Seven views of the Gen. Flynn resignation

When the Truth is suppressed, conspiracy theories flourish.

gjohnsit wrote an excellent essay about the relevance of General Flynn's resignation to the Deep State. He calls Donald Trump a sock puppet for the elites. This may be true, but if it is true, then it must be admitted that are several factions within the elites, that this overarching entity is not so monolithic as usually believed. The more this Trumpian governance has continued, the more convinced I am that my view is correct. Of course I believe it, why else would I promulgate such a view, but this somewhat fractured nature of the Elite is certainly not mine alone and I definitely did not conceive of this nuance myself.

Because the "story" of the Flynn resignation is so tenuous, I will outline the basics. Various details are amplified in the citations below, so this is but my snapshot summary of the facts generally agreed upon:

1. General Flynn is no choir boy. He's been involved in several unsavory situations, including a prior stint in one of the intelligence agencies.

2. General Flynn has been known to disagree openly with those in power: e.g., advising Obama that his Syrian policy was incorrect and doomed to failure. Although Obama gave him the boot, the General proved correct.

3. Some person(s) leaked illegally recorded conversations that Flynn had with the Russian Ambassador. Here the story gets murky, except that all but one of the views cited below conclude that the subject was anti-Russian sanctions by the US.

4. General Flynn misrepresented the subject of these conversations to VP Pence.

5. Misleading the VP, although politically a stupid act, is not illegal. Nor would be the mere discussion of sanctions with the Russian Ambassador be illegal if Flynn did not promise to take specific actions.

6. Pence informed Trump about the misleading story. What is not clear is whether the fact that the story misleading Pence came before or after the leaked conversations were released to the media.

7. Trump tells Flynn: nice knowing you, goodbye.

So what is this really all about? Is it about lying to Pence? Absolutely. Is it about talking to the Russian Ambassador at all--maybe it depends on how McCarthyite the opiner is. Is it about secret policy decisions made before Trump took office? Absolutely not because Trump was not in office nor had Flynn been approved for his security position.

So what is afoot here? Depends who you listen to or read these days. This becomes more difficult in these days of Fake News, Alternative Facts, internet trolls, and an orchestrated mynah bird media.

For us as a community, with our relatively refined but certainly not uniform knowledge of current events, we have learned to learn from multiple sources and choose the scenario that seems most consonant with the Truth (which in itself is quite a philosophical problem). But, sticking to the common usage of "Truth" as the universally observable (as opposed to the universally believed) situation in current affairs, it becomes quite difficult to concisely advise interested but unknowledgeable people as to how to find the truth through the current media, whether corporate or independent.

Since the Political Compass, despite its flaws, seems to be a better way to describe tendencies, I will try to avoid the terms "right" and "left", although I'm sure there may be a few literary relapses in this essay.

Starting with what I consider the most extreme view of the "deeper" reasons for Flynn's ouster, connecting it all to pizzagate comes this video. Basically Flynn was forced out to prevent impending arrests of the mainly Democratic denizens of the pedophile world. I find the rationale presented strained at best and truly out of touch with most observers from whom I have cited.

One interesting follow, whose politics I find difficult to pigeon hole (a bad thing to do anyway) is Libertarian-like Lionel Nation who contends that the anti-Trump deep state color revolution is the reason. No, he doesn't mention George Soros, either directly or indirectly, but those cognizant of the orange, tulip, and other "colored" revolutions must surely think about Soros in this context. The point Nation makes is that the Clintonite establishment working with the "intelligence agencies" are plotting to undermine Trump's government by forcing one resignation after another. Tillerson might be a target because of his friendly terms with Putin and company.

It seems obvious to me that this anti-Russia hysteria, initially conceived as a cover-up for Medusa's incompetent campaign and loathsome persona, has now morphed into a monster, intent upon worsening Russian relationships and providing an impetus for more military spending to combat the Bear's grave threat. Apparently, Flynn agreed with Trump as to the need to rein in or dismantle NATO altogether.

From the Alex Jones axis comes the opinion of Dr. Pieczenik, expert and developer of modern US military Psyops, that the removal of Flynn was planned in advance by Trump. This sounds absolutely preposterous to me. Such an apparently weak-kneed cave-in to the MIC-Intel-Clinton factions sets a very poor precedent for Trump, whether you approve of Flynn or not. Sometimes Pieczenik is full of half-truths and presents himself to be an insider in the Trump administration, whether true or not.

Heading over to the more "progressive" media, I found this short video ( the aforesaid intelligence-Clintonite cabal is, as have other commenters cited here, viewed this as the Deep State striking a strong destabilizing blow to Trump. I can certainly agree to that.

The Sane Progressive, Debbie, frankly and honestly admits befuddlement as to what is going on. But she, like myself and others, believe indeed this is the attack of Deep State. This video is additionally valuable because it includes the entire recent Fox news interview of former Representative Dennis Kucinich who overtly states this whole thing reeks of deep state.

Finally, in the tradition of good story-tellers, I have saved the best for last. This is an interview of Glen Greenwald on Democracy Now with Amy Goodman. GG has the most comprehensive and deepest understanding of this whole resignation. If you do not watch any of the other videos, watch this one.

My take: Love Trump or Hate Trump, he needs to show some backbone in standing up to the intelligence-Clintonite faction. Hopefully he will be a quick learner, despite some like Lionel, who feels Trump hasn't got a clue. We need an end to corporatist domination of our so-called Democracy. We need to stop making war. We need to eviscerate NATO (gradually) once it can be determined that Russia will be a partner and not a foe. This partnership does not mean that the Bear and the Eagle have to agree on every issue. Such a thought is ridiculous. But it would be a start to reduce the militarism in this country.

Such a militaristic dissolution most certainly will not be accomplished under Trump. He'll simply divert war-fighting funds to other "Defense" projects. The current DemocRATic party is now a Republican-light Fascist Party, irrevocably incapable of repair. But first the War Cabal must be checked.

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actions: NATO troops will be stationed, or beefed up, in Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia; deployed to Romania; and the NATO naval forces augmented in the Black Sea. NATO named Russia as the main threat to peace. NATO is entertaining membership "requests" from Georgia and Moldava which would further hem in Russia and is an action aimed at provoking Russia.

