 30, 2018:
“There are a lot of good arguments for maintaining an American presence in Syria after the fall of the Islamic State, but President Trump doesn’t seem persuaded by any of them. Perhaps he would back off his urge to cut and run if he knew that the United States and its partners control almost all of the oil. And if the United States leaves, that oil will likely fall into the hands of Iran. […]
‘We have this 30 percent slice of Syria, which is probably where 90 percent of the pre-war oil production took place,’ said David Adesnik, director of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. ‘This is leverage.’
The actual people holding the land with the oil are not U.S. troops, but the mostly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces that were trained and armed by Washington, along with local Sunni Arab leaders who are resisting the ongoing onslaught by government- and Iranian-backed forces.
The Assad regime and Iran have a stated and ongoing strategy to take back all the land that Assad once controlled, including the land containing Syria’s most valuable energy resources. […]
As Chagai Tzuriel, director general of Israel’s Ministry of Intelligence, told me, if the U.S. and its allies intend to stop Iran’s regional expansion, that mission must begin in Syria. Also, if there is to be any real peace negotiation, the U.S. military presence is crucial for America having influence there as well.
“If there is a true commitment to counter Iran, it needs to be done in Syria first. If it’s not done in Syria, we will lose that campaign,” Tzuriel said. “The presence of the American forces is very important … That buys you a seat at the table that decides the future of Syria.”
If the U.S. troops leave, the Kurds are likely to cut a deal with the regime and leave the Sunnis to Assad’s cruelty. Then, the Iranians will move into the area, completing their land bridge of control from Tehran to Beirut. If Trump doesn’t have a real Syria strategy, he doesn’t have a real Iran strategy.”
Mouaz Moustafa, executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, a nongovernmental organization that works with the Syrian opposition, said:
“It’s incredibly important that with all these oil-rich areas … we don’t end up in a situation where we do have to pull out and there is some sort of deal that allows Iran to essentially take the land, the oil, and these areas, and empower their land bridge that they’ve been building inside the country,” he said. “We took the oil. We’ve got to keep the oil.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2018/03/30/in-syria-we-took-the-oil-now-trump-wants-to-give-it-to-iran/?utm_term=.fd07be747eda
Imagine Assad wanting to take all of Syria’s land back! The horror of it all.
Interesting and refreshing to read the “Comments” to this article. Many people knew what they were talking about and they refuted Rogin.
“If the U.S. troops leave, the Kurds are likely to cut a deal with the regime and leave the Sunnis to Assad’s cruelty.”
Rogin is completely full of s**t, but this line particularly struck me. The majority of Assad’s own forces are Sunni, and this shows that the Syrian people are by and large non-sectarian. They do not want their country to become the next Iraq, or the next Libya. Assad got over 80% of the vote in 2014 with over 70% participation. Inconvenient facts for regime change fanatics like Rogin.
If Trump is a result of voting for the lesser of the two evils then Bolton is a product of a unaccountable hegemonic power gone rogue.
Joe, can you see this as “unaccountable hegemonic power gone rogue? – under Trump??? !
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/29/epa-will-announce-rejection-of-obama-vehicle-fuel-efficiency-rules.html
(or the) Obfuscation by Trump appointee Pruitt of life-saving Gas Emission Rules in favor of the PROFIT MAKING desires of Oil&Gas company billionaires… ?? !!! —– These same Oil Oligarchs witch prompted Dick Cheney to ILLEGALLY decimate the nation of Iraq in order to take control of Their oil fields? !!
Do you know of , or remember the period/era of Bush established TAX CUTS and rebate campaign in favor of Trucks and SUV’s? It was, ultimately, the push to sell GAS-GUZZLING vehicles to prop up THE NEED FOR CHEAP OIL FROM THE MIDDLE EAST.
Now that we’re Fracking Filthy OIL / (the last deposits) and Marketing Oil & Gas throughout the World —
Trump and Pruitt want to INCREASE Emission Standards so as to INCREASE Oil Company Profits $$$$$$!! over and above easing the burdens of everyday Americans as they travel to work and school and/or care-taking and/or trips to community college or time consuming/gas wasting commutes on clogged freeways/turnpikes.
— Gas Emissions / Smog ! Scott Pruitt / head of the Frigg’n EPA IS ADMINISTRATIVELY IN FAVOR OF THIS CATASTROPHIC/ Chaotic time & money wasting course-of-life dealt with Every Working Day by law abiding citizens of these “United” States.
Jack-ass Pruitt and Trump give the finger to us all-day every-day Americans who must deal with this 1% orthodoxy and put on a Happy Face in our struggle as they Laugh – on – their- anointed – way – to -the- bank.
Trump >>Gloriously<< pulled the US out of the
Paris Agreement on Climate Change !
This was an Illustration an Autocratic "Rule of Law" —
A statement of a Dramatic opposition to Agreement,
as the world turns to Hostility as a Primary Arbiter
of Citizen Rights as against Gov't/Corporate Decree.
WHERE ARE WE NOW, Under TRUMP ! ??
Same place we been since at least Reagan. A valid argument can be made for not much besides the bells and whistles and sanitation has changed since the 16th century. Just to be clear I agree that Trump is a chump and that agreements or legislation are good tools yet…..What’s the point in an ‘agreement’ that no one will abide by?
