There's a danger of peace breaking out

Remember how Trump was supposed to be The Most Dangerous President Evah? And how Trump was going to start wars all over the globe?
Well, this happened today.

American and Taliban officials have agreed in principle to the framework of a deal in which the insurgents would guarantee to prevent Afghan territory from being used by terrorists, and that could lead to a full pullout of American troops in return for larger concessions from the Taliban, the chief United States negotiator said Monday.

The American envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, said those concessions must include the Taliban’s agreeing to a cease-fire and to talk directly with the Afghan government, issues that the insurgents have doggedly opposed in the past.
...
After nine years of halting efforts to reach a peace deal with the Taliban, the draft framework, though preliminary, is the biggest tangible step toward ending a two-decade war that has cost tens of thousands of lives and profoundly changed American foreign policy.

This is huge. There's still a long ways to go, but it's the first concrete step toward peace in Afghanistan since before 2001.
If anyone but Trump was president, everyone but neocons would be celebrating.
Democrats and their neocon allies are outraged at the idea of peace in Afghanistan.

President Trump managed to do something remarkable with his abrupt order last week to withdraw all American troops from Syria and half from Afghanistan: unite the left and right against a plan to extract the United States from two long, costly and increasingly futile conflicts.
...Yet even in Afghanistan, where American troops have fought a pitched battle for 17 years, those who believe the United States should get out are not speaking up. With the exception of a few vocal isolationists like Senator Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican, Mr. Trump’s handling of the issue has been condemned across the ideological spectrum.

The entire reason for Dems opposing a withdrawal from Afghanistan is that Trump wants it. period.
Meanwhile, the Syrian withdrawal is also happening.
syriaw.PNG
Democrats and their neocon allies are outraged at the idea of peace breaking out in Syria.

At the same time, the slow slog towards peace on the Korean peninsula continues.

A two-hour White House meeting last Friday between President Trump and Kim Yong-chol, the chief negotiator for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, apparently cleared the decks for the next phase in the US attempt to convince Kim to give up his nuclear weapons in return for relief from economic sanctions and a new relationship with the United States.
...“This meeting shows that Trump and Kim have moved into the diplomatic phase of negotiations, which is a great thing for the people of Korea, North and South,” Christine Ahn. the