Exclusive: The U.S. intelligence community’s extraordinary campaign of leaks claiming improper ties between President Trump’s team and Russia seeks to ensure a lucrative New Cold War by blocking detente, reports Gareth Porter.
By Gareth Porter
Opponents of the Trump administration have generally accepted as fact the common theme across mainstream media that aides to Donald Trump were involved in some kind of illicit communications with the Russian government that has compromised the independence of the administration from Russian influence.
CIA Director John Brennan addresses officials at the Agency’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia. (Photo credit: CIA)
But close analysis of the entire series of leaks reveals something else that is equally sinister in its implications: an unprecedented campaign by Obama administration intelligence officials, relying on innuendo rather than evidence, to exert pressure on Trump to abandon any idea of ending the New Cold War and to boost the campaign to impeach Trump.
A brazen and unprecedented intervention in domestic U.S. politics by the intelligence community established the basic premise of the cascade of leaks about alleged Trump aides’ shady dealing with Russia. Led by CIA Director John Brennan, the CIA, FBI and NSA issued a 25-page assessment on Jan. 6 asserting for the first time that Russia had sought to help Trump win the election.
Brennan had circulated a CIA memo concluding that Russia had favored Trump and had told CIA staff that he had met separately with Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and FBI Director James Comey and that they had agreed on the “scope, nature and intent of Russian interference in our presidential election.”
In the end, however, Clapper refused to associate himself with the document and the NSA, which agreed to do so, was only willing to express “moderate confidence” in the judgment that the Kremlin had sought to help Trump in the election. In intelligence community parlance, that meant that the NSA considered the idea the Kremlin was working to elect Trump was merely plausible, not actually supported by reliable evidence.
In fact, the intelligence community had not even obtained evidence that Russia was behind the publication by Wikileaks of the e-mails Democratic National Committee, much less that it had done so with the intention of electing Trump. Clapper had testified before Congress in mid-November and again in December that the intelligence community did not know who had provided the e-mails to WikiLeaks and when they were provided.
The claim – by Brennan with the support of Comey – that Russia had “aspired” to help Trump’s election prospects was not a normal intelligence community assessment but an extraordinary exercise of power by Brennan, Comey and NSA Director Mike Rogers.
Brennan and his allies were not merely providing a professional assessment of the election, as was revealed by their embrace of the the dubious dossier compiled by a private intelligence firm hired by one of Trump’s Republican opponents and later by the Clinton campaign for the specific purpose of finding evidence of illicit links between Trump and the Putin regime.
Salacious Gossip
When the three intelligence agencies gave the classified version of their report to senior administration officials in January they appended a two-page summary of the juiciest bits from that dossier – including claims that Russian intelligence had compromising information about Trump’s personal behavior while visiting Russia. The dossier was sent, along with the assessment that Russia was seeking to help Trump get elected, to senior administration officials as well as selected Congressional leaders.
Donald Trump speaking with supporters at a campaign rally at Fountain Park in Fountain Hills, Arizona. March 19, 2016. (Flickr Gage Skidmore)
Among the claims in the private intelligence dossier that was summarized for policymakers was the allegation of a deal between the Trump campaign and the Putin government involving full Trump knowledge of the Russian election help and a Trump pledge – months before the election – to sideline the Ukraine issue once in office. The allegation – devoid of any verifiable information – came entirely from an unidentified “Russian emigre” claiming to be a Trump insider, without any evidence provided of the source’s actual relationship to the Trump camp or of his credibility as a source.
After the story of the two-page summary leaked to the press, Clapper publicly expressed “profound dismay” about the leak and said the intelligence community “has not made any judgment that the information in this document is reliable,” nor did it rely on it any way for our conclusions.”
One would expect that acknowledgment to be followed by an admission that he should not have circulated it outside the intelligence community at all. But instead Clapper then justified having passed on the summary as providing policymakers with “the fullest possible picture of any matters that might affect national security.”
By that time, U.S. intelligence agencies had been in possession of the material in the dossier for several months. It was their job to verify the information before bringing it to the attention of policymakers.
A former U.S. intelligence official with decades of experience dealing with the CIA as well other intelligence agencies, who insisted on anonymity because he still has dealings with U.S. government agencies, told this writer that he had never heard of the intelligence agencies making public unverified information on a U.S. citizen.
“The CIA has never played such a open political role,” he said.
The CIA has often tilted its intelligence assessment related to a potential adversary in the direction desired by the White House or the Pentagon and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but this is the first time that such a slanted report impinges not only on domestic politics but is directed at the President himself.
The egregious triple abuse of the power in publishing a highly partisan opinion on Russia and Trump’s election, appending raw and unverified private allegations impugning Trump’s loyalty and then leaking that fact to the media begs the question of motive. Brennan, who initiated the whole effort, was clearly determined to warn Trump not to reverse the policy toward Russia to which the CIA and other national security organizations were firmly committed.
A few days after the leak of the two-page summary, Brennan publicly warned Trump about his policy toward Russia. In an interview on Fox News, he said, “I think Mr. Trump has to understand that absolving Russia of various actions that it’s taken in the past number of years is a road that he, I think, needs to be very, very careful about moving down.”
Graham Fuller, who was a CIA operations officer for 20 years and was also National Intelligence Officer for the Middle East for four years in the Reagan administration, observed in an e-mail, that Brennan, Clapper and Comey “might legitimately fear Trump as a loose cannon on the national scene,” but they are also “dismayed at any prospect that the official narrative against Russia could start falling apart under Trump, and want to maintain the image of constant and dangerous Russian intervention into affairs of state.”
Flynn in the Bull’s Eye
As Trump’s National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn presented an easy target for a campaign to portray the Trump team as being in Putin’s pocket. He had already drawn heavy criticism not only by attending a Moscow event celebrating the Russian television RT in 2016 but sitting next to Putin and accepting a fee for speaking at the event. More importantly, however, Flynn had argued that the United States and Russia could and should cooperate in their common interest of defeating Islamic State militants.
Retired U.S. Army lieutenant general Michael Flynn at a campaign rally for Donald Trump at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Oct. 29, 2016. (Flickr Gage Skidmore)
That idea was anathema to the Pentagon and the CIA. Obama’s Defense Secretary Ashton Carter had attacked Secretary of State John Kerry’s negotiating a Syrian ceasefire that included a provision for coordination of efforts against Islamic State. The official investigation of the U.S. attack on Syrian forces on Sept. 17 turned up evidence that CENTCOM had deliberately targeted the Syrian military sites with the intention of sabotaging the ceasefire agreement.