Joe Trump is the result of campaign Rhetoric…. lesser of two evils is a false choice propagated by TPTB and MSM. Campaign rhetoric is the only NON partisan measure to make a choice in American democracy, made even more sad because 98% of us GET that it generally doesn’t work out tat way…. still it is the only non partisan measure we have and we used it….. fool me once…. comes to mind
“US President Donald Trump insisted Thursday that US forces would pull out of Syria ‘very soon’ and lamented what he said was Washington’s waste of $7 trillion in Middle East wars. […] ‘We spent $7 trillion in the Middle East. And you know what we have for it? Nothing,’ Trump declared, promising to focus future US spending on building jobs and infrastructure at home.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-says-us-withdrawing-syria-very-soon-214757926.html
And Stormy Daniels? She’s a whore. Donald Trump may or may not have used her services, but at least, if he did, it was consensual and he didn’t rape anyone like Bill Clinton did. That low-life should be in jail.
And Robert Mueller? Really? Mr. Deep State himself has taken a year and a half to produce absolutely nothing. In fact, he knows there’s nothing there.
My only hope, aside from Bolton being fired in the not too distant future, is that Jeff Sessions either appoints a second special counsel or steps down. There’s evidence out the wazoo re FISA Court abuses, illegally spying on a political candidate, corruption re Uranium One, jail time for Hillary re her emails, and on and on.
Time to crank up a second special counsel and let the healing begin.
You’ve definitely given yourself the correct pseudonym, backwardsevolution.
::
Trump has repeatedly tweeted that he has no financial connections to Russia. But in 2008 Donald Trump Jr said in Moscow: “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross section of a lot of our assets. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.” A Reuters investigation revealed that individuals with Russian passports or addresses had bought property worth $98.4m in seven Trump-branded towers in Florida. And as late as January 2016, Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, was begging Putin’s press secretary for help to resuscitate a “Trump-Moscow project in Moscow City”.
Then there is former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s relationship with Russians when he was leading Republicans in a chant of “lock her up” at the Republican national convention. Given the depth of Flynn’s connections with the Russians, his recent agreement to cooperate with the special counsel, Robert Mueller, was an especially significant development for nervous politicians at the White House.
But what may be even more dangerous to Trump’s future is the recent report that Mueller has subpoenaed records of Trump’s dealings with Deutsche Bank. The last part of Harding’s book – [Collusion by Luke Harding] – is devoted to Trump’s incredibly convoluted relationship with the German bank, which included defaulting on a $330m loan from its real estate division – and then settling that default by borrowing hundreds of millions more from the bank’s private equity division. Asked if “it was normal to give more money to a customer who was a bad credit risk … a former senior Deutsche bank staff member said: ‘Are you fucking kidding me?’” At the same time as the bank was engaging in these bizarre dealings with Trump, it was also laundering tens of billions of dollars for its Russian customers. The hundred billion dollar question for Mueller is, then, whether there was a connection between Trump’s loans and the Russians’ laundry.
The book leaves the strong impression that there has been so much unsavoury activity between Trump, the Russians and the German bank, that a talented lawyer such as Mueller (who has hired a dozen of the toughest prosecutors in the US) is almost certain to make a federal case out of it. As to the question of whether there was direct collusion between Trump and the Russians to get him elected, the last word should go to Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the House intelligence committee, and the public official who probably has the deepest and widest understanding of this scandal. On CNN Schiff recently declared: “We do know this. The Russians offered help. The campaign accepted help. The Russians gave help, and the president made full use of that help. And that is pretty damning whether it is proof beyond a reasonable doubt of a conspiracy or not.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/15/how-trump-walked-into-putins-web-luke
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/dec/14/collusion-how-russia-helped-trump-win-the-white-house-by-luke-harding-review
If a special counsel were to investigate Mueller, it would find a lot darker deeds, including numerous murders, that would make Trump’s shady business practices look like kindergarten stuff.
Please Equate the below into the realm of “shady-business-practices” that Trump unanimously approves.
(Scott Pruitt is an equal opportunity devolutionist)
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/29/epa-will-announce-rejection-of-obama-vehicle-fuel-efficiency-rules.html
“We do know this. The Russians offered help. The campaign accepted help. The Russians gave help, and the president made full use of that help. And that is pretty damning whether it is proof beyond a reasonable doubt of a conspiracy or not.”
Shiff should be in jail for saying this as it’s obvious slander; as if it were true Trump would no longer be POTUS.
Just another example of 500+ years of juris prudence being ignored in the name of political expediency. The USA is officially WROL
With all due respect even the simplest of simpletons knows this ‘Russia/stormy gate’ nonsense is just whitewater karma.
Nothing done then nothing done now, same clowns running the circus, only real status quo difference for Americans since Reagan is gays can now legally partake in the sanctity of marriage… big woop.
Main reason for this is the thought process which allow us to hold an obviously false statement by a ‘leader’ as true due to nothing more than confirmation bias and partisan blinders.
What was it the scarecrow wanted in the wizard of oz again? America desperately needs to rediscover their collective one.
Dissecting Trump, Bolton – – –
Psychopathy expert Robert Hare offered a profile of those psychopaths as people without conscience. Hare created a checklist of symptoms including the absence of remorse, pathological egocentricity, lying, callousness and superficial charm. He pointed to the primary characteristic as a lack of empathy. This absence of empathy is also manifested physically. New studies using brain imaging technology show how this is reflected in the hardwiring of their brains. Kent A. Kiehl and Joshwa W. Buckholtz share the conclusion of neuroscientists, that contrary to the general view that psychopaths are simply selfish, their emotional development is impaired due to the way their brains process information differently from others.
Humans as social beings generally develop identity in relationship with others. In what many consider healthy development, individuals cultivate a sense of self that grows organically out of a communal ground. Individual thoughts are informed by social emotions that precede them. Upon such empathic foundations, one naturally develops a capacity for self regulation; the ability to restrain impulses and primal urges and make decisions for their actions in a manner that considers the rights and needs of others.