Trump wants European countries to pay 2% of their GDP on defense which few do except the UK. The USA spends well over 3% of GDP which does not count the militarized Dept of Energy and some of the intelligence agencies and their operations.

Russia is a capitalist country, a bandit capitalist country pretty much like the USA has devolved into. If the fight is over mideast oil - Why mideast when it's Western Asia? - then the fight is over who can do more to abet climate change and murder millions of innocent people.

I feel that it is telling that Trump chose Pence over Flynn. After all, the VP has no constitutional duties other than to preside over the Senate & Trump could have told Pence to go warm his butt presiding there and that he'd be called if needed. Trump chose Pence.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

Big Al's picture

deep state and it's game over. The Saker wrote an article stating it's over, the deep state has won, Trump betrayed Flynn, etc.
He certainly didn't put up much of a fight if he thinks Flynn was railroaded and his latest statements about Russia seem like he's falling in line. So far he has shown no backbone on this and it doesn't appear he will. Unless Trump changes his tune on Crimea, nothing will change.

http://thesaker.is/the-neocons-and-the-deep-state-have-neutered-the-trum...

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@Big Al

to suit any and all occasions. His stated policy positions evolve like a medley of disparate tunes - they don't need to stick with any single unified composition. Thus he can start out singing "Yankee Doodle", and then a month later it will have morphed into "I Did It My Way". He provides a little something for everyone. What's not to like?

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native

@native

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l482T0yNkeo]

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Beware the bullshit factories.

@Big Al Mike Whitney has a great article at Counterpunch laying it out as Trump caving to Deepstate. Sobering. Incredible shrinking Trump..

"The Flynn fiasco is not about national security advisor Michael Flynn’s conversations with the Russian ambassador. It’s much deeper than that. It’s about Russia. It’s about Putin. It’s about the explosive rise of China and the world’s biggest free trade zone that will eventually stretch from Lisbon to Vladivostok. It’s about the one country in the world that is obstructing Washington’s plan for global domination. (Russia) And, it’s about the future; which country will be the key player in the world’s most prosperous and populous region, Asia."

Trump wasn't following the Deepstate script so he was slapped down publicly. Embarrassing for him. Instructive for us; pulled the curtain down, so to speak.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/02/17/blood-in-the-water-the-trump-revo...

Deepstate reigns. All hail...; Hillary wins...

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@p cook

It's still early days. No doubt he got a wake up call though.

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native

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xxSwH8B31w]

The "Deep State" wants to be on a War footing with Russia. Everything is being orchestrated for this Warfare policy design.

---

1963 Repeated?

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bVtPuZSfOE]

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@FreeSociety @FreeSociety Interesting things in the Jimmy Dore piece include the fact that Dennis Kucinich is given space to make these strong points on Fox News (!) and the comments about Christopher Hayes' good question about Flynn's possible words with the Russian ambassador. The good question, as I heard it, was, if Flynn encouraged the Russian government not to over-react to the Obama administration's sanctions, why would that be a bad thing. Good question.

Even if it turned out to be technically illegal to speak to them at all about policy, or about their reaction to policy, if he encouraged them not to freak out, the only people who would theoretically be opposed to that would be people who wanted them to freak out or who wanted Russia to ratchet up the conflict.

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@FreeSociety with the CIA, I hope you will have an opportunity to read David Talbot's, The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government.

Allen Dulles, along with his brother, who became Secretary of State, was lead attorney for the American companies and banks that re-armed Germany before WWII and financed, fueled, and industrially maintained the German war machine for the duration of the war. They, and the leaders of their client companies not only went Scot free, they became leaders in our government and on Wall Street, and of course Allen Dulles became head of the CIA. His legacy is that the CIA has supported and enabled fascist butchers worldwide ever since. Shortly after Kennedy fired Dulles, he was assassinated.

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@Linda Wood I do have David Talbot's book "Brothers" about Robert Kennedy's private suspicions about what forces killed his brother.

The Allen Dulles book I'm sure is good, and very critical to understanding what happened to this Country.

If Trump does not reform the CIA "big league" ... it may be the last chance to have anyone in there who would even consider trying to.

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Not Henry Kissinger's picture

about a deep state coup succeeding.

The blowback from the resignation was greater than expected and really shined a light on the spooks and their methods - which, of course, is anathema to covert ops.

Not that there still isn't a threat here, but time is not on the neocon's side and their overreach on Flynn has alerted a lot more people to the danger.

As far as Flynn goes, doesn't sound like Trump was too upset about him leaving (perhaps he really was a loose cannon - even for Trump), although it is kind of questionable why Donnie would ditch his intelligence chief just to protect the fee fees of his VP. Knowing Pence's proclivities, that to me is almost as scary.

I just wish the old guard would give up the ghost so we can get on with the business of criticizing Trump over real issues. It is truly annoying that these fifth columnists are so awful they make Trump seem sympathetic by comparison.

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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?

@Not Henry Kissinger

is somewhat obscure, but I think it might be the key to understanding what happened and why. Pence himself is a bit of a mystery, as to the reason why Trump chose him for VP, and as to how much influence he has within the Trump administration. He has not received a lot of scrutiny, but I suspect he may wield more power than is apparent... though I don't know from exactly where it might originate.

Why did Trump find it so necessary that Pence be informed of Flynn's exploratory talks? Normally a VP would not claim the authority to demand he be informed of such activities.

Pence has long been very close to McCain & Graham, which would seemingly make him an uncomfortable fit with Trump, especially in regard to foreign policy. Something of an odd man out, perhaps. Could this be a case of "beware the quiet man in the back of the room" ?

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native

Creosote.'s picture

@native
to the vp position as a sort of multipurpose choke-chain and conduit by various parties of interest.

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@Creosote.

That's my working theory, speaking as One Who Knows Nothing. But he was too much like Hillary's VP pick not to make one wonder...

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

detroitmechworks's picture

Military Superpower...
Unbeatable in an open war,
Poised to start a new era that will redefine the power structures of the world and willing to silence all opponents with overwhelming force...
Then inexplicably, chooses to Invade Russia...

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qileP4bAzek]

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@detroitmechworks

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@detroitmechworks

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Azazello's picture

NATO to boost naval presence in Black Sea

"We will have an increased presence in the Black Sea but it will be measured, it will be defensive and it will in no way be provoking any conflict or escalating tensions," Stoltenberg said.