The campaign to bring down Flynn began with a leak from a “senior U.S. government official” to Washington Post columnist David Ignatius about the now-famous phone conversation between Flynn and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak on Dec. 29. In his column on the leak, Ignatius avoided making any explicit claim about the conversation. Instead, he asked “What did Flynn say, and did it undercut the U.S. sanctions?”
And referring to the Logan Act, the 1799 law forbidding a private citizen from communicating with a foreign government to influence a “dispute” with the United States, Ignatius asked, “Was its spirit violated?”
The implications of the coy revelation of the Flynn conversation with Kislyak were far-reaching. Any interception of a communication by the NSA or the FBI has always been considered one of the most highly classified secrets in the U.S. intelligence universe of secrets. And officers have long been under orders to protect the name of any American involved in any such intercepted communication at all costs.
But the senior official who leaked the story of Flynn-Kislyak conversation to Ignatius – obviously for a domestic political purpose – did not feel bound by any such rule. That leak was the first move in a concerted campaign of using such leaks to suggest that Flynn had discussed the Obama administration’s sanctions with Kislyak in an effort to undermine Obama administration policy.
The revelation brought a series of articles about denials by the Trump transition team, including Vice President-elect Mike Pence, that Flynn had, in fact, discussed sanctions with Kislyak and continued suspicions that Trump’s aides were covering up the truth. But the day after Trump was inaugurated, the Post itself reported that the FBI had begun in late December go back over all communications between Flynn and Russian officials and “had not found evidence of wrongdoing or illicit ties to the Russian government….”
Two weeks later, however, the Post reversed its coverage of the issue, publishing a story citing “nine current and former officials, who were in senior positions at multiple agencies at the time of the calls,” as saying that Flynn had “discussed sanctions” with Kislyak.
The story said Flynn’s conversation with Kislyak was “interpreted by some senior U.S. officials as an inappropriate and potentially illegal signal to the Kremlin that it could expect a reprieve from sanctions that were being imposed by the Obama administration in late December to punish Russia for its alleged interference in the 2016 election.”
The Post did not refer to its own previous reporting of the FBI’s unambiguous view contradicting that claim, which suggested strongly that the FBI was trying to head off a plan by Brennan and Clapper to target Flynn. But it did include a crucial caveat on the phrase “discussed sanctions” that few readers would have noticed. It revealed that the phrase was actually an “interpretation” of the language that Flynn had used. In other words, what Flynn actually said was not necessarily a literal reference to sanctions at all.
Only a few days later, the Post reported a new development: Flynn had been interviewed by the FBI on Jan. 24 – four days after Trump’s inauguration – and had denied that he discussed sanctions in the conversation. But prosecutors were not planning to charge Flynn with lying, according to several officials, in part because they believed he would be able to “parse the definition of the word ‘sanctions’.” That implied that the exchange was actually focused not on sanctions per se but on the expulsion of the Russian diplomats.
Just hours before his resignation on Feb. 13, Flynn claimed in an interview with the Daily Caller that he had indeed referred only to the expulsion of the Russian diplomats.
“It wasn’t about sanctions. It was about the 35 guys who were thrown out,” Flynn said. “It was basically, ‘Look, I know this happened. We’ll review everything.’ I never said anything such as, ‘We’re going to review sanctions,’ or anything like that.”
The Russian Blackmail Ploy
Even as the story of the Flynn’s alleged transgression in the conversation with the Russian Ambassador was becoming a political crisis for Donald Trump, yet another leaked story surfaced that appeared to reveal a shocking new level of the Trump administration’s weakness toward Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, following his address to the UN General Assembly on Sept. 28, 2015. (UN Photo)
The Post reported on Feb. 13 that Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, an Obama holdover, had decided in late January – after discussions with Brennan, Clapper and FBI Director James Comey in the last days of the Obama administration – to inform the White House Counsel Donald McGahn in late January that Flynn had lied to other Trump administration officials – including Vice President Mike Pence – in denying that he discussed sanctions with Kislyak. The Post cited “current and former officials” as the sources.
That story, repeated and amplified by many other news media, led to Flynn’s downfall later that same day. But like all of the other related leaks, the story revealed more about the aims of the leakers than about links between Trump’s team and Russia.
The centerpiece of the new leak was that the former Obama administration officials named in the story had feared that “Flynn put himself in a compromising position” in regard to his account of the conversation with Kislyak to Trump members of the Trump transition.
Yates had told the White House that Flynn might be vulnerable to Russian blackmail because of the discrepancies between his conversation with the Ambassador and his story to Pence, according to the Post story.
But once again the impression created by the leak was very different from the reality behind it. The idea that Flynn had exposed himself to a potential Russian blackmail threat by failing to tell Pence exactly what had transpired in the conversation was fanciful in the extreme.
Even assuming that Flynn had flatly lied to Pence about what he had said in the meeting – which was evidently not the case – it would not have given the Russians something to hold over Flynn, first because it was already revealed publicly and second, because the Russian interest was to cooperate with the new administration.
The ex-Obama administration leakers were obviously citing that clumsy (and preposterous) argument as an excuse to intervene in the internal affairs of the new administration. The Post’s sources also claimed that “Pence had a right to know that he had been misled….” True or not, it was, of course, none of their business.
Pity for Pence
The professed concern of the Intelligence Community and Justice Department officials that Pence deserved the full story from Flynn was obviously based on political considerations, not some legal principle. Pence was a known supporter of the New Cold War with Russia, so the tender concern for Pence not being treated nicely coincided with a strategy of dividing the new administration along the lines of policy toward Russia.
Mike Pence speaking with supporters at a campaign rally for Donald Trump at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. August 2, 2016. (Flickr Gage Skidmore)
All indications are that Trump and other insiders knew from the beginning exactly what Flynn had actually said in the conversation, but that Flynn had given Pence a flat denial about discussing sanctions without further details.
On Feb. 13, when Trump was still trying to save Flynn, the National Security Adviser apologized to Pence for “inadvertently” having failed to give him a complete account, including his reference to the expulsion of the Russian diplomats. But that was not enough to save Flynn’s job.
The divide-and-conquer strategy, which led to Flynn’s ouster, was made effective because the leakers had already created a political atmosphere of great suspicion about Flynn and the Trump White House as having had illicit dealings with the Russians. The normally pugnacious Trump chose not to respond to the campaign of leaks with a detailed, concerted defense. Instead, he sacrificed Flynn before the end of the very day the Flynn “blackmail” story was published.
But Trump’s appears to have underestimated the ambitions of the leakers. The campaign against Flynn had been calculated in part to weaken the Trump administration and ensure that the new administration would not dare to reverse the hardline policy of constant pressure on Putin’s Russia.