On the other hand, those among us who quietly harbor psychopathic tendencies follow a different line of development. Whether it is by nature or nurture or other factors within, early in life these people fail to secure the attachment to a caregiver that is needed to develop a cohesive sense of self rooted in concrete reality. Through this delinking from interconnected existence, they develop extreme egocentricity and experience the world in isolation, perceiving themselves as intrinsically independent from others.
Moral Blindness
Reid Meloy, a clinical psychology professor researching psychopathy articulated how the house of the psychopath is built upon a grandiose self-structure. They live in a presocialized emotional world. Psychopaths do not experience the full range of emotions that spring from an empathic ground. They might experience intense emotions, but these are short lived. They have shallow affects often manifested as anger, contempt and self pity, while viewing emotions such as sympathy, compassion and love that are expressions of human bonding as signs of weakness or negative attributes that one must dissociate from.
Psychiatrist Liane Leedom noted how scientists describe this condition as “emotional callousness” and claimed that this contributes to “their inability to love.” She pointed to how they “would experience fleeting feelings of affection, but the joy they get from these feelings is far less than the joy they get from having power and control over others.” This emotional poverty creates a kind of systemic moral blindness.
Psychopaths can understand basic differences between right and wrong and except for a small population, most do not break laws or even engage in criminal acts. Yet, this seemingly lawful behavior is not motivated by an inner sense of morality that concerns the wellbeing of others, rather it arises to simply escape punishment. They are free from emotional strings and stay aloof; unaffected by the anxiety, guilt or pain that most people feel when they see someone in distress or being hurt. They can act careless and stress-free regarding destruction of other’s life in their midst.
With this emotional deficit, psychopaths also lack insight. They can cognitively understand when someone is hurt. Yet, as they are not personally bound within an empathic foundation, they cannot understand other’s pain emotionally through putting themselves in the other’s shoes. Without this emotional intelligence, not only do they have difficulty entering into the realty of others, but they also cannot step outside of themselves to see their actions objectively from another point of view and the larger social context they are a part of.
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/01/05/battle-our-time-breaking-spell-corporate-state
How many of Robert Hare’s books have you read?
Trump’s War Cabinet and Coming American Despotism: Will We the People Rise Up?
by Nozomi Hayase
March 31, 2018
The United States is in a major upheaval. Trump’s cabinet shake up moves the country into an alarming direction. From the nomination of torturer Gina Haspel as a head of the Central Intelligence Agency to Mike Pompeo, the former CIA Director and a vocal opponent of nuclear deal with Iran as a new secretary of state, his selection exposes the White House’s dangerous kill instincts.
An ultimatum came with the president’s appointment of John Bolton, the former American ambassador to the United Nations as his 3rd national security advisor. Bolton who served in the George W. Bush administration is notorious for his hawkishness, with a great zeal for military action against Iran and North Korea. This rearranging of the deck chairs on the sinking empire signals the great calamity of foreign policy ahead with potential threats of nuclear war.
In this seeming free-fall toward despotism, what can ordinary people do about it? Tackling corruption of our political system and averting a doomed future requires us to truly understand the problems we are facing. The crisis of representation is now amplified with increasing trends toward authoritarianism, violence and white supremacy. This trouble didn’t just arise with Trump, the new commander in chief. A glimpse of it was shown during the 2008 financial meltdown, which was covered up swiftly by bank bailouts and politics of ‘hope and change’. The truth is that the seed for dystopia has been inside this country all along. The roots of the issues that are now emerging in Trump’s America go back to the very beginning of this nation.
In its modern formation, the United States inspired the world with its torch of liberty and equality. At the same time, this beacon of light had its own darkness within. From the onset, America contained internal contradictions manifested as the founder’s hypocrisy and the violation of its own ideals with genocide of natives, slavery of blacks and suppression of women. The Founding Fathers of the United States brought a victory of rejecting the power of the King’s monarchy and pioneered a path for one’s own self-determination. The concept of a nation governed by laws, not by a man was groundbreaking at that time. Yet, without reconciling its own shadow, this nation of law failed to fully shield the republic from the tyranny of the Old World.
MORE: https://countercurrents.org/2018/03/31/trumps-war-cabinet-and-coming-american-despotism-will-we-the-people-rise-up/
Note to Marjorie Cohn: you must be doing something right, for you’ve managed to draw out an above average lineup which includes a virulent Zionist and some dead-end Trumpies. “Trump is smart” – that one is good for a big smile.
:)
Note to Mr. Smith: Seeing as it’s a religious holiday I will go easy on you. “Dead-end Trumpies”? What exactly do you mean when you write this, do you think? Really, do you not agree with freedom of speech? I know my posts here regarding Ms. Cohn’s piece came after you wrote this. Read Eric’s piece I mentioned at g.research.ca Thank you.
Trump’s “End-Game” Could Become Ours. “The President Cannot Find a Lawyer”. “They Want Trump Out”
Zeusse wrote a good article, but for the life of me I don’t see how it contradicts anything Marjorie Cohn has written here.
From Zeusse:
I’d correct this to add that Trump is an ignorant rightwingnut psychopath. I’ll grant that Pence would be worse, and that Hillary & Company are crazy not to recognize the fact.
Right. It’s “pathetic”.
lProf. Marjorie Cohn Archive at Global Research
I’ve kept the link to Global Research separate because I doubt if the forum software is allowing the combination of Link and Text without “moderation”.
Cohn has been writing at Global Research for a long time. Years ago I removed my bookmark to that site, and never visit it now unless following a link. So I’m going to invite the people here who have been dumping on her to point out specific instances of her work being outrageous lies.