"It is one element in a broader adaptation of NATO defence and deterrence to a more demanding and challenging security environment, including the Black Sea region," he added.

Trump's problems with the Deep State started when he said that NATO was obsolete. That's an unacceptable position to Graham, McCain and the "defense" industry.

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

It's almost a religious fervor among the neocons; maybe we could call it a cult. Inconveniently, Russia isn't willing to be dominated. They tried that under Yeltsin, turned national resources (on the advice of our Wall Streeters) over to vulture oligarchs, and saw their life expectancy drop suddenly by five years. Like what we're starting to see in our country. Not again. They've also been invaded repeatedly, and say they won't fight on their own land again. What does that leave?

In the pursuit of Full Spectrum Dominance, they've decided that nuclear war would be survivable (for the favored few), and that a first strike would be acceptable. If we know that, certainly Russia does, too. Whoever strikes first - well, nobody wins - but at least might lose less, and the neocons seem to think that's fine. The rational thing to do, though, if you know someone is determined to attack you, is to attack first. Oops. So far, thank goodness, Putin hasn't taken the bait. And Trump has said publicly, no first strike.

Big stakes, here.

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CB's picture

@Sunspots
by moving NATO right up to Russia's borders.

Bush unilaterally scrapped the ABM treaty in 2002 and announced a missile shields policy. Obama started deploying these new missile systems right on Russia's doorstep under the pretext of protection from Ian's non-existent long range ballistic missiles. This raison d'être no longer exists but Obama still continued with deployment. It is obvious, that in practice, the missiles were really intended for Russia. Unlike Russia, the US has no policy concerning the use of first strike with nuclear weapons. It is purposely left ambiguous.

In response Putin has returned to M.A.D. as originally outlined by McNamara as the best response to these foreign threats from a nuclear armed country. Russian nuclear ballistic missiles have been upgraded and can now strike the US from any direction, even from the south pole.

I think the US MIC, in concert with the neocons, is attempting to bolster defense spending (fighting terrorism is relatively inexpensive compared to fighting Russia or China) hoping Russia would respond in kind and lead to a new arms race (that policy had helped to destroy the USSR).

But, Putin has not taken the bait. He feels his country is currently well prepared to counter attack using nuclear weapons in response to any overwhelming military attack and has said so. He is so confident that he has reduced defense spending by 30% down to $45 billion. To put this in perspective, the US is so paranoid of internal attacks/strife it now spends $88 billion/yr on Homeland Security.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@CB It's not just paranoia, though, of course--it's also the ugliest kind of budget justification.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Any discussion without including Tillerson's/ExxonMobil's 500 billion dollar oil drilling deal with the rich of Russia would be missing the point. The MSM has said very little about Obama's last minute sanctions on Russia which screwed over the deal which means the MSM is in on perpetuating the corporatocratic structure this country lives under. It's SO obvious why Flynn was talking to Russia about lifting the sanctions. 1/2 trillion is the answer. FOLLOW THE MONEY...... Trump isn't draining the swamp any time soon.

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"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Groucho

CB's picture

@the_poorly_educated

Secretary Of State Appointee Rex Tillerson Reaches $180 Million Severance Deal With Exxon
Former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson struck an agreement with his ex-employer that will give him a revised $180 million severance package designed to meet federal conflict of interest requirements. The deal, which cashes out Tillerson and cuts his ties to the company, will take effect if he is confirmed by the Senate as Donald Trump’s Secretary of State, Exxon announced in a statement Wednesday.

Putin is not especially concerned with Exxon being cut out due to sanctions. Italy's ENI, Norway's Statoil and France's Total are all currently doing business within Russia. Some have used Chinese funding to get around some sanctions. These companies are major offshore drillers so Exxon will not be missed. They have been offered the very same terms as Exxon. Exxon currently does business in Russia.

Rachel Maddow and Democracy Now have put out misleading information. What you need to watch is Exxon pushing for pipeline from Canada and it ramping up fracking operations inside the US. Heavy oil and condensates from fracking go hand-in-hand. Keep on watching the Russia/Exxon side show and you will miss the main feature. Exxon's ramping up US oil production will actually hurt Russia by bringing prices down - again.

The Russian government needs oil income from nationalized oil companies to pay for domestic services such as pensions and to balance its budget. To ensure social funding, Putin cut defense spending by 30% for 2017 down to $45 billion.

Exxon's Big Bet on Oil Sands a Heavy Weight To Carry
Tar sands account for 35% of the oil giant's liquid holdings, up from 17% a decade ago, and may come under scrutiny in the SEC's probe of its reserve accounting.

Exxon to Heavily Invest in U.S. Shale With 16 New Drilling Projects
Renewed interest in domestic shale won’t just revive crude oil drill rigs, either. The Energy Information Administration has projected that shale-based natural gas production will grow to 13.6 trillion cubic feet by 2035, making up almost half of all natural gas produced in the country. U.S. shale fields will help sustain hydraulic fracturing activity, as well; as many as 95% of new wells are hydraulically fractured.

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@CB @CB Putin doesn't need Exxon, Exxon needs Putin. It's the reason Flynn was talking to Russia.

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"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Groucho

CB's picture

@the_poorly_educated
Exxon. There are plenty of other players in the field. The following shows what the Exxon Neftgas deal was to be.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2012/05/07/in-russian-oil-...

The Statoil deal comes just weeks after Rosneft finalized similar pacts to explore with Exxon in Russia's Kara Sea and with Italy's Eni in the Barents and Black Seas.

The remaining 20% share in Neftgas that Exxon was to get has already been sold to Qatar. It's too late for Exxon now - has been for a long time. This Exxon/Russia crap is much ado about nothing. Lots of other places for Exxon to make its dirty money - Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Liberia, USA. Losing out in Russia is just business as usual in this highly competitive business.

http://fortune.com/2016/12/08/russia-rosneft-qatar-glencore-oil/

Russia Is Selling a Big Chunk of This State-Controlled Oil Giant
Russia said on Wednesday it sold a stake in oil giant Rosneft for 10.5 billion euros ($11.3 billion) to Qatar and commodities trader Glencore, confounding expectations that the Kremlin's standoff with the West would scare off major investors.

The deal, to acquire a 19.5% stake in Rosneft from the Russian state, suggests the lure of taking a share in one of the world's biggest oil companies outweighs the risks that come with Western sanctions imposed on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.

