Trump the Master Negotiator
As expected Iraq voted to kick out U.S. troops.
The Iraqi Parliament voted Sunday to obligate Iraq's government "to work towards ending the presence of all foreign troops on Iraqi soil," according to the media office of the Iraqi Parliament...
Iraqi officials were preparing a memorandum for the withdrawal of foreign forces Sunday, Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi told French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in a phone conversation.
Muqtada al-Sadr, a leading Shia cleric and the head of Iraq's largest political bloc, Saeroun, called the Iraqi Parliament's vote Sunday a "weak response in comparison to American violations of Iraqi sovereignty."He called for Parliament to terminate the security agreement with the United States immediately and to close the "evil American embassy" and all American bases immediately.
Do you remember when you were little and you messed up so big that you were terrified of the consequences? So instead of acting like an adult, you threw around outlandish threats?
He said that if Iran strikes any Americans or American assets, the US has targeted 52 Iranian sites -- a reference to the number of Americans taken hostage in the 1979 revolution -- "some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture," he wrote.
"They attacked us, & we hit back. If they attack again, which I would strongly advise them not to do, we will hit them harder than they have ever been hit before!" Trump wrote.
However, this isn't grade school, and Iran isn't going to back down.
An organizer for a funeral procession for General Qassem Soleimani called on all Iranians to donate $1 each 'in order to gather an $80million bounty on President Trump's head'...
As tensions escalate after Soleimani's death, Iranian MP Abolfazl Abutorabi threatened to launch an attack on American soil in retaliation.'We can attack the White House itself, we can respond to them on the American soil. We have the power, and God willing we will respond in an appropriate time,' Abutorabi said, according to the Iranian Labour News Agency.
Abutorabi went on to say that 'this is a declaration of war, which means if you hesitate you lose'.
Trump reacted like the man-child that he is, of course.
But the real kicker is how Trump has reacted to Iraq. Like a little bitch.
President Donald Trump threatened to impose deep sanctions on Iraq if it moves to expel U.S. troops and said Sunday he would not withdraw entirely unless the military is compensated for the "extraordinarily expensive air base" there.
Trump's remarks came on the same day that Iraq's Parliament voted to support expelling the U.S. military from its country over mounting anger about a drone strike the president ordered last week that killed Iran's Qasem Soleimani and earlier U.S. airstrikes in the country. The vote was nonbinding.
"We've spent a lot of money in Iraq," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned to Washington after spending the holidays at his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago.
"We have a very extraordinarily expensive air base that’s there. It cost billions of dollars to build....We’re not leaving unless they pay us back for it."
Comments
The Saker reports a Russian ship with some badass
missile capacity has moved into the local waters.
I wonder what sanction leverage Trump has for the Air base, since Iraq didn't ask for it in the first place.
Sanctions have worked so well in...?
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
How is this
even happening. Not one diplomat, or military advisor is
speaking upstopping this … how does anyone think any of this as acceptable?RIP
Your implication being..........
we have a reasonable department of defense or government?
The empire is done as it should be. It's not acceptable but It's a failure at the highest levels and the ride is just hitting it's apex. It's downhill from here.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
My implication being ...
in the past the administrations were not so much like a cult. The dearth of individuals with ethical and moral standards is appalling. No serious fiction writer would have described such a rapid transition to this state affairs, because, they want to have some element of believability in their work.
RIP
And now this
Trump says Tweet serves as ‘notification’ to Congress that U.S. may 'quickly & fully strike back’ against Iran
Unless he is stopped.
He won't be.
Congress ceded war power to the president long ago.
It is a slippery slope
The erosion process started many years ago but the magnitude of the slope has increased dramatically.
RIP
I'm not sure it was all that rapid.
Reagan waging war on Nicaragua by selling missiles to Iran and trafficking in cocaine. Invading harmless little Grenada.
Bush Sr. waging war on Iraq after his ambassador gives Saddam the greenlight to invade Kuwait. "Self-defense" invasion of Panama and overthrow of Noriega.
Clinton waging air war on Iraq. No fly zones. Iraq "Liberation" Act calling for regime change.
Bush Jr. -- nuff said.
Obama sanctioning assassination of American citizens. Continuation of existing wars. Expansion of wars into additional countries.