Judging from the titles at the Archive, I can surely detect the woman hasn’t specialized in Trump Boot Licking or Ass Kissing.
The appointment of Bolton is entirely political.
The advice and recommendations he’ll proffer will be predictable, and Trump likely knows his stance on any current and future international issue or crisis well in advance as there are no mysteries from the basis of where his ideology and past behavior belongs. He knows that Bolton’s legal advice is not to be taken without a grain of salt, or two: his record of slanting intelligence to fit the Procrustean bed of his ideology is well known.
Trump is smart – whose only worries are solidifying the base that got him elected so that the 2018 elections will confirm a republican majority in both houses.
Pathetic that this pseudo-political scientist cum-legal scholar/author can’t see this. While Trump has failed in all legislation he sought so far, he’s dodged every bullet the opposition and deep state has used to unseat him.
The Empire is the real bully to fear – and eliminate. And it hides in the minds of all the sheeple it has brainwashed. Most Americans don’t even know they live in an Empire, much less that it is the most evil on Earth.
Americans watch Star Wars, and assume we are the good guys. Wrong. That Death Star is our bloated military.
Have you noticed that Mad-Dog Mattis looks alot like the evil emperor?
Can’t remember where i read it, was recent though, that the two bullies, Trump and Bolton, might wear on each other and Trump might seek to oust Bolton as another in his ditched advisors. One can hope that some pronouncement from the mouth of the psychopath Bolton (and he has to be a psychopath, the Melody chasing incident says it clearly because she dared to disagree with him?) will rub Drumpf the wrong way and send Bolton out the door.
Right. Trump must be the star of the show. His subordinates don’t dare to upstage him. But Bolton is clever, and may avoid the trap for a time.
This is all theater. Who believes Trump or Bolton actually call the shots? They are both front men with orchestrated personas that are paraded out to serve the ambitions of the status quo.
Hasbara troll “WC” constantly attempts to divert attention from pro-Israel Lobby interference in American foreign policy
“All theater”
https://lobelog.com/trumps-choice-of-bolton-satisfies-his-biggest-donor/
Can’t wait to hear the “Big Picture” spiel about who or what is “actually call the shots” for Sheldon Adelson & Haim Saban.
Hilarity ensues.
Abe. I’m still waiting for you to explain the END GAME to me. How exactly do the .01% plan to wrap all of this up so they can retain their wealth, power and influence? Specifically, what political and economic measures will they impose to not only stay in power but solve all of the other problems we face? Surely they have a plan of action they are following.
Hasbara troll “WC” has a distinct fetish for that well worn troll phrase: “still waiting”.
The Israeli-Saudi-U.S. Axis is preoccupied abroad, and the U.S. is extraordinarily preoccupied with numerous fictions at home with no interest whatsoever in actually solving any of “problems we face”.
Such issues have been repeatedly and extensively addressed by contributors and commenters at Consortium News.
Despite this fact, Hasbara propaganda trolls like comrade “WC” loudly declare that they’re “”still waiting”.
Hilarious.
Even more hilarious is comrade “WC”s latest fetish: capitalizing the phrase “end game”.
That issue has already been addressed as well, so Hasbara troll “WC”: has shifted the rhetoric once again. Now the troll is on about the “.01%” (presumably that’s more diabolically “elite” than the “1”) “plan to wrap all of this up”.
“Surely they must have a plan of action they are following.”
Yes. multiple plans of action have been addressed here at Consortium News.
But Hasbara troll “WC” is predictably “still waiting”.
Oodles of Hasbara hilarity will no doubt ensue.
Hasbara troll “WC” was out of the hole and busy muttering that “still waiting” propaganda line back in October 2017.
See the CN comments at
https://consortiumnews.com/2017/10/22/the-strange-world-of-russian-trolls/
Hasbara troll “Vincent Calbara” was out of the hole and busy muttering that “still waiting” propaganda line back in September 2017.
See the CN comments at
https://consortiumnews.com/2017/09/23/israels-stall-forever-peace-plan/
Comrade “Vincent Calbara” has been on “hiatus” for longer than 4 months.
But timely comrade “WC” popped up out of the hole the day after the Bolton announcement, oh so ready to entertain us with more Hasbara hilarity.
Abe & Zac. I have no problem replying to your multiple attacks (I can tell you are both happy to have me back. :)). However, given that I am still on “moderated status” and the overseers at the Consortiumnews are scrutinizing every word I write, I am faced with a 24 – 48 hour lag-time before my comments and responses to your nattering show up, and in some cases just disappeared altogether.
I have no control over this and must serve the sentence the CN moderators feel is deserving for my transgression of calling Abe a “stupid old F***”. Perhaps they are waiting for me to apologize, which in retrospect I should do anyway, because my words were not very accurate. So, I first apologize for the “stupid” part, as you are clearly not stupid. “Old”, I need not apologize for as you have already admitted to watching “I Love Lucy” and like to use Rickie’s “splainin”, which would put you around 70. In the event that you picked all of this up from reruns and are of the Millennial Generation, you appear to be very bright for your age. Thirdly, “F***” is a generic term that expresses frustration. In my case not being able to penetrate a one track mind. I am reminded of the quote “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” This fits the two of you perfectly when it comes to what I would term your “obsession”. Whether or not this obsession has progressed to neurosis, I am not qualified to say. Nevertheless “f***” is an offensive term that I should not have used, and I am appreciative of the overseers at the Consortiumnews teaching me that I should be more specific instead of just blurting out bad words. :)
With respect to your three April 2 comments above that are in reply to my March 31 post. As a result of the imposed “lag-time”, we are now passed the “still waiting” point. You have already answered to my “end game” question and I replied back by saying –
“Abe. Thank you for this explanation. Clearly the “geo-strategic objectives” you point out would be included in the kind of “control” you describe. But is this the “End Game”?