Many in Washington’s political elite celebrated the fall of Flynn as a turning point in the struggle to maintain the existing policy orientation toward Russia. The day after Flynn was fired the Post’s national political correspondent, James Hohmann, wrote that the Flynn “imbroglio” would now make it “politically untenable for Trump to scale back sanctions to Moscow” because the “political blowback from hawkish Republicans in Congress would be too intense….”
But the ultimate target of the campaign was Trump himself. As neoconservative journalist Eli Lake put it, “Flynn is only the appetizer. Trump is the entree.”
Susan Hennessey, a well-connected former lawyer in the National Security Agency’s Office of General Counsel who writes the “Lawfare” blog at the Brookings Institution, agreed. “Trump may think Flynn is the sacrificial lamb,” she told The Guardian, “but the reality is that he is the first domino. To the extent the administration believes Flynn’s resignation will make the Russia story go away, they are mistaken.”
The Phony “Constant Contacts” Story
No sooner had Flynn’s firing been announced than the next phase of the campaign of leaks over Trump and Russia began. On Feb. 14, CNN and the New York Times published slight variants of the same apparently scandalous story of numerous contacts between multiple members of the Trump camp with the Russian at the very time the Russians were allegedly acting to influence the election.
There was little subtlety in how mainstream media outlets made their point. CNN’s headline was, “Trump aides were in constant touch with senior Russian officials during campaign.” The Times headline was even more sensational: “Trump Campaign Aides Had Repeated Contacts with Russian Intelligence.”
But the attentive reader would soon discover that the stories did not reflect those headlines. In the very first paragraph of the CNN story, those “senior Russian officials” became “Russians known to U.S. intelligence,” meaning that it included a wide range Russians who are not officials at all but known or suspected intelligence operatives in business and other sectors of society monitored by U.S. intelligence. A Trump associate dealing with such individuals would have no idea, of course, that they are working for Russian intelligence.
The Times story, on the other hand, referred to the Russians with whom Trump aides were said to be in contact last year as “senior Russian intelligence officials,” apparently glossing over a crucial distinction that sources had had made to CNN between intelligence officials and Russians being monitored by U.S. intelligence.
But the Times story acknowledged that the Russian contacts also included government officials who were not intelligence officials and that the contacts had been made not only by Trump campaign officials but also associates of Trump who had done business in Russia. It further acknowledged it was “not unusual” for American business to come in contact with foreign intelligence officials, sometimes unwittingly in Russia and Ukraine, where “spy services are deeply embedded in society.”
Even more important, however, the Times story made it clear that the intelligence community was seeking evidence that Trump’s aides or associates were colluding with the Russians on the alleged Russian effort to influence the election, but that it had found no evidence of any such collusion. CNN failed to report that crucial element of the story.
The headlines and lead paragraphs of both stories, therefore, should have conveyed the real story: that the intelligence community had sought evidence of collusion by Trump aides with Russia but had not found it several months after reviewing the intercepted conversations and other intelligence.
Unwitting Allies of the War Complex?
Former CIA Director Brennan and other former Obama administration intelligence officials have used their power to lead a large part of the public to believe that Trump had conducted suspicious contacts with Russian officials without having the slightest evidence to support the contention that such contacts represent a serious threat to the integrity of the U.S. political process.
The Women’s March on Washington passing the Trump International Hotel. January 21, 2017. (Photo: Chelsea Gilmour)
Many people who oppose Trump for other valid reasons have seized on the shaky Russian accusations because they represent the best possibility for ousting Trump from power. But ignoring the motives and the dishonesty behind the campaign of leaks has far-reaching political implications. Not only does it help to establish a precedent for U.S. intelligence agencies to intervene in domestic politics, as happens in authoritarian regimes all over the world, it also strengthens the hand of the military and intelligence bureaucracies who are determined to maintain the New Cold War with Russia.
Those war bureaucracies view the conflict with Russia as key to the continuation of higher levels of military spending and the more aggressive NATO policy in Europe that has already generated a gusher of arms sales that benefits the Pentagon and its self-dealing officials.
Progressives in the anti-Trump movement are in danger of becoming an unwitting ally of those military and intelligence bureaucracies despite the fundamental conflict between their economic and political interests and the desires of people who care about peace, social justice and the environment.
Gareth Porter is an independent investigative journalist and winner of the 2012 Gellhorn Prize for journalism. He is the author of the newly published Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare.
Just curious…when was Consortium News bought out by Breitbart/Bannon? Completely caught me off guard
the time for rebellion is yesterday. u.s. society is on the edge of existence and those miscreants in the deep state know that their edge is getting sharper. while trump is grossly inexperienced and has stumbled into the hornet’s nest will he prevail and maintain power and position? the bottom line is will the fascists overtly exercise power and create hell. damn close.
I saw a u-tube this morning which indicated that one young woman at the state department had had an attempt at her life (the brakes of the car were cut.). She evidently was the only one with a picture of Trump on her desk. He better get on the ball with ‘You’re fired’ or he will drown in the swamp before he gets it drained.
“Progressives in the anti-Trump movement are in danger of becoming an unwitting ally of those military and intelligence bureaucracies despite the fundamental conflict between their economic and political interests and the desires of people who care about peace, social justice and the environment.”
Irony now comes pre-packaged with the stench of self-sabotage. The empire’s rot spreads to all quarters.
I trusted Gorbachev. Yeltsin was a drunken clown. Putin is KGB; he IS the Russian Deep State.
Thank You Gareth,
For exposing the the US Intelligence Analysis of Russian Propaganda efforts to influence American public opinion in general, and the 2012 and 2016 US elections in particular. Aside from the obvious source linkages with Anti-Russian propaganda, which surely they are since we are deeply into a propaganda war of cyber-informatic proportions. One might ask if there was a time when the Intelligence Voices of America might have attempted to influence Russian public opinion, or Russian elections?
It’s probable that many readers of this site will have recently remembered the Time Magazine front page article in their July 15, 1996 issue, “Yanks to the Rescue” – The Secret Story of How American Advisers Helped Yeltsin Win”. As this 21 year old article is prior to our current age of “fake news” we can safely assume it to be “real” news I suppose. My parents read Time Magazine! My question simply is to our authorities, if we can freely interfere with other countries elections to produce a desired result (and Boris Yeltsin was behind 14% when the US political cavalry were secretly called in, as flat screen TV salesmen), then how are we to expect the Russians to be so stupid as not to pick up on these election interference techniques and perhaps even apply them around the world in grand fashion, just as we have blithely done in a good many countries for decades? Oh, we are the only ones who get to do this?
Perhaps strangely, we do such a thing “secretly”, and then proudly brag about it by having a story boldly published in Time Magazine, a scion of the free press, that our private enterprise election cavalry saved Russian democracy from falling into the Communist abyss. It is just as strange the so few folks have picked up on this in the main stream today, or even the side stream press? Thanks again Gareth.