The real prize for Exxon is right inside the US. Get prepared for massive fracking and the pipelines to go with it. This is what the people should concentrate on, instead of "look over there".

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/11/16/502337471/usgs-announc...

USGS Announces Largest Oil And Gas Deposit Ever Assessed In U.S.
The U.S. Geological Survey says a deposit in West Texas is the largest continuous oil and gas deposit ever discovered in the United States.
...
The U.S. has produced more oil and natural gas than any other country every year since 2012, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

http://corporate.exxonmobil.com/en/energy/natural-gas/operations/xto-ene...

We operate throughout the United States and Western Canada, from the Great Plains to Appalachia. We own interest in approximately 40,000 producing oil and natural gas wells across the United States, and hold more than 11 million acres.

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@CB

... The Russian government needs oil income from nationalized oil companies to pay for domestic services such as pensions and to balance its budget. To ensure social funding, Putin cut defense spending by 30% for 2017 down to $45 billion. ...

And there's the reason for TPTB hatred and fear of Russia and their need to 'get' Putin. The nerve of a country's leader cutting military spending to ensure his people's basic needs are met! What a horrible, double-plus-ungood example for any people to see, especially the impoverished citizens (of the richest country in the world) about to become more impoverished to counter this nefarious threat of pensions for the people in another country.

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Alligator Ed's picture

@Azazello @the_poorly_educated which has yet to be initiated will get a nice donation AFTER any oil deal, a la C.G.I. No quid pro quo here folks--at least one you can prove. If there is going to be that kind of corruption, I would rather it would be in terms of peace rather than war with Russia.

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for this essay. Flynn's history, from Camp Bucca to his time as Director of the DIA, is a crucible of the Deep State and its relationship to the American Military, when our Military is finding out that our Deep State is arming our enemies.

dfarrah linked us to this great article by Robert Parry this week:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/robert-parry/71201/trump-caves-on-fl...

Trump Caves on Flynn’s Resignation
by Robert Parry | February 15, 2017

… Flynn’s real “offense” appears to be that he favors détente with Russia rather than escalation of a new and dangerous Cold War. Trump’s idea of a rapprochement with Moscow – and a search for areas of cooperation and compromise – has been driving Official Washington’s foreign policy establishment crazy for months and the neocons, in particular, have been determined to block it.

Though Flynn has pandered to elements of the neocon movement with his own hysterical denunciations of Iran and Islam in general, he emerged as a key architect for Trump’s plans to seek a constructive relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Meanwhile, the neocons and their liberal-interventionist sidekicks have invested heavily in making Putin the all-purpose bête noire to justify a major investment in new military hardware and in pricy propaganda operations.

The neocons and liberal hawks also hated Flynn because – as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency – he oversaw a prescient 2012 analysis that foresaw that their support for the Syrian insurgency would give rise to “a declared or undeclared Salafist principality in eastern Syria.”

… Flynn even went further in a 2015 interview when he said the intelligence was “very clear” that the Obama administration made a “willful decision” to back these jihadists in league with Middle East allies, a choice that looked particularly stupid when Islamic State militants started beheading American hostages and capturing cities in Iraq.

This, I think, is the real danger to the Deep State, the American Military turning on them. And sadly, it's going to have to be people like Flynn, who have been part of the problem, and have therefore seen the treason and the atrocities, who will be in a position to bring the Deep State down.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Linda Wood So pathetic, to see the Left become, in my lifetime, the CIA's little Robin

Batman-And-Robin-Cute.jpg:

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

CB's picture

CIA director: Agency isn't hiding intelligence from Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) -- CIA director Mike Pompeo said Thursday that the agency is providing President Donald Trump with the best intelligence it can, disputing reports that the spy community is withholding information from the commander in chief.

"The CIA does not, has not, and will never hide intelligence from the president, period. We are not aware of any instance when that has occurred," Pompeo said in a statement aimed at quelling reports that the intelligence community and Trump were in conflict.
...
However, Pompeo had been actively briefing the president every day he can and the president is settling into a traditional process of receiving his daily intelligence brief and talking to intelligence advisers, said an intelligence official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke only on condition of anonymity.

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Alligator Ed's picture

@CB Pompeo is a hard ass but I think he is definitely pro-Trump. Through how many layers of the CIA rabbit hole Pompeo can penetrate is the question.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Alligator Ed Indeed. You have a way of getting to the heart of things.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

@CB

But is this factual or the CIA (or someone else) lying again? My instinct is to not trust any of these routine liars further than my estimated hurling range of the buggers, dunno why...

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

I wanted to post in response to the main essay rather than in response to a particular comment, but I think I screwed up. Sorry.

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the deep state isn't as divided as some believe? And that Trump is one of them? He acts in bizarre ways and it is difficult to see a clear pattern if following the day to day path his talk and twitter messages take. Could that be by design? Did he not say that he expects Russia to give back Crimea? Isn't he being confrontational with China? Isn't regime change back on the table in Syria? I don't see big change in our foreign policy, other than in spasmodic and garbled rhetoric.

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@crescentmoon @crescentmoon Donald Trump connecting to the CIA and the Military Industrial Complex is in that those entities ensure the wealth of the untouchable billionaire crowd. I don't mean they ensure it by protecting our country or even our capitalist system by military means. I believe they ensure it by creating the ever-expanding black hole of unaccountable federal payments to corporate contractors, whose stock values float the wealth of international investors.

In other words, we, the American taxpayers, float their ill-gotten gains through our fear-induced, unknowing enslavement to "Defense" spending.

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Flynn speaks to, and the reason he is most despised by the Deep State neocon PNAC cabal:

https://levantreport.com/2015/05/19/2012-defense-intelligence-agency-doc...

2012 Defense Intelligence Agency document: West will facilitate rise of Islamic State “in order to isolate the Syrian regime”
May 19, 2015 by Brad Hoff

The newly released DIA report makes the following summary points concerning “ISI” (in 2012 “Islamic State in Iraq,”) and the soon to emerge ISIS:

Al-Qaeda drives the opposition in Syria

The West identifies with the opposition

The establishment of a nascent Islamic State became a reality only with the rise of the Syrian insurgency (there is no mention of U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq as a catalyst for Islamic State’s rise, which is the contention of innumerable politicians and pundits; see section 4.D. below)

The establishment of a “Salafist Principality” in Eastern Syria is “exactly” what the external powers supporting the opposition want (identified as “the West, Gulf Countries, and Turkey”) in order to weaken the Assad government

“Safe havens” are suggested in areas conquered by Islamic insurgents along the lines of the Libyan model (which translates to so-called no-fly zones as a first act of ‘humanitarian war’; see 7.B.)