Some of the more recent comments on other CN stories (and past, for that matter) have brought up “neocon globalists”. As I replied to S. Black, “Globalism implies the whole world. And associating “neocon” to the term suggests intent to carry out some sort of neocon agenda that involves the whole world.”
If there is a “globalist agenda”, as many appear to believe, the “geo-strategic objectives” you point out don’t go far enough to have total control over the whole planet.”
Zac, on the other hand, is of the opinion – “He knows perfectly well what the “end game” is, and is daring anybody to spell it out. Presumably that would serve the Hasbara propaganda, and might even be a step in getting this site discredited. Or drastically altered in nature. Or worse.”
While I took this view as being somewhat delusional, I did not fire back with an expletive deleted, but rather replied back in the polite, yet more specific manner, by saying –
“Zac. I hardly see myself as “daring anybody to spell it out”. I honestly don’t know the answer, which is why I am asking. Is there some sort of “deep state globalist agenda” in the works? If so, who is behind the curtain pulling the strings? And how do they plan to implement their agenda?
How you can possibly twist these three questions into some “Hasbara” conspiracy to discredit the Consortiumnews website is simply paranoid. Exposing the truth was never something Robert Parry shied away from, and if your fear of spelling out the END GAME (as you see it) will somehow harm this site, you are placing far too much importance on your perceived association with the Consortiumnews. You don’t write the articles that define this site. You are just another individual voicing their personal views on the comments section. If your explanation is too far gone into the Twilight Zone, the only one discredited will be you. Hardly worth a day’s work from your imagined Hasbara, Zionist trolls.
Abe has no problem offering up his EG theory, being – “The Israeli-Saudi-U.S. Axis project’s geo-strategic objectives obviously include control over over Eurasian energy resources and transit corridors, and an increasingly desperate effort to preserve petro-dollar hegemony”. I replied to Abe that “If there is a “globalist agenda”, as many appear to believe, the “geo-strategic objectives” you point out don’t go far enough to have total control over the whole planet.”
So, I find myself still asking – What’s the End Game?????????”
This is the longest post I have ever made and I hope it goes to show that I am genuinely trying to be more specific and refraining from using the F-word. :)
This is a variation of Poor Little Israel; peace-loving and democratic, and obviously God’s Very Most Favorite people. Now we have Poor Little Me-The-Troller being victimized by the evil Consortiumnews ‘overseers’. The guy must not have noticed that this has been happening to just about everybody. But then, he’s here on a very focused mission.
After looking through the blather, I figure he’s being paid by the word. If not “paid”, his promotions and status within whatever Hasbara Propaganda site he serves with must depend on the word count. Notice how he carefully avoids addressing anything of substance. Like how that Palestinian teenager got 8 months jail time for slapping a defenseless Israeli Soldier Goon while another Israeli Soldier Goon got 9 months jail time for murdering a helpless and incapacitated Palestinian lying on the ground. Or Israel’s recent murders in Gaza. Or the cesspool nation’s preparations for Land Grab #3.
The Timeline is something worth looking into here. What got me to thinking about the issue was this:
Translate “sharpshooters” as what they really were – snipers to execute the subhuman Paleos. Anyhow, the pug-ugly nation of Israel knew what was coming, and started getting ready. A little bit earlier than that it “deployed” the Trolls.
Casual murder tends to get people’s attention, so I’m guessing the instructions were to do the Zionist version of BDS – Bullshit, Divert, and Stir Things Up.
As the xymphora blogger remarked, “The Israelis, of course, could have ignored the Land Day protests, but, as violent racist supremacists they can’t tolerate any questioning of their theft, and so turned it into target practice, and thus a massacre.”
The Mondoweiss blogger has this headline about the events.
Killing Palestinian protesters turns into a PR debacle for Israel
h**p://mondoweiss.net/2018/04/killing-nonviolent-palestinian-protesters/
The World’s Most Moral Army is having a lot of fun murdering the Palestinians, and at one point bragged about it on Twitter before having second thoughts and erasing the tweets.
h**ps://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israel-admits-then-deletes-responsibility-gaza-killings
Looking at the bigger picture, is the current Russia-Is-Responsible-For-Everything a prelude to Land Grab #3? It surely works to Divert attention from the Holy Israel.
There is a theory out which looks totally nuts on the face of it, but has a certain “real” feel to it as well.
Was Vietnam a Holocaust for Zion?
Laurent Guyénot • April 2, 2018
Yes, it’s as crazy as hell except for a couple of things. First, the Vietnam War kept the US with a massive army, and Lyndon Johnson was fully prepared to use it for Holy Israel if necessary. Second, Land Grab #2 was coming up, and Israel might well need that help. As things turned out, they didn’t, but pet poodle Johnson was very useful in covering up the USS Liberty murders. This after doing his best to ensure the boat went to the bottom of the ocean with all hands. He failed with that, but it wasn’t from lack of trying.
The nutty Christians have been planning for the End Times for over two hundred years, and getting Israel recreated was part of the package. For their part, the Zionists have been planning the thefts and murders for over a century, and have been most efficient about it. It’s really difficult to dismiss any Conspiracy Theory about the cesspool nation out of hand.
http://www.unz.com/article/was-vietnam-a-holocaust-for-zion/
Hasbara troll “WC” vomits up over 800 words of sheer distraction. And it has nothing to do with the F-word.
Garrulous comrade “WC” entertains us with the standard troll complaints that he’s a poor innocent victim of “attacks” and unfairly persecuted by site “overseers”.