It seems to me that it’s business as usual a campaign of Lies for the presidency continues and no one knows the truth. Who said what where when? Honestly is no in the Constitution for the men running this country ever. As Trump has said many times sad.
This conduct unsuitable for this country:
https://medium.com/@Chris_arnade/usa-a-third-world-county-in-the-making-14064ea5c534#.qikcvn4tg
USA: A Third World Country in the making
https://umairhaque.com/the-worlds-first-poor-rich-country-53c2957e23a1#.8049n7fqx
The World’s First Poor Rich Country
And What Happens to it Next
Meanwhile country soon to have majority of poor people. It is sad to see leadership so out of tune with reality.
Who in the due political process is rightfully entitled to establish foreign policy and how should the public be informed? It seems to me that the intelligence agencies should inform the process by providing unbiased and policy oriented analysis. In a world of covert and undisclosed operations affecting democratically elected gouvernements such as engaged by CIA operatives, it isn’t surprising that unavowed interests where conflicts created justify military expenditures, might go against the best interests of the people. Who benefits from peace? Who benefits from war? Conflict can be resolved and peace can be established if such is the policy. When will this be official and implemented as such?
On trying to extract some positive aspect from this very good article, I find that it at least seems beyond doubt now, that Trump does (or did?) intend to improve relations to Russia. Even that was not always from the beginning on quite clear. Still, it remains interesting, how this battle will develop. In my mind, the intelligence community must have great qualms to just get rid of Trump ( as I don’t doubt they could) – because of the danger of a resulting civil war in America. In so far, I believe, it’s a different situation to the Kennedy era. But who knows? Maybe my opinion is just wishful thinking.
I see a convergence of different interests. There is the interest of the Hillary camp to excuse why they lost. There is the interest of the New Cold War camp to ensure their war.
There is some common identity there too, because Hillary is a hawk who did promise the New Cold Warriors what they wanted, among her other sell outs and betrayals of Democratic voters.
However, the overlap is only partial.
The mainstream press was a part of the Hillary campaign, entirely coopted. It has also been a consistent megaphone for power as in the Iraq War fiasco by the same New Cold War people. However, the ties to the media are different.
Hillary’s links are higher up the chain, editorial. The war hawks do their work by the reporters themselves, control of access journalism, really the embed idea done here at home. The powers that be can and sometimes do call on the editors for compliance, as in suppressing some stories, however that is not their routine method. Hillary’s campaign as routine used editorial review privileges on the coverage of the election.
Our media is part of this problem. Hillary’s team is part of the problem. It goes far beyond the New Cold Warriors.
excellent article.
The “Deep State” is beginning to reveal itself in desperation to get rid of Trump. Especially concerning is the CIA’s sudden overt interest in U.S. internal governing. This is unprecedented, and very dangerous. As the article says, Flynn is the appetizer; Trump is the entrée. Not that I’d weep if Agent Orange was deposed, except we are then faced with Pence and the possibility of America becoming a “Christian nation” on steroids.
We’re witnessing a coup attempt by America’s secret political police, the FBI.
It’s important to realize that the FBI polices all other domestic police agencies, as well as politicians, but NOBODY polices the FBI. Since the FBI operates in secrecy, it can tell any lie or commit any crime without fear of prosecution.
The CIA operates the same way, but generally confines its crimes to foreign countries.
So what’s scarier: Trump for four more years or an FBI/CIA puppet in his place?
Thank you for this gallant effort. Insiduously, deep state will now even “support” (exploit) genuine Trump critics.
It is analog to Barbara Tuchman’s research and documented work in “The Zimmermann Telegram” in manipulating American public opinion about entering WW1 at a time when peace negotiations (contacts with the enemy) would have achieved rapid peace and much more political and economic advantages than a full-fledged participation with “boots on the ground” than the slaughter that followed. Fake News had Wilson and the American public believe that the Kaiser had plans to conquer Texas, and then even take Canada…Texan newspapers then printed stories about large numbers of German military having been seen in Mexico…
Also recommend Arthur Schlesinger’s “War and the American Presidency”, wherein he Charts the outcome of this current match between President Trump and deep state.
I like this less and less the more I read about it. It being this concerted effort to overturn an election. I confess to not wanting his Orangeness for our chief executive but I do not like the small but powerful group of people who have very Republican like decided this man is not fit to govern. And Bush II was? Where exactly is the line? Bush ginned up a phony war, gave the billionaires a trillion dollar tax cut, then fought an illegal war for another couple of trillion that he didn’t pay for, and Trump is not fit to govern? So far as I can see Trump doesn’t support the neo-con goal of total emasculation of the hundreds of millions of Arab Muslims nor does he buy the Russians are coming, another neo-con war wish. That seems to be their standard that he fails to meet. And I happen to not want another phony war too. I suspect a majority of Americans would rather spend a trillion here at home than in the Middle East on another ginned up war against people that are no threat to us. And the Russian stuff is no less than existential, they have enough nuclear horse power to create nuclear winter all by themselves, we wouldn’t have to even fire a missile. Kind of crazy to tug on superman’s cape isn’t it? Just because we kill a few million more of them than they do of us doesn’t make us a winner. And the evidence against Russia is less than conclusive and no more than we do if it is true. When we don’t like electoral results we have often just overturned them with a coup. Been doing it for decades. These accusations sound like the gendarme in Casablanca discovering gambling at Rick’s. Disingenuous. Trump’s appointment disappoint me but Impeachment? This death by a thousand cuts strategy is getting old and does seem to support some of Trumps’ allegations about the press. This does not seem to be an innocent confluence of opinion reaching critical mass. It has all the traits of an organized effort and again, it seems to be intended to overturn the election. My side lost and that doesn’t please me, but truth is we blew, rather hillary and her gang blew it and got caught cheating and that’s how he got the job. You don’t get do overs in this game. I find these people trying to reverse the election at least as dangerous as trump. Difference is he got elected, fair and square.
It’s becoming more clear that this has very little to do with Trump. After all who in their right mind would trade Trump for any of those in the line of succession? This is clearly a case of intimidation to get Trump to help establish a new cold war with Russia that could actually mark a direct confrontation. This war cannot end well for anyone.
And just what “free press” is Trump attacking? Please don’t tell me the six major corporations with their own un-American agendas that control 90% of the media are a “free press.” These media giants need to be broken up as much as the big banks do.
An excellent article by Gareth Porter on New Cold Warriors cornering Trump.