Iraq is identified with “Shia expansion” (8.C)

A Sunni “Islamic State” could be devastating to “unifying Iraq” and could lead to “the renewing facilitation of terrorist elements from all over the Arab world entering into Iraqi Arena.”

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of the Michael Flynn interview with Al Jazeera, again, key assertions that our support for endless war is wrongheaded:

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/headtohead/2016/01/transcript-michae...

Transcript: Michael Flynn on ISIL
13 Jan 2016

… Michael Flynn: [TALKING OVER] Yeah. I think that we have invested in, in more conflict instead of actually investing in solutions. So, and when I say that, what I mean is that we invest in more drones, we invest in more bombs, we invest in more weapons, we invest in more ammunition, we invest in more guys to go out and kill more guys. That's investing in conflict, instead of really taking a serious look and say, "What … what are the big excuses that these guys are using?" And if it's lack of, you know, if it's poor economic conditions, if it's poor social conditions, then let's fix those. But those kinds of things aren't gonna get fixed overnight. And the leaders of the Middle East have to decide that that's what they want to do.

Mehdi Hasan: You sound very reasonable -

Michael Flynn: [TALKING OVER] And the expansion of these groups – so if you look at 2004 and you fast forward to 2014, so only, less than a year ago, the, the, the number of terrorists, our state department designated terrorist groups, have doubled. So something is wrong with our policy, and our strategy.

Mehdi Hasan: And here's what I don’t get. When you talk about fixing the underlying problems, when you talk about not investing in conflicts as the number one way of dealing with this, I agree with you, and you do sound very reasonable and persuasive, and yet in February in front of Congress, you said, when you were asked what’s to be done, "The enemy must be opposed, must be killed, must be destroyed."

Michael Flynn: Yeah. There's – and that's because -

Mehdi Hasan: [INTERRUPTING] There’s a dove General Flynn and there's a hawk General Flynn.

Michael Flynn: [TALKING OVER] Well, no, no, I mean there's – there are elements within this organisation that are – that the only way to deal with them is they either have to be captured and put away in some legitimate prison system that will actually hold them for some time …

Mehdi Hasan: [INTERRUPTING] Not Camp Nama, we hope.

Michael Flynn: Or, or they will have to be – or they have to be killed. I mean, that's a component of a much, much broader strategy. The military has to be like a lower case "m". I mean, it is so indecisive. It is not the peace that is going to win the day. There has to be other components of a strategy and I don't see 'em. I don't see 'em. I see us – I see us making the military component the principle effort from our perspective, and I just don't see any other real strong informational, diplomatic or primarily economic component to this thing. And frankly, the region needs to come to the table and say "This is how we believe we can end this thing".

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CB's picture

@Linda Wood
more than a military response in dealing with terrorism is anathema to Pentagon thinking for the last 2 decades. The Pentagon believes the terrorists can be better used as a tool in the Middle East. This would explain the schizophrenic behaviour of the USG towards similar terrorist groups in differing countries.

Take note on how some jihadist groups became "rebels" and some became "terrorists" dependent on their purpose in their respective countries: "need to be packaged appropriately for public consumption"

The Pentagon plan to ‘divide and rule’ the Muslim world
...
Since 9/11, every country in the region touched by major US interference has collapsed into civil war as their social fabric has been irreversibly shattered: Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Libya.

The ensuing arc of sectarian warfare bears uncanny resemblance to scenarios explored in a little-known study by an influential Washington DC defence contractor.

Unfolding the Future of the Long War, a 2008 RAND Corporation report, was sponsored by the US Army Training and Doctrine Command’s Army Capability Integration Centre. It set out US government policy options for prosecuting what it described as “the long war” against “adversaries” in “the Muslim world,” who are “bent on forming a unified Islamic world to supplant Western dominance”.
...
The report suggests that the US Army sees all Muslim political groups in the region that challenge the prevailing geopolitical order as “adversaries” to be countered and weakened.

Among the strategies explored by the US Army-sponsored report is “Divide and Rule,” which calls for “exploiting fault lines between the various SJ [Salafi-jihadist] groups to turn them against each other and dissipate their energy on internal conflicts,” for instance between “local SJ groups” focused on “overthrowing their national government” and transnational jihadists like al-Qaeda.

This appears to be the strategy in Libya and Syria, where local insurgents, despite affiliations with al-Qaeda, received covert US aid to overthrow Gaddafi and Assad.

The RAND report recommends that the US and its local allies “could use the nationalist jihadists to launch proxy IO [information operation] campaigns to discredit the transnational jihadists… the United States and the host nation could even help the nationalist jihadists execute a military campaign to stamp out al-Qaeda elements that are present locally.”

US support for such “nationalist jihadists” would, however, need to be packaged appropriately for public consumption. “Because of the nature of the nationalist terrorist groups, any assistance would be mainly covert and would imply advanced IO capabilities.”

Of course these assholes don't give a shit to what happens to the hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children caught in the middle - just more collateral damage. You have to be a sociopath/psychopath to have a successful career in the Pentagon or CIA.

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Alligator Ed's picture

@CB has always been risky:

Take note on how some jihadist groups became "rebels" and some became "terrorists" dependent on their purpose in their respective countries: "need to be packaged appropriately for public consumption"

What the DC power brokers need is deflection and fake news. Who better to supply that than Killary and Podesta?

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@CB @CB vital to our discussion of this issue. First, from your link,

Since 9/11, every country in the region touched by major US interference has collapsed into civil war as their social fabric has been irreversibly shattered: Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Libya.

And we could add Afghanistan. If Samantha Power wants to deluge us with evidence of Assad's crimes against humanity, I am here to listen. But the reason she has no credibility for me, even if her evidence about Assad is true, is that I am waiting for her to show me what we have brought to the people of this region as an alternative. We have replaced the scary dictatorships of Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Libya with HELL ON EARTH.