And that “still waiting” line used by “WC” and other trolls has nothing to do with moderation lag time.
The “still waiting” line is a rhetorical device meant to create the impression that the troll’s dreadfully important questions remains unanswered.
Comrade “WC” predictably insists that Hasbara trolls are “imagined”.
But there’s no mistaking the precise timing of Hasbara troll “WC”s li’l pop up: the appointment of pro-Israel Lobby denizen John Bolton.
Hilarity ensues.
Abe & Zac. Here’s the problem with having an “obsession”. Due to your firm belief that I am some Zionist troll sitting in a boiler room in Tel Aviv feverishly hatching plots to divert attention from Israel, AND sully the sterling reputation of the Consortiumnews for good measure, automatically predisposes you to look for a motive.
Now, I understand that such a belief is where the fun is for you guys, and I’m all game to play along to provide your “entertainment” and ensuing “hilarity”.
However, I am seriously interested in the End Game I keep asking about, simply because I keep reading words like “globalism”, “globalist agenda”, “Deep State”, “New World Order”, etc., and I want to know if there is anything to it apart from some vague phrases. Does anyone out there have any idea exactly HOW they plan to implement a “globalist agenda”?????????????
Zac believes I already know what the “End Game” is, “and is daring anybody to spell it out. Presumably that would serve the Hasbara propaganda, and might even be a step in getting this site discredited. Or drastically altered in nature. Or worse.” This has all of the hallmarks of a conspiracy, that if revealed would sound so outlandish it may discredit this site, alter it in nature, or worse! Given Zac’s obsession with Israel, Zionists, trolls, and such, what do you think he is alluding to?
Zac also believes we should be concentrating our attention on the killing of Palestinian protesters and not all of this Globalism, End Game stuff. I disagree, because if we can understand the End Game we will have the answer and motive for killing Palestinian protesters in the first place.
Abe, who I actually had some hope for until today, previously summed up the “End Game” as – “The Israeli-Saudi-U.S. Axis project’s geo-strategic objectives obviously include control over Eurasian energy resources and transit corridors, and an increasingly desperate effort to preserve petro-dollar hegemony”. Anyone capable of writing such a sentence is hardly stupid. Yet, it still all points to a regional issue and does not address the globalist strategy, if there is one.
As a PS, I got to shake hands with Bibi last night!!! I was on the graveyard shift and he came in with a basket of bagles and lox for the crew, praised us for our good work and gave a short speech on the virtues of Zionism. I was so proud that when I got back to the kibbutz in the occupied territories, I told my wife and eight kids “I’ll never wash my hand again!”. ;)
“Paid by the word”, and I think “stamina” is also a factor. Looking back through the archives I found this gem.
Would anybody be surprised to learn Jerry Alatalo’s questions were totally ignored?
“Stop stealing land, and return the already stolen properties”
“Stop murdering Palestinians”
“Stop the apartheid”
Those are NOT the ways to impress your co-workers in the Israel Propaganda (Hasbara) community. Probably wouldn’t do much for the paycheck, either.
The Dark Inevitability of Zionism
Again looking trough the archives, I could find very few examples of “WC” posting when the topic wasn’t involved with Israel. Looking more closely at those cases, I could see a pattern of him/her cozying up with somebody. Being VERY agreeable and friendly and ladling out the compliments with a big spoon.
Needless to say, the “still waiting” theme surfaced a number of times.
Followed by Joe Tedesky inviting Abe to look at a linked story about Texas punishing BDS supporters in the hurricane recovery. “WC” took this and ran with it.
There was no “question” involved at all, but “WC” had to get his trademark challenge into the conversation no matter how much distortion was involved.
The Strange World of Russian ‘Trolls’
Hasbara troll “WC” keeps dumping more distortions and distractions.
Hasbara trolls don’t just inhabit some “”boiler room in Tel Aviv”.
The Israeli government and military, and pro-Israel Lobby groups abroad, actively recruit paid and volunteer propagandists.
Israeli internet warfare includes an online army of Hasbara trolls recruited from college campuses in the United States and Europe, as well as in Israel.
Comrade “WC” was an epic failure with that Hasbara effort back in the fall of 2017.
“WC” got busy during that li’l 4-month “hiatus” before the Bolton announcement, and it shows.
Jus’ askin’ with all caps and thirteen question marks, “WC” is still at it with the “skeptical” troll shtick.
But “WC”s latest li’l attempt to ‘splain’ that Israeli-Saudi-U.S. Axis warmongering is merely a “regional issue and does not address the globalist strategy” remains a hilarious Hasbara failure.
Consortium News contributors and commenters, not to mention the Russians and the Chinese, understand the global dimensions of Israeli-Saudi-U.S. attempts to control Eurasian energy resources and transit corridors, and preserve petro-dollar hegemony.
Now back to the relevant topic of Israel’s nuclear and chemical weapons stockpile, and how that nasty stuff gets around…
I suspect the zionist troll figures he has a winner with his END GAME challenge because it’s a theme he used previously while trolling on another recent article.
h**ps://consortiumnews.com/2018/03/31/u-s-establishment-nixing-arms-control/
I’m going to now repost my own remarks about that while addressing Joe Tedesky.
************
Joe, I’d suggest you re-read the zionist troll’s gloating at the old link. He knows perfectly well what the “end game” is, and is daring anybody to spell it out. Presumably that would serve the Hasbara propaganda, and might even be a step in getting this site discredited. Or drastically altered in nature. Or worse.
h**ps://consortiumnews.com/2017/11/29/us-bows-to-israeli-saudi-alliance-in-blaming-iran/
Recently I learned that despite what I was taught in Sunday School, Yahweh’s Old Testament rules apply only to His Favorite People. That’s why the ongoing slaughters in Gaza and elsewhere don’t violate any commandments. Anything done to outsiders, and I do mean anything, is ok with those Favorite People and their Jealous Tribal God.