How terrible and sad it is that such a great change for the world as America
developing good relations with Russia has been torpedoed by the Democrats
who failed to win the election. What a sinister undermining of a failing American
democracy has occurred with the CIA and other intelligence agencies intervening
without any real evidence to overturn a new policy direction of the newly elected
president Trump. It has happened before in America, however, in a different way, when
John F. Kennedy was assassinated. That put a stop to the changes he wished to bring
to the American political system.
“But close analysis of the entire series of leaks reveals something else that is equally sinister in its implications: an unprecedented campaign by Obama administration intelligence officials, relying on innuendo rather than evidence, to exert pressure on Trump to abandon any idea of ending the New Cold War and to boost the campaign to impeach Trump.”
So much the better. Get rid of him.
I recall the co-chairs of the 9-11 Commission appearing together on the Charlie Rose Show. They discussed the difficulty they had in obtaining the Daily Presidential Briefings and their quality. Tom Keane said they were so poor, he’d give them an “F”. Lee Hamilton said he’d go a “D-“. Then added, “What bothered me more than the quality was how political they were.” “W” didn’t know what was coming his way. Leading America into War should have been considered treason. Interesting to note the forger of the Niger Document”, clearly a crime of the highest order was never flushed out.
I have been unable to locate that edition of The Charlie Rose Show.
You absolutely cracked me up, mike k, Gotterdamnerung! We need some Wagnerian music to go with the popcorn!
Goetterdaemmerung created by the genius of Richard Wagner. The very man idolised by Adolf Hitler. The greatest bogeyman of the 20th century.
We can’t blame Wagner if that insane murderer Hitler had good taste in music…. :)
(I like Neuenfels take on the 2012 Lohengrin from Bayreuth conducted by Andris Nelsons (DVD Opus Arte). The King is portrayed as delusional and the soldiers of Brabant are portrayed as rats, a couple of whom get dragged off for trying to kill the King with a sword for sending them to war… )
In a cartoon used during the production the King is portrayed as a demented dog who drives himself (to war?) till he drops, all the while the little rats cling to him.
Third ACT someone put on youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN2TlupWWsU&t=38s
The DVD has interviews with the artistic director and principles.
The game’s afoot….. This is all unfolding like an intriguing spy novel. Except of course we will be the very real victims of all this derring-do in the end. Make some popcorn and sit back and enjoy this Gotterdammerung Epic, because you can’t do a damn thing about it.
I don’t think Putin is “cunning and dangerous” as he is being made out to be. I think he is defensive, from what I have read, a true Russian nationalist who is protective of Russia, a country with rich history and many travails its people have been through. Ted Tripp’s beautifully concise post here explains in a nutshell the reasons for western propaganda and disinformation about Russia, and the US has treated that nation very badly. I can’t imagine their FSB (formerly KGB) can be doing even half the evil the US CIA has done and continues to do. And, BTW, Obama stated in a speech that Putin was head of the KGB; he was not, was a German interpreter and translator as a young man out of college, rose to a very secondary post before leaving for politics as mayor of a Russian city, I believe.
The rulers have to have a boogeyman, and people are getting ISIS fatigue, hence Russia is a bigger one. Unfortunately, Trump only makes things worse with his schizoid positions on policy, and I’m sure by now Putin is distrustful that anything positive will come of it.
But it seems clear this empire is failing, has overextended itself like Rome, can’t keep it together and is flailing about to keep its power while not being able to pay for its misadventures, and continuing to impoverish most of its people while supporting only the lords of capital. What will future archaeologists say about the ruins?
There is readily available and cheap from the Book Depository (post free unlike Amazon!) a book of interviews with Vladimir Putin just after he became President. it is called “First Person”, explains all his early life up to 2000 and is frankly told and translated into American English. Really worth having-interviews also with former teacher, coaches, friends , wife, daughters.
He does not claim to be a saint but is also not a devil .
Washington warmonger are very active pushing Trump for another war, but where are the anti-war movement?
Movements take oragnisation, money, and favorable media exposure. Although the foot soldiers in a movement may be recruited from the underclasses, those three things must be supplied by insiders with wherewithall and influence. Apparently, no faction within the establishment wants an anti-war movement. Trump’s abortive campaign promises (whether made in sincerity or not) are as close as America is going to get to one. Maybe after an horrendous war breaks out and America starts bleeding profusely such a movement might arise. And, maybe even that would be ruthlessly suppressed with our efficient militarized police forces. This country is deep into despotism. Those on top see it as the only way to avoid economic and societal collapse. They are not going to allow a second revolution, the second amendment notwithstanding. They will make you go fight Russians rather than the domestic forces protecting them and their prerogatives.
Obama killed the anti-war movement, with the assistance of M$DNC.
State legislatures are now passing laws that will curtail the ability of citizens to gather and protest. One State has passed a law not to prosecute drivers who ram into and injure protesters, and another State has introduced a similar one.
The police have been heavily militarized. To the usual water cannons and tear gas, they have added rubber bullets, wooden bullets, plastic bullets, stun grenades and tasers. Many of these new weapons can be lethal.
I’m so tired of the propaganda from TPTB whose end point seems to be milking the public purse to keep the MIC afloat.
I’m sick of hearing from the MSM that the Russians influenced the election results – it is a huge insult to the voters’ and their honest long standing perceptions that Hillary Clinton was not to be trusted – who cares who leaked the emails?
The voters had decided long ago that the Clinton’s were not on their side given 30 years of bad policies.the leaks just proved what everybody “knew”, except those who were part of the patronage system and still in denial over endless wars for regime change and reckless deregulation of the reforms passed after the Great Depression.
Yes, all this and more……remember the BRICS nations and their plan to conduct business using other currencies besides the US dollar…..Russia is a huge player in the energy market……For the USA to remain viable the US dollar MUST remain the go to currency world wide period……If the US dollar loses market share it will be hell on earth for the citizens of USA…….There are many socialist in the governing system of the USA who would love to see the demise of the US dollar so they can implement their NWO system, somewhat like the failed EU…..Trump along with Kissinger want to give strength to the dollar by reorganizing the oil nations selling energy again in US dollars……or you my choose Obama and the EU’s new socialist system…………
Currently, the most intelligent leader of any country has to be Putin. Arguably he is also the most cunning and dangerous leader of any world government. One item that is glossed over is Trump’s visit to Russia several years ago. Given Putin’s background with the KGB it seems entirely possible that the Russians may have some rather embarrassing information concerning Trump. Also, there is the question about the possibility of a few of the Russian Oligarchs, at the persuasion of Putin, lending Trump money for his companies. It is indeed sad that journalism in America is under attack but part of the problem is the journalist community itself and their very lack of true investigative journalism. For too many years sensationalism in the media is what sold. So American media you have dug your own hole – now it’s time to reverse this process.