Secondly, what you say here is absolutely true and crucial to our understanding of this conflict:

You have to be a sociopath/psychopath to have a successful career in the Pentagon or CIA.

Our foreign policy is the work of sociopathic killers, not normal people.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@CB Because the military-industrial complex is, IMO, driven by the industrial side, not the military side. Its eternal lust for maximized profit is driving the wars.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

@Linda Wood

Public/private? Or just saying what he thinks his audience wants to hear? Or perhaps rethought his original strategy on gaining more information or possibly several ghostly visitations over Christmas causing a sudden change of heart?

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

And Wikileaks is promising a "vault" of releases targeting the CIA. I can hardly wait.

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CB's picture

@Sunspots

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@CB Anybody have any idea HOW Ecuador is managing to hold off the might of the Five Eyes?

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

CB's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal
due to CIA operations and US financed NGO's. These will undoubtedly escalate in the coming months. The truth coming out with the help of the intertubes may help him. Thirty years ago he would have just been killed and a replacement installed.

Washington Wants “Regime Change” in Ecuador: “What is the CIA Planning before Ecuador’s 2017 Elections?”
Timothy Alexander Guzman, Silent Crow News – Washington wants Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa removed from power. Washington says it is concerned about the freedom of the press in Ecuador because their non-government organization ‘Fundamedios’ funded and supported by United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and Freedom House among others is in the process of being shut down by the Correa government. According to Telesur’s report on September 10th “Fundamedios engaged “partisan political activities” by sharing material on its social media accounts, publishing articles unrelated to its stated mission and inserting itself into political debates in the country” which according to the National Secretariat of Communication or ‘Secom’ is prohibited under Ecuadorian law. The White House released a press statement on the same day:

We are very concerned about the increasing restrictions on freedom of expression and freedom of association in Ecuador, particularly the Ecuadorian government’s September 8 decision to initiate legal steps intended to dissolve Fundamedios, a non-governmental organization that monitors and defends press freedom.
...
What is the CIA planning before Ecuador’s elections in 2017? It is important to note that if a presidential recall vote were to take place in Ecuador today at least 60% of the people would vote for Correa according to the main-stream media’s ‘CNN Spanish’ poll this past June. Correa proposed constitutional reforms including two bills that would increase inheritance and capital gains taxes on the ultra-wealthy. Anti-government protests followed, which later turned violent. That is something Washington wants to see more of right before Ecuador’s 2017 presidential elections.

The fucking State Department in the US has no shame. The rape and pillage of foreign countries continues using lies and deception.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@CB Wait a minute....the US is worried about Ecuador's press being overly partisan?

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

nor indispensable -- we are. Therefore when we provide indispensable aid to Equador, its Government should accept it gratefully, or face the consequences of our disapproval. Consequences that are known to have often been exceptionally grave.

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native

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@native

Actually, didn't Kerry essentially have that conversation with Correa after that unpleasant little incident involving NATO more or less taking the airborne Bolivian president hostage? I seem to recall a lot of South American countries getting a bit hot under the collar about that tiny, tiny diplomatic snafu. Correa said a few things that you Do Not Say to Us, and Kerry had to remind him who was the superpower here (wish he'd done that with the Saudis).

Am I making this up? Anybody else remember it?

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

You might be a bit too quick to dismiss the pizza angle to Flynn resignation:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-14/hillary-clinton-references-pizz...

If these tweets are genuine, how bizarre is it that the taunting would take this form? I thought it was supposed to be all about being too cozy with Russia.

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CB's picture

@Bring Back Civics
It seems that whatever he talked to Russian officials about was not a concern i.e. no quid pro quo. He had simply failed to admit to them that he HAD talked to them. This sort of thing went on when Obama became president.

Hillary tweeted too soon. There was no there there.

From your link:

It sounds to me, she is saying 'fuck with Podesta and Comet Ping Pong and you lose your job.'

Am I wrong?

Hard to tell. But Hillary should have steered well clear of Pizzagate. This may come back to bite her in the ass - again. Hot cheese is sticky and it burns.

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@CB

Well, it could be a taunt that she got him out and now everyone's saying that Trump's been leashed by the Deep State. Or this could be choreographed for verisimilitude.

I cannot escape the feeling that Trump would not have been selected President if TPTB/The Funders That Be didn't decide that way and the similarity of both Corporate Party VP candidates strikes me as suspicious.

Especially with Hillary - presented as The Saviour - continuing to campaign (much as she did during her electoral fundraising orgy, from a distance), with the organized protests of specifically only Trump, (even if many real protesters felt differently and protested policies and the corrupt system) and that stupid ShePersisted campaign (or whatever 'she's still in it!'-implying nonsense-phrase I had to keep deleting from my inbox while thinking SheEmbalmed SheEmbombed and SheStillUnDead,) while Trump is well-publicized as the ignorant nutcase he is, where Hillary's ignorant nutcasery would have been covered over and her equally hideous appointments and actions presented as being in an entirely different wall-light.

And there were other things I can't recall at the moment... but whatever is going on, I feel that we're being manipulated 9 ways from Sunday and I find it hard to believe anything beyond that feeling which is coming out of/associated with that political cesspool.

I still hope that Trump's erratic enough to upset the apple-cart and send some survival chance rolling our way, though. Not that getting brained with an apple-shaped rock wouldn't be more likely.

But the Clintons would have probably vaporized us all by now, so there's that.

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

k9disc's picture

Hillary was obviously the anti-Russo hood ornament.
Drumpf is the anti-Sino bobble head.

2016 Presidential Election was a Deep State Civil War.

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“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

Alligator Ed's picture

@k9disc I would suggest that Medusa is practicing a form of psychological defense which is primarily also a deflection: how she colluded with her Canadian buddy to sell 20% of our residual uranium supply to the horrible Russkies. Why would she do it, if that wasn't inspired for a love of National Security and sanctions against Russia? It's Money, honey.

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@Alligator Ed I feel that this kind of deflection has been going on since September 12, 2001. Vials of white power given to Mohamed Atta in Prague. Saddam. Mushroom clouds. Saddam. Uranium. Saddam. Support for Al Qaeda terrorists. Saddam. Saddam?

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@Alligator Ed

repeatedly, in his press conference. I haven't heard any mention of it on the news, though. How odd.