So their murder of the sailors on the USS Liberty was merely a routine day’s work in expanding Holy Israel. And the likely sacrifice of the US soldiers and airmen stationed in 2018 Israel will be the same. Just like what their ancestors would do to a calf, or a lamb, or a fat dove. Land Grab #3 must proceed, and WILL proceed no matter how many two-legged animals from outside the Clan happen to be used as a Burnt Offering.
On that note, one wonders if their use of napalm against the USS Liberty in 1967 had more than one justification.
Zach, Abe, WC, this whole thread feels like a waste of time and discourages honest commenting.
The Angel of Death (Bolton) will not spare any household, no matter how much lamb’s blood marks the threshold. And after three days of nuclear war, nobody will rise from the dead. I bet Cruz and Pence and the other “Rapture Seekers” are enjoying some pre-climactic trembling now that Bolton is in place alongside Pompeo.
Tom Lehrer said it well:
When you attend a funeral
It is sad to think that sooner or
Later those you love will do the same for you
And you may have thought it tragic
(Not to mention other adjec-
-tives) to think of all the weeping they will do
But don’t you worry
No more ashes, no more sackcloth
And an arm band made of black cloth
Will some day nevermore adorn a sleeve
For if the bomb that drops on you
Gets your friends and neighbors too
There’ll be nobody left behind to grieve
And we will all go together when we go
What a comforting fact that is to know
Universal bereavement –
An inspiring achievement!
Yes, we all will go together when we go
We will all go together when we go
All suffused with an incandescent glow
No one will have the endurance
To collect on his insurance
Lloyd’s of London will be loaded when they go
The vid to the song:
https://youtu.be/TIoBrob3bjI
That’s why I’m enjoying the Stormy Daniels saga so much. Encountering somebody even more shameless than himself has really crimped the trumpster’s style. Go Stormy!
I’ll confess though – I really feel sorry for both his wife and young kid.
I feel sorry for the kid, but Melania, not so much. It is obvious to anyone with two brain cells and a firing synapse that Trump is a sociopath. Melania is only in it for the money, and living with the Donald she’s earning every penny.
Like a true bully, Trump only lords it over on defenseless people who cannot counter the power he wields. However, when he himself is confronted by power from behind the scenes, like the Neocons, the Clintonites, the crazed Democrat losers leading their “resistance,” Wall Street bankers, Madison Avenue lawyers, the MIC, the “intelligence” community, the Pentagon and (yes it is real) the un-elected Deep State, the guy folds like a lawn chair. Virtually everything he said during the campaign? So much hot air. The privileged elites he was going to stand up to? Micromanaging his every move. Their words, values and actions are now synonymous with his. Seems like little Donny immediately rolled over when growled at by the actual big dogs. And, maddening as it may be, none of us can say that slimy Chuck Schumer didn’t predict what was gonna happen.
Very True Realist. “Six ways from Sunday” Schumer was spot-on on that one, and Rachel Madcow hurried onto another topic.
The Bottom FeedsThe Top
Pro-Israel Lobby stalwarts John Bolton and Mike Pompeo predictably oppose the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), embrace fact-free allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 United States elections, and view Russia and Iran as “threats”.
Cohn noted, “The dangers inherent in following Bolton’s favored policies in Iran and North Korea cannot be overestimated.”
Earlier in March, Cohn discussed the inherent dangers of the unilateral US withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty inder Bush, Washington’s nuclear weapons modernization program under Obama, and the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) under Trump:
“Theodore A. Postol, professor emeritus of science, technology and national security policy at MIT […] who evaluated Moscow’s anti-ballistic missile defense while serving as adviser to the chief of naval operations in the early 1980s, said Putin’s speech ‘made very clear that every attempt to engage us in constructive discussion has been met with no response. He was responding to the US unwillingness to talk about missile defenses.’ […]
“Postol is skeptical about the effectiveness of missile defense systems because they have only been tested under the ‘most orchestrated conditions and even under those conditions, they have failed a high percentage of the time, some simply because something unexpected happened. In combat, the conditions will not be choreographed.’ […]
“But Donald Trump thinks US missile defenses can be very effective, Postol observed. “In a crisis or a standoff, Trump might take actions he wouldn’t take if he thought he was defenseless. So, the potential for miscalculation is much higher when the weapons systems are not effective.” […]
“For the first time, Trump’s NPR would allow the United States to use nuclear weapons in response to non-nuclear attacks, including cyberattacks, in ‘extreme circumstances to defend the vital interests of the United States, its allies and partners.’
“The war in Syria, in which both the US and Russia are already involved, may provide a venue for just that eventuality. […]
“However, Postol asserted, ‘The United States has created the appearance that it believes it can fight and win a nuclear war against Russia.” That’s a false assumption, he said. “After nuclear weapons are used by one side, or when they are used preemptively, the other side would mount a massive attack against central strategic forces of the attacking state.’
“There is no winning a nuclear war, even a limited one”
US Refusal to Negotiate With Russia Increases Likelihood of Nuclear War
By Marjorie Cohn
http://marjoriecohn.com/us-refusal-to-negotiate-with-russia-increases-likelihood-of-nuclear-war/
This writer is in LOVE with the deep state. It’s time for them to go as everything stated here has truth in its opposite rather than the writers statements.
With LOVE!
Except for the first sentence, I can’t make heads or tails of your post. The claim Cohn is some kind of secret “deep state” lover really does need some backing.