God Bless America
Loyalty to an imperial construct can degenerate into treason against civilization. That is the crime that the US deep state and its supporters are guilty of. Though I seriously doubt it, considering his limitations, and his failure to defend Flynn, hopefully Trump can retain enough independence to curb the out of control yankee state. At the very least, his is a probable breathing spell. We know what the result of the harpy’s victory would have been. I agree with Mr. Parry’s contention that he should release as many treasonable secrets, including the truth about the shot down Dutch flight over the Ukraine, as possible.
Funny that, the ‘investigators’ refused to accept the Russian radar tracking from the event, and oddly none of our myriad ‘NATO’ bases, nor the Ukrainian national systems were ever offered up. Just a glitch, I am sure.
Your post highlights the imbedded Cold War thinking .
Essentially you think the Russian could have done something – why do you think like this
1. Do you know Trump is nothing in terms of the business people who visit Russia to invest.
2. Russia has all the major hotel chains you can think of. Trump went to Russia but was not successful. He is relatively small fry to them. Exxon Mobil, total, BP
Are examples of real big business in Russia. The Germans also have their key businesses in Russia Siemens, BMW etc Trump is not in this league
3. Hence – why would Russia have been interested in Trump? To follow him look for incriminating information as you suggest – the kgb does not exist.
Many corporations go to Russia for the favourable business tax and market with low rouble. They are not spied on – are we not all capitalist now. What is the ideological difference ?
Well now there are questions about the possibilities of all sorts of things. The questions you say are “glossed over” seem to me rather “sensational” because they have no basis in anything but over-fevered simplistic imaginations.
It is not “indeed sad that journalism in America is under attack.” Journalism in America, such that it is, needs a good wringing trough the wash of criticism and correction.
God bless all the children of the world.
About motive: Yeltsin was Clinton’s pet bear and, under the guidance of the Chicago School of Economics, presided over the “shock therapy” that created Russian oligarchs and made fortunes for all who participated. It was rampant colonialism under US hegemony. Putin was a different kind of bear when he took over from Yeltsin, and he pushed back against the kleptocrats and restored Russian society and economy. For that reason, Russians love Putin and US hegemons hate him. Regime change would restore shock therapy; thus the New Cold War.
Ted everything you wrote here is true. I’m just wondering when the day may come when America will be lucky enough to gain our own Putin?
Putin himself is probably the most outstanding of the Russian Kleptocrats; see “Putin’s Kleptocracy, Who Owns Russia?” by Karen Dawisha (2014).
The Russian Central Bank has a foreign currency reserve of $395 billion
https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/RUREFEG:IND
Russia also has two sovereign wealth funds, the National Wealth Fund and the Stabilization Fund, each with assets running in the tens of billions of dollars.
Under kleptocrat Yeltsin, Russia’s financial reserves were practically nonexistent, because kleptocrat Yeltsin and his kleptocratic FreeMarketReformer buddies stole it all.
If Putin is such a kleptocrat, why haven’t Putin & his buddies stolen these funds and offshored the proceeds, like kleptocrat Yeltsin and his FreeMarketReformer buddies did?
Dawisha has no answer for that, and neither do you.
I’ll be the first to admit it rkka as an American I’m still learning what I can of Putin. I mean to tell you the proliferation of Putin material in America is astounding, and by the shear volume of it, it leaves one confused. Good material, bad material, if you want to like him then look over here, if you wish to hate him well then look over there. I’ll bet I could open up a chain of Putin only books, DVD’s, CD’s, and doll merchandise stores and get rich. There’s even books out there claiming Putin plagiarized his academic thesis from two American professors, so in that story Putin’s good side is he knows how smart the Americans are, and bad because he stole his thesis from two Americans. This coming from a country who hands out Grammy Awards to people who write songs in C, F, and G….not that there’s anything wrong with that, but come on fellow Americans give Putin a little credit, he runs a country and his people love him…we Americans should be so lucky.
Like I said I have a lot to learn about Putin, but us Americans should start working on our own leadership at home here in America. Unless you were sleep walking during this past presidential election you know how right I am.
Correct. The USA cannot bear independent leaders especially if they are popular at home. Putin is called a dictator (as if “we” hate them!) and the assumption he interferes in US elections has no evidence or even reason. Putin said he was used to SoS Clinton and expected her to win, and was willing to accept whoever the people of the USA chose. What a difference from the USA’s attitude when other nations choose leaders!! (Hugo Chavez, Manuel Zelaya, Rafael Correa, Bashar al-Hassad,to mention only recent examples). What possible benefit would Russia have if it were true, with evidence? It is ruining chances for détente just because of all the lies, so even if Trump wanted to, he cannot act, and that is as explained in the article. Putin has enough to deal with apart from the farcical elections in the USA.
Whatever chaos the Trump admin is in, or is in the process of catalyzing, this Russia-focus exposes the hard-core center of corruption in American politics. Trump as a force for this revelation obviously can’t be denied, though hatred of Trump on the so-called Left is blinding people to an alternate evil, and arguably the greater evil, they would apparently rather not contemplate. That the three major intelligence agencies turned political against Trump is a violation of their role in protecting the country to serve an elite. The FBI in fact did not conduct an investigation of the Russia charges but relied on crowdstrike, a highly biased source hired by the DNC and Clinton, to blow smoke toward Russia in covering what the leaks revealed. Further, what these leaks revealed is mostly being ignored in terms of DNC conniving against Sanders, and criminal behaviors of The Clinton Foundation. The result is the paradoxical mix of Trump as a force toward improvement with some of his ideas, and his incompetence to put these into effect. I do feel, additionally, that had Sanders prevailed he would be up against similar forces trying to block him or bring him down. The reeking interior in the exceptional nation is being laid bare.
Crowdstrike not only worked for the DNC, but also the Ukranian OUN(B) Factions in post-coup Kiev.
Correct on the “Bandera connection” in Ukraine. The owner of Crowdstrike is a Fellow at The Atlantic Council, which says it all.
Just as this ‘blaming Russia’ has worked for Hillary, this furthering down that Russia blame roadway is obscuring our view of possibly seeing what else is going on. I’m not just referring to anything Trump is up to. Why it’s wall to wall Trump, maybe to much Trump. What I’m saying, is while we are all getting hung up on Trump, I ask you, what in the hell else is going on. While we should be talking about the Dakota Access people being trampled over to bring a new pipeline on board, or other important pressing matters like Mosul, no we talk about Sean Spicer favoring selective news outlets to WH gaggles….whatever gaggle is.
So Trump isn’t going to attend the White House Correspondents Dinner, and Democrate’s want to open an investigation in Russian involvement in U.S. elections….we as a society have finally met the qualifications to be diagnosed as a totally insane lot of Yankee Doodle dandies & me lady’s. Why what we see before us of ourselves is but a symptom of our core disease…we love war and domination, and we rob from our national treasures and then we lie about it.