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@Alligator Ed Russian speaking fees? Dealing with the Russian government? Bill Clinton's biggest hits:

http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/apr/26/peter-schwei...

… So in the time Clinton left the White House in January 2001 and when his wife stepped down from secretary of state in February 2013, Clinton indeed gave 13 speeches for which he made more than $500,000. Eleven of those occurred since January 2009, when Hillary Clinton became secretary of state. Only two happened before then.

… New York Times reporters -- building off of Schweizer’s work -- found that while the State Department was involved in securing a uranium mining deal with Russia, investors in the company involved in the deal, Uranium One, gave millions to the Clinton Foundation.

Additionally, "shortly after the Russians announced their intention to acquire a majority stake in Uranium One, Mr. Clinton received $500,000 for a Moscow speech from a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock."

… ABC News also examined Clinton’s speaking records and found many instances in which he took in money from groups with pending interests at the State Department. State Department ethics officials had to sign off on these speaking engagements, but rarely did they say Clinton could not accept payment for a particular speech.

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asterisk's picture

George HW Bush was once in charge of the CIA. Trump hurt Jeb's feelings. Trump lacks the social graces of a proper elite and he did not even graduate from Harvard. Trump not only 'cheated' Hillary; he also 'cheated' Jeb.

The Bushes may be helping stir the pot. I am not clear on who they are allied with.

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@asterisk

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asterisk's picture

@Linda Wood I totally agree. Prince Bandar Bush. Not to mention the airplane full of Good-binLadans (sp?) when all the other planes were grounded after 9/11.

I thought that Rex Tillerson would make them OK with the situation. Maybe the wrong oil company? I am not sure how much the Bushes are still invested in banking. They do detest Trump though.

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@asterisk

http://www.panshin.com/trogholm/secret/rightroots/dulles.html

… Early in 1933, both Dulles brothers attended a meeting in Germany where German industrialists agreed to back Hitler's bid for power in exchange for his pledge to break the German unions. A few months later, John Foster Dulles negotiated a deal with Hitler's economics minister whereby all German trade with the United States would be coordinated through a syndicate headed by Averell Harriman's cousin. With the Nazis enforcing a favorable climate for business, the profits for Thyssen and other companies soared, and the Union Banking Corporation increasingly became a Nazi money-laundering machine. In 1934, George Herbert Walker placed Prescott Bush on Union Bank's board of directors, and Bush and Harriman also began to use the bank as the basis for a complex and deceptive system of holding companies.

The Hamburg-Amerika shipping line, which Harriman and Walker had controlled since 1920, had a particularly high degree of Nazi involvement in its operations. In 1934, a congressional investigation revealed it to have become a front for I.G. Farben's spying, propaganda, and bribery on behalf of the German government. Rather than advising Walker and Harriman to divest themselves of these tainted assets, Prescott Bush hired Allen Dulles to help conceal them. From 1937 on, the Dulles brothers would serve Bush and Harriman in all their covert dealings with Nazi firms. They also performed similar cloaking services for others, like the Rockefellers.

It goes without saying that Harriman, Walker, Bush, and Dulles were morally tainted by their connections with German firms like Thyssen and I.G. Farben, since they both funded and profited from Hitler's crimes against humanity. However, their entire enterprise was corrupt in a more subtle sense as well, in that its very basis was financial fraud on an unprecedented scale. That would have been true even if Hitler had never come to power. The real significance of adding the Nazis to the equation was that it upped the stakes, both increasing the potential rewards for the participants and forcing them into increasingly elaborate deceptions to conceal their frauds.

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Alligator Ed's picture

@Linda Wood @CB I knew that German Industrialists conspired with Hitler to further Germany's recovery which enabled WW2 to occur, but I did not know of the Bushies and Harriman and Dulleses involvement. So why is it that the biggest traitors scream the loudest about someone else's lesser treachery? Yes, Trump may be guilty of breaking the emoluments clause, but Clinton's uranium deal, even though fronted by Giustra, is a much more direct threat to the nation....And now we know where Pappy Bush's long name came from--a crook and traitor.

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@Linda Wood @Linda Wood

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqvBYWSmKZ8]

--

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW3PifsC74I]

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@FreeSociety

May I saw 'thanks and wow!'? Are there links at source, and are there links for the source, pretty-please?

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

@Ellen North The main Web Site for this documentary is at: http://www.thedarklegacy.com/

Produced by John Hankey. He had a couple of versions of this documentary. So there is a bunch of stuff floating around YouTube/Google.

He also had a documentary on the murder of JFK Jr. -- who ran "George" Magazine, and was starting to publish more CIA whistleblowing stuff, including an interview with Oliver Stone about assassination activities.

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@FreeSociety Thank you for posting it now, in the midst of our struggle over the question of whether the CIA deserves to be our government.

I do remember, now that you remind me, about the release of evidence that GHW Bush was the George Bush in the CIA at the time of the assassination and his response that it must have been a different George Bush. But this video certainly draws the connecting lines visibly so that we can all see it.

As a lifelong pacifist whose focus has always been on the treason of American industry in its connection to Hitler, I truly appreciate the maker of this video for simply and clearly drawing these lines. I must admit, however, that even though I was old enough to be a college student when Kennedy was killed, and of course I remember exactly where I was, I never got into the assassination conspiracy theory area because I felt there wasn't clear evidence of what happened. I didn't think there was evidence that Oswald was the sole assassin. He sure was an enigmatic person, but I couldn't see a clear case for whether or not there was a conspiracy, until this past year when I read David Talbot's, The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government. And here is the part that finally tied it up for me.

It's a relatively small thing, in the scheme of things, but it's as if there is a diagram of 60 different ways in which Allen Dulles connected to persons in the assassination itself, but still one gap, one missing connection, that kept me from saying yes, until I read that Ruth Paine, the woman Marina Oswald and her children lived with in Dallas, and the person, "who -- the month before JFK's arrival in Dallas -- informed Lee about the job opening in the Texas School Book Depository," was the daughter-in-law of a friend of Allen Dulles. That was the closure of a complete net of connections, so that for me, there is no connection to the Kennedy assassination that doesn't also connect to Allen Dulles.

The quote is from page 539 in Talbot's book.

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@Linda Wood You may also be familiar with the book "JFK and the Unspeakable" by James W. Douglass. If not, this also covers the "big picture" matters and struggle between the Warfare interests and Kennedy.