You’ll get all the backing you need from every other article she’s written.
Hilarious Hasbara propaganda spin on the term “deep state”:
Questioning the Trump’s penchant for populating his administration with notorious pro-Israel pit bulls like Bolton, Pompeo and Haley means that one is “in LOVE with the deep state”.
Thanks, Bill. This piece does indeed read like a missive from the Deep State which is apparently frustrated by its inability, so far, to replace Trump with Pence (since they couldn’t install the much-preferred Hillary) and thus continue along the smooth Clinton-Bush-Obama trajectory that was working so well until Trump’s maverick, unpredictable behaviors threw a monkey wrench into the machinery.
I agree with you that this article pushes explicit and implicit lies — and I say this as someone who has long found Bolton frightening and Trump nerve-wracking. But Trump, for all his loud, crude impulsiveness, is not a bully. Cohn’s assertions that he “bullies people on a nearly daily basis, directing his ire at immigrants, Muslims, women, LBGTQ people, the poor and the environment” is simply not true. Trump considers illegal immigrants law-breakers who cheat legal immigrants and citizens out of what is rightfully theirs. This view is primarily a product of his sympathy for working class Americans, whom he considers his base. He may have a thing for sexy babes, but his behavior toward the women in his administration has been respectful. I’ve never heard him criticize the Muslim religion, nor is he the least bit hostile to LGBTQs. In fact, not long ago he had the reputation of being the most LGBTQ-friendly Republican candidate for president: http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/donald-trump-2016s-most-lgbt-friendly-republican On the environment, Trump is ill-informed and ignorant, but he expresses no “ire’ toward nature.
Now Bolton is indeed monstrous. Furthermore, his attitude toward America’s competitors can easily and truthfully be called bullying. But to claim that Trump and Bolton are somehow the same is either blind, stupid, or dishonest. They are entirely different people. So why did Trump appoint Bolton? Well it can’t have been because they agreed on foreign policy, as Bolton is quite the opposite of Trump on that. There has been much conjecture on the selection, but I think it has to do with Trump’s sense of being under siege (which he is) and in need of some tough guys around him. When the CIA, FBI, neocon globalists, MSM and the rest of the Deep State are determined to destroy you, you might very well want a few brass-knuckled types in your corner.
It’s quite telling that Ms. Cohn ends this piece with “Stormy Daniels and Robert Mueller clos[ing] in on Trump” — the settled upon strategy for replacing Trump with Pence and getting on with the Deep State agenda.
This – and the rest of the post – reminds me of the glory days of the Codpiece Commander. His fans gave every indication of believing that little twit could walk on water.
I doubt if Trump is in any jeopardy from the Stormy Daniels situation because he is utterly shameless, and probably hasn’t done anything “impeachable”. That’s a guess, of course, for what I know about Lawyering you could write on one side of a 3×5 index card. From what I’ve read on the internet tubes, one of the lawyers may be in very deep doo-doo.
Zachary Smith, the fact that a person isn’t a bully does not mean that they “walk on water.” Trump has a ton of faults and is clearly in over his head, but that doesn’t make him the monster/scapegoat that the corporate media has created for you.
It’s not heretical to consider Trump a human being, and there is more to politics than simply deciding whom to hate and whom to love.
There is more to life than hate/love. There is such a thing as a grey, or if you prefer, gray area. Do you think any human being is all good, or all bad? I am quite convinced that lots of “bad” people were loved by their parents and maybe some really “good” people were less loved, or equally loved. Not one single human being is 100% this or that. To state otherwise is reductionist and is not helpful.
S. Black – great comments. I started to respond to Ms. Cohn, but decided it just wasn’t worth my time. I’m glad I didn’t bother because you said it better than I could. Thank you.
Thanks, backwardsevolution. Yes, it takes time and effort to wade through a dense collection of cleverly presented lies such as those that emanate from Ms. Cohn, and like you I often back away from such discussions out of sheer weariness. So your positive feedback is much appreciated. Makes it worth it.
Following up on your discussion there was a very interesting article in RT last week on the Bolton Nomination. The article suggests that Bolton was brought in to clean house in the intelligence circles and stop the leaking to the press. Bolton would be effective in this role. The article goes on to say that Bolton was informed that he was brought in to implement the presidents policies not to question or formulate policy which is the one premise I have a hard time believing Bolton would accept but Bolton may be dumber and more arrogant than we know. The article goes on to say that once the intelligence circles have been cleaned out of the Comey/Clapper/Brennan holdovers Bolton will be shown the door. Trump is unpredictable (like congradulating Putin and then expelling 60-Russian diplomats) but lets hope that he is playing Bolton and intends to dump him before he can do any damage.
freedom lover – very interesting post! Makes a lot of sense. Let’s hope that’s the case.
Where in the article is Pence mentioned? What is disconcerting is to find the comments section infested with right wing nutjobs.
Dan Good – it is implied in this statement: “But as Stormy Daniels and Robert Mueller close in on Trump…”
Cohn wants to bypass the election cycle and go straight for impeachment, which makes Pence president by default.
I agree with you wholeheartedly. When I saw Ms. Cohn was the author of this piece, I knew from the quantity of articles she has had at g. research.ca that this would consist of another hit piece on President Trump. In perusing the pieces on her site , you can see for yourself a plethora of them, and I located only one mildly condemning the previous President. She is a criticaster of President Trump. For a more nuanced piece with the facts that are conveniently always left out of this conversation see Eric’s piece of 3/29/18 “Trump’s End Game” on g. research.ca
And I have already condemned this choice for National Security Advisor and dreaded that it could take place.