Trump merely follows in the footsteps of predecessors. His rhetoric is high-voltage, but his actions are just more of the same old same old.
Of this I am well aware ...
I remember well. I harbored refugees with a clandestine group(s). Staying one step ahead of the federal authorities is my speciality. The reality is sobering, but most people either don't want to listen, or they simple do not believe me. So here we are. I feel like I am on a treadmill and I am getting too old for this shit.
RIP
Treadmill
A treadmill that is gradually increasing its speed as each Congress further abrogates its responsibilities and as citizens slowly become number to the lawlessness.
Christian dominists are in control of the government
Pence and Pompeo are end time Christians and they think that when Israel is destroyed then Jesus will rapture them and it will be the beginning of the end times. This is why the evangelicals are supporting Trump. There was a celebration recently where people laid hands on Trump and prayed over him.
This is right out of Revelations and people who think like this think that gawd is taking his time setting this in motion and are doing it themselves. Barr is part of Opus Dei and..oh hell this is just too out there to finish. This is the cultists behavior.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
Objective Evidence
Here is the thing: If what you are saying represents objective reality, then the highest moral choice is for those of us that are still in touch with objective reality to remove (forcibly if necessary) these objectively mentally disturbed individuals from their positions of power.
As a member of the scientific cognoscenti I and others like me should be allowed (no, be required) to remove the various idiots from positions of authority in various government agencies. Actions (including free speech) have consequences, in this case, you, , exercising the prerogative to write what you have written, generates the concomitant obligation that you support the notion of a meritocracy to correct the very ills you mention.
The dilemma is that the very troglodytes that have brought us to this untenable situation are the very marching morons that will fight to the death to thwart any effort to establish the very social order they abhor.
RIP
In 1789
The French people put to use a pretty efficient Rapture machine for the royals. With a low carbon footprint too.
Ah, a flashback to the 1960s.
Meanwhile in Australia...
Makes you think about what Bernie is saying these days about war.
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
This photo brought to you by the good people
who bring you coal. /s
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
Good Lord, Cass
I emailed an Aussie friend a few days ago, have gotten no response.
I am so cynical. Will they take care of their country or join the US in the fight to come?
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Keep trying.
Maybe their Internet is down for an extended period.
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
I once took in all this horrible news as killing my soul.
In the '60's.
Now, it has officially transitioned to killing my body.
40 years. All my adult life.
I hate it, regret it, that I not only made no difference, but didn't know what was going on.
None of us did.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
We did what we were told
Participate in democracy. Vote! You have a choice. Pick a party!
I hear you, and I have the same regrets. We did what we were told by those that exploited us, and we were told that it was a good thing, and we believed it.
Iraq should tell Trump the US can take the base when leaving.
Done and done.
Compensated Spokes Model for Big Poor.
Iraq should keep it
It can be converted to a hospital to care for the hundreds of thousands, men, women and children who have been maimed and crippled by America's War of Terror.
We can even call it the Trump War Crimes Hospital. He likes to have buildings named after himself.
[Fixed typo]
"...an $80million bounty on President Trump's head..."
That literally made me go, "WhHO-HOah!"
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
What are the reparations and compensation for the continuing
genetic damage to Syrian children from the use of depleted uranium by US Forces in Faluja? How many billions of dollars will be required to clean up the country.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNi_1pbSqGY]
How can we send a copy of this video to Ivanka? Do you think she would be willing to adopt and take care of several of these infants?
The real savages are in Washington and Mar-a-Lago.
So for a few measly billion...
Trump is putting thousands of US troops in harm's way.
WTF?
Here's a thought. Pull out ALL the troops and the money saved on the deployment will pay for the airport on the very first day.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
Very good article by The Saker
"Fully" is more than a bit of a stretch
Even Tucker Carlson is calling out Trump on this shit.
Bernie, Khanna, Tulsi and more than a few other Dems have made forthright statements against Trump's belligerancy, introducing legislation to stop the lunatic. Other candidates have also taken variously wishy-washy stands but still clearly against Trump's actions and war. Even Pelosi seems to be ready to support legislation against Trump's actions which she has termed “provocative and disproportionate,” suggesting the attack was illegal under international law and could constitute a war crime.
Maybe this episode will push the party towards a more anti-war stance, even if it is most widely predicated on Trump's idiocy.