I could give you hundreds of reasons why we should knock it off with this ‘blaming Russia’ theme. The easiest way America could end all war, is the quit fighting them. Russia this year actually is said to have cut back on defense spending, and yet America continues to increase ours. I say this, so what if Putin is an oligarch killer? Get use to it, it’s Russia’s business not ours, so leave it alone.
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While at this point in time I refuse to stick up for Trump, I will not put all the blame on America’s current dysfunctional condition solely on Trump for we didn’t get this way all because of Trump. Let’s face it our whole system is shredding apart, and it took time to get to this place we are all in. If I had to advice someone to learn how America got to this point, why I would just instruct them to start reading American history.
Bernie Sanders, Ron Paul along with son Rand, and I’ll throw in Dennis Kucinich, if made president would be a good barometer to measure just how authoritarian the Deep State is over a sitting President. I will bet that even those indecent minded politicians all would lose and yield to TPTB. I’m very suspicious of what went on behind closed doors between President Trump and his Cabinet or Deep State sponsors, and what they may have been able to persuade Trump with to toss Flynn to the curb. Trump when Flynn got dumped didn’t sound like a man who just dumped another man, so I ask you, who told Trump to dump Flynn.
And no I’m not a Trump supporter!
‘indecent’Should be ‘independent’….this time it wasn’t me it was this Apple spell check, and possibly these politicians are indecent but I don’t know that and who cares?
Here this linked article is a good example of how bad our MSM is….this will never appear in our MSM news;
http://journal-neo.org/2017/02/25/it-s-no-rocket-science-to-establish-those-responsible-for-the-nuclear-contamination-of-europe/
If it does end up reported by the MSM Russia will be blamed for it.
The whole thing of the “Russians did it” was carefully planned by Obama and the “intelligence” agencies. His changing of the rule on allowing dissemination of information to all the agencies that previously was not allowed was done right before leaving office (which shows it had a specific purpose) and allowed cover as to which agency illegally made Flynn’s call available to the media etc. Obama et al should be up for sedition/treason — a major super power and Republic should not operate as a banana republic. There is no doubt that Obama set this trap, he should have to pay for doing so: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-18/jay-sekulow-obama-should-be-held-accountable-soft-coup-attempt-against-trump
I think people (conservatives) give Obama too much credit. As if Obama was ever “pulling strings”. He wanted to be non interventionist, same as trump but the war machine kept on moving. It’s still going with trump.
People need to get over this left/right garbage. Blaming Obama or bush or trump. The real power has been pushing it’s agenda regardless of who the puppet who talks to the TV cameras is.
You’re doing exactly what the corporatocracy wants you to do. Quoting Sean Hannity or Rachel maddow. Half the people blaming the other half the people over abortions and bathrooms. Meanwhile your tax dollars go to build military bases in 140 different countries or building drones to kill women and children and “suspected terrorists” , overthrowing democratically elected leaders in the middle east (which leads to refugee crises’) or overthrowing democratically elected governments in Latin America ( where your illegal aliens come from).
I don’t see the the “never trumpers” or the tea party talking about that.
No disrespect.
Clyates I’m at the point now, where I refuse to take a side. This battle between the Trump people and the whatever you want to call them, the Hillary people, CIA Brennan people, or MSM, is a fight between the oligarchs. We little people are their cannon fodder.
If you criticize the MSM or CIA well then you are a Trump supporter. If you criticize Trump well then you are a MSM, CIA, Hillary supporter. Trying to stay inside the lines of truth just gets you in trouble. Clyates you said it well, we need to get over this left/right crap.
Neither Trump nor the Hillary’s of our time have our best interest at heart. Trump was a breath of fresh air during the campaign when he reached out towards Putin, because we need peace. There again he shakes his fist at Iran and China, and I ask why. He puts in his Cabinet the worst of the worst, but still people insist he knows what he’s doing. Trump is not the answer.
I’m finding it difficult to see any good guys or gals at the top of the pyramid. We are all being played for suckers, but there again when haven’t we?
Yes, there are no good people at the top. Whether or not Trump continues the warmongering, he will discrediyt himself in domestic policy and send his supporters fleeing leftward. Whether a true populist arises depends upon whether we have a truly progressive party to beat the Dems to their usual oligarchy role as a center-right identity-politics backstop for the Repubs.
That is unlikely because true populists don’t get hundred-million donations. Only the oligarchs and traitors can steal funding by various means.
Joe B it is nice to have you agree. I believe this is a fight where we common folk are being used in a top level 1% civil war, and the benefits for us down here no matter who wins will be none.
Clyates I’m at the point now, where I refuse to take a side.
The choice, Joe, is cholera or bubonic plague.
Good, as long it isn’t being tied to a chair and having to listen to a continuous loop of Hillary giving her AIPAC speech.
The very thought of Trump beating (like a drum) 17 other candidates in the Republican party, then taking down Clinton just shows how far along the path to rot and ruin we are in this country. Because he was NOT ‘a breath of fresh air’, and did not ‘bring hope’. He was and is a raving narcissist, a bad joke from day one. And his party is for nothing! Nothing but ‘I have mine and want yours, too.’ Tea party mobs that just wanted to take things from others, the giant ‘vampire squid’ of banks and business, the religious zealots that don’t espouse a ‘Christian’ thought in their shrieking about what others may be doing. Libertarian crackpots, spend only for defense “of MY compound!’ and maybe my road. Unwind any ‘common good’, any social cohesion.
And the left is just as bad if not worse. Since the end of the Vietnam War, they and their offspring have become lazy, complacent. Where the right has fought a 35 year guerrilla war to get here now, the left ignored it and now look around and are still not fully aware of the hell that is coming. The fight is not and should not be just about Trump. Pence is a much bigger threat, as he is fully on board with the Ryan, McConnell ‘take us back to Dickensian times’ economic policies, along with his god-botherer intrusions into others lives.
Forget the ‘Empire’. We have to fight to have a country left over the next decade. If we don’t get WW3 first. Screw the parties. We have to fight as citizens.
I’m of the opinion Trump is out of his league, and the Pence side of the room know it. For the sake of the country I hope I’m wrong about Trump’s situation, but I have reasons for my doubts. I’m not all that sold on the powerful Bannon line either.
Look we have all known the Donald for a very long time. He’s Donald Trump, and he is what he is, but I don’t think he’s equipped to handle the crowd he has around him. It’s just not the CIA or the Russophobia crazed Democrate’s (the losers) it’s people within his Cabinet and Repubs looking to bring him down…you’ve heard the saying, ‘give him enough rope and he’ll hang himself’ well there you have it.