Personally there is much to implicate several big figures, such as Dulles, Gen. Charles Caball (also fired by Kennedy), and his his brother Earl (mayor of Dallas), Emory Roberts of the Secret Service (who can be seen ordering agents off of their protection posts at the limousine), and William Greer who completely violated his training by breaking the car as the guns were being shot off, Curtis LeMay (observed controlling the Bethesda autopsy). Edward Landsdale, David Atlee Phillips, G.H.W. Bush, Guy Banister who were part of organizing or supervising CIA-Cuban assassination teams, Jack Ruby observed dropping off a gunman by the embankment. You are probably aware of the big Party held at Clint Murchisons house in Dallas on the night right before the assassination. Many big names there...including J.E. Hoover, John J. McCloy (President of the World Bank, who was placed on "The Warren Commission"), some TV reporters, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson.

There were many overlapping interests why people wanted Kennedy out of power. But the big Global Bankster / Global Warfare Oligarchical powers put this together with the use of the CIA.

Three separate public investigations resulted in direct acknowledgment of the conspiracy (although they are never talked about that way by the Media):

  1. House Select Committee on Assassinations: Kennedy & King both conspiracies (but shhhh.... we'll just say Oswald fired all the shots so it doesn't matter)
  2. Jim Garrison Orleans: The Jury acquitted Clay Shaw (who was involved, and CIA), but also admitted in interviews that they were convinced that case for conspiracy had been proven. The movie "JFK" was based largely on this saga.
  3. Spotlight Magazine was sued for libel for implicating E. Howard Hunt (and the CIA) in assassination. The jury found Spotlight Magazine not guilty of any libel based on the assassination evidence presented.
  4. E.Howard Hunt later confessed to being involved at the time of his death (former Gov. Jesse Ventura did a documentary about that).

But if you really want to blow your mind ... then watch this documentary too:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1Qt6a-vaNM]

Very long...but very good.

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@asterisk

I do recall that Wall St was originally hoping for Bush vs Clinton re-runs and would have been equally happy with either, according to anonymous quotes within various publications. However, even they eventually figured out that the public wouldn't stand for it.

But other PTB must obviously have approved Jeb Bush, especially since the FTC was unable to curtail the unusually blatant and extreme campaign finance-law-breaking of either Hillary Clinton (hers being far worse and worsening over time/showing more with increased information, probably the latter) or Jeb Bush due to the usual Republican stand-off against the equal number of Dems for both parties involved to continue cheating scott-free.

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@asterisk The Clintons. Absolutely, and probably for the duration. When Hill started running out of money against Bernie, Jeb Bush shared his donor list with her. There is no more intimate joining in politics. It's closer than being lovers.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/hilary-clinton-bush-donors-222872

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Alligator Ed's picture

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA33szNNyWk]

This one is less than 4 minutes long and quite concise--as well as probably correct.

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MarilynW's picture

Martha Stewart went to jail for lying to the FBI over an insider stock tip. But if you lie to the FBI about national security issues, you go home and write a book about how you were misunderstood.

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To thine own self be true.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@MarilynW Well, to be fair, James Clapper lied to Congress and nothing happened to him. It's OK to lie as long as you're lying in the service of the most powerful.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

MarilynW's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal
they were a response to Trump after the exposé of his sexual assaults against women. That's how I understand it anyway.

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To thine own self be true.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@MarilynW My point is, most people, especially those protesting Trump, see him as an apocalyptic event in politics--something way beyond, way worse than anything that's gone before, a transformative force that, as long as he's in place, puts us into an entirely new and hideous reality.

Even as a woman and a feminist, I find the pussy hats an odd response to that. For instance, no matter what sexist things I might have heard about George W Bush and Cheney, my response would never have been to knit a funny hat and put it on my head. It seems an oddly whimsical response to something that's supposedly so world-destroying.

I guess maybe it's a way of laughing at the Devil--they say the Devil hates being laughed at--but it just sits really oddly, to me, with children chopping the heads off of effigies of Trump and accusations of Trump being a Russian mole of sorts, people saying that Russia has, because of Trump, basically taken over our country. All these things seem very grave, and sit oddly with knitting and wearing pussy hats.

In another sense, though, it can be seen as a delightful absurdist gesture--almost like responding with something completely unexpected and goofy in response to evil, like this:

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

k9disc's picture

"We will have an increased presence in the Black Sea but it will be measured, it will be defensive and it will in no way be provoking any conflict or escalating tensions," Stoltenberg said.

The message happens in the receiver.

Drumpf's call with Taiwan? "It will be a call to introduce two leaders and it will be measured, it will be cordial and it will in no way be provoking any conflict or escalating tensions."

It doesn't work that way.

I mean,"He said some words, OK? The President said some words. When he said Mexicans were rapists he was not trying to escalate tensions or say anything bad about them.

As if there isn't an implicit ratcheting up of tensions and the potential for conflict for moving navies around.

Shit, China is ratcheting up tensions and increasing the potential for conflict with the US and the West by patrolling the South China Sea.

Now, let's get to the message that is happening in the receiver?

Navies into the black sea after Ukraine coup and belligerent sabre rattling... Nevermind... It is just America protecting herself and her allies.

Navies 500 miles off shore to patrol an historic trade route to your country? They are flexing their global interventionist muscles.

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“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

MarilynW's picture

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/02/27/michael-flynn-general-chaos

I scrolled through from 2016 to the present because I didn't want a detailed bio, it's very long.
The present:

The end for Flynn came rather abruptly. He had spent the weekend with the President and the Prime Minister of Japan at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s resort in Palm Beach, Florida, where they had used a table in an open dining area as an impromptu—and unsecured—situation room after a ballistic missile test by North Korea. But, back in Washington on Monday afternoon, there was confusion about Flynn’s standing. During a television interview, Kellyanne Conway, a senior White House adviser, said that Flynn enjoyed Trump’s “full confidence.” Then, within the hour, Spicer said that Trump was “evaluating the situation.” Flynn went about his duties as usual that afternoon, participating in foreign-policy discussions in the Oval Office, an Administration official told me.

But, that evening, another Post article appeared online, this time about the Justice Department’s blackmail fears. Soon afterward, Trump asked for Flynn’s resignation. The news broke just before eleven.

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