Is the shift a bad thing? Shouldn't we encourage it at this point rather than with too wide a paintbrush diss Dems when they finally seem to be getting some backbone?
Isn't it mighty important at this point to go after Trump with all we've got right now?
On the other hand, let's not forget that Trump is a graduate of the Rowdy Roddy Piper School of International Diplomacy. Lots more bark than bite. But certainly, assassination seems to be a step more than a bit more belligerant than shaving off someone's hair.
Will Iran retaliate? Will Russia advise Iran to cool it? I really don't know. Who can say?
[Edit -- Added tweet / video]:
You probably could find
20 or more Ds in Congress who have condemned, in various tones, this latest assassination and provocation.
On the R side of Congress maybe only Rand Paul, who had a prior record of favoring diplomatic means with Iran. Perhaps if we checked closely, we could find the bold and courageous senator Susan Collins somewhere expressing her "concern" over these recent events.
So, yeah, the bothsidesism fails here too.
When push comes to shove
and the MIC controlled Wurlitzer of War cranks up it's seductive tune, both parties dutifully fall in line in the march to war save a few hold-outs like Bernie.
If we had a REAL anti-war left in the US, we would not now be in this handbasket.
'Today freedom fighters are considered terrorists, and terrorists are considered peacemakers. The capitalists have always created instruments to make people believe their lies. This is globalization, a new invention.' — Leila Khaled
Real compared to what?
While the demonstrations haven't grown to what we(?) were part of in the 60s and 70s, they are springing up here and there.
I think most lefties, a critical mass like I've never experienced before, are pinning our hopes on Bernie and electoral politics right now rather than "direct action."
I dunno if we can pull off a miracle but I don't see how trying can hurt.
Iowa?
I was speaking of Congress
PS CB
What about propaganda in undemocratic and/or otherwise authoritarian societies?
I wonder if Vladislav Surkov drew/draws upon Bernays' analysis?
I've cued it up to the exact spot where the matter is focussed upon:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh2cDKyFdyU]
Wow. I see Mosfilm blocked it on this website. WTF? You can still watch it on YouTube starting at 2:22:14 // https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh2cDKyFdyU
Will Iran Retaliate?
Iranian government official raises eyebrows with tweet listing locations of Trump’s properties
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/01/iranian-government-official-raises-eyeb...
I can't imagine that it will actually work out that way, but it's a remarkably mature attitude.
"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone
That's brilliant
A spat of arson attacks on Trump's properties would enrage him while the American people wouldn't really care.
Inevitably Trump would try to convince the people to care about a billionaires wealth. Bernie would eat it up
All of Trump’s “Trumpiters” or whatever they are
calling themselves, would be up in arms. I volunteer them to protect Trump’s properties.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
I wonder if Trump overseas properties could be seized
If he were do do something resulting in war crimes charges. It would likely have to be something more egregious than the run-of-the-mill war crimes committed by his recent predecessors.
First-use of nukes for instance. Only the United States and Israel possess such weapons in the ME so any use in the region is likely to be be such.
After all, the recent NDAA dropped most restrictions of the use of low-yield devices and he is probably itching to make some go "boom."
That’s really privatizing war! Going after the property
of the guy hurling the threats.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
I fully expected
to wake up today with news that somewhere we launched a tactical nuke at Iran or Iraqi forces somewhere.
Trump is a clear and present danger to the US. Can we not use his same logic to take him out, to save many beautiful lives?
Every member of congress should be lined up to impeach this man child. This blatant murder of a top Iranian general is clearly a violation of our constitution, US law, the UN Charter, International law, but hey, the Empire must carry on....
I think we need to take a page out of the French Revolution, and have a some night time Jacobin parties on CEO's of the Walls Street banks. Maybe when the money stops flowing, we'll get their attention.
This is just insanity on steroids.
[video: https://youtu.be/lKr4ywECOLU ]
C99, my refuge from an insane world. #ForceTheVote
Flynn testified to congress about that
He told them that it was Obama's decision to sit back and watch them grow in strength. I forgot you posted this so I posted it in your essay. I think..
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
I think I'd say he's a master baiter
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
That's why he is
fucked in the head. Did Melania cut him off?
Inside look into Trump White House as the insanity spreads
I’m sure Trump will collect for that base just as soon as
Mexico ponies-up for that stupid wall.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"