Actually it’s all out in the open. Watch Pence, Mattis, Tillerson (to some degree), and Haley, and then think of how sad Donald was when letting Fynn go. Trump wasn’t sold on Flynn doing anything wrong, but yet he gave Flynn the ‘You’re Fired’. Who ever said our media doesn’t report the news? On second thought let me correct that statement, our media beats you down with the news. Every once in awhile after being beat down, and you have time to recall what our media said then it hits you….hey, wait a dang minute what did Haley say, why was Flynn let go, and what did Donald do about any of it?
If Trump sounds like he’s still on the campaign trail, well he is. He’s maybe in the White House but he ain’t the real president…I’m not even sure who that is. I can tell you this it isn’t Reince Priebus, or Bannon, and Jared is out of the question, so who is it…. Well that’s a good question but I think it’s a ventriloquist by the name of Wizard of Oz and his dummy Mike Pence, but hey I’m just guessing of course.
Tomk – totally agree with you.
Great article. The “progressive” Identitarians
will buy ANYTHING so long as the Donald is
thrown out of office. Most of these “Resisters”
are pathetic zombies who just haven’t got a clue
about what’s really going on. This is exactly the kind of “citizenry” that is easily manipulated into obedience
and acceptance of War, and even, ultimately,
Nuclear War. God (if there is one) Save Us from
the psychotic powers-that-be, and their hysterical
enablers, the “progressive” Delusionals !!!
I remember the peace marches before the Iraq War and how confident we felt that he hundreds of millions around the world would be listened to. The disdain with which the British and American leaders treated their publics will long be remembered. It ripped the heart out of peace movements from then on. Remember the idiot who the media called the great decider. People, seeing their impassioned efforts for peace made no difference, simply gave up.
There haven’t been many hopeful signs since then, and I guess many felt at least Trump was saying things about foreign policy that other politicians were unwilling or afraid to say. So we voted for him and hoped. Watching the mob attack him day after day only makes him all the more a sympathetic figure. Some of us simply root for the under dog, no matter how many fleas he may have.
And it is early in the game.
“And it is early in the game.”
Yup, and what we’re seeing now is – it doesn’t matter much who is in The White House. (Save for Hillary Clinton nuking us all.)
The major problem in America is how the wealthy elite billionaires (hedge fund managers/Wall Street & Folks) along with the immense powers of Big Pharma, Big Insurance, the Military/Intel Construct all end up managing the country soley for *their* interests.
Nothing can be done to change this. The empire is dying.
But the empire will finally die of changes that can be done. It will decline economically as it is isolated and embargoed, which will bring more widespread anger at the oligarchy. There will be a sputtering of partial collapses due to corruption, and slowly increasing riots in cities followed by half-measures just to quell them. Most people will continue to be fooled most of the time. Totalitarian intrusions and police brutality will increase. There is a tipping point at which the mass media will be rejected for all news, possibly still far off, and the riots will become the major issues.
It is when the security forces cannot recruit or refuse to serve, that the oligarchy fails. That requires large militant factions of those whose lives were damaged by the oligarchy. The sooner the better.
“To root for the underdog, no matter how many flees he may have”.
Exactly why so many grasped for the straw of hope. However, sadly
it has more to do with the promise to return lost industries and work
than the easing of international tension. The average American citizen
is a nincompoop living in the world created by the Frankfurt School.
I believe it is time ordinary people started asking themselves, “Why are The Establishment, The Deep State and the Corporate Media all out to destroy Trump. Perhaps they have something to hide? I believe Trump needs to open up this box of dirty tricks and expose it to the world.
“Why are The Establishment, The Deep State and the Corporate Media all out to destroy Trump. Perhaps they have something to hide?”
Answer: MONEY and PRESTIGE: The US military/intel paradigm is given billions of US taxpayer $s every year. They want to ensure it stays that way.
Wishful thinking there, Trump has ordered more military spending.
He is just a tone deaf oaf stumbling his way around, and like a stuck clock he gets something right every so often.
Exactly. It is not just the MH-17/Ukraine/Syria/Honduras scams that should be exposed by Trump, but the entirety of the secret agency/mass media/MIC faction. They would also do well to expose the Dem funding by Saudi Arabia/Israel/Aipac as direct service to foreign powers, and even as Logan Act violations.
You can’t spend trillions on killing machines without an enemy. Too bad that an enemy of the right size is not currently available. Not too big, not too small, just the right size, Vietnam was perfect. Even that turned out perfectly if you’re in the killing machine business.
The “business” is not simply to create “killing machines.” Vietnam, like the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya were proxy wars against nations considered too friendly to Russia. The “business” is the arms industry per se, but rather the globalist world system put together following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. That system, dominated by the London-Wall Street banking cartel, with Brexit, Trump’s win and ouster of Renzi and soon Hollande. has now come apart and cannot be restored. The Obama/Soros engineered Nazi coup in Ukraine, which had nothing to do with democracy, was about creating a confrontation with Putin’s Russia is and is now being ramped up. The “color revolution” currently being run against the United States itself, by the same crowd, with the same funding, using the same methods, is intended to bring about the same result. That is, the ouster of President Trump and installation of an anti-Russian government which will confront Russia with the unthinkable.
Excellent article:
I believe, the question that must be asked is:
“Will the War Agenda of the War Criminals Result in Nuclear War? “
http://graysinfo.blogspot.ca/2017/02/will-war-agenda-of-war-criminals-result.html
But Trump’s appears to have underestimated the ambitions of the leakers.
Obviously, Trump and his team have lots to learn and to learn very quickly.
All that talk during the campaign about Trump bringing down the Republican party looks more and more like wishful thinking.
Meanwhile, the Obama legacy is being revealed as more sordid than any eulogy at his departure suggested.
The new strategy of the Obama/Clinton wing of the Dem party is to argue that they are to the right of the Republicans on National Security/military spending. At best that brings swing voters to them. At worst, it neutralizes an old club the Republicans used against them. It’s not a good development for the public, but when they can rally both the Deep State and the mainstream media around it then the Dem strategists feel good about it as a cynical move, truth not relevant. Trump can’t govern by rallying pro-authoritarian nobodies from the right. RNC loyalists would rather see him go and back Pence. The only one of these developments that serves the public interest is the exposure of the Deep State and its constant role in military-industrial-security-state corruption. Articles like Mr. Porters are essential. They can be made even stronger by pointing out that this happens over and over again. Nixon wants SALT and peace with China? Ex… JFK wants to pull out of Vietnam and not invade Cuba? Ex… Carter’s more peaceful than average? October Surprise! Obama tallks like liberal while spending and legislating like a hard-core hawk? Oh, they like that! More please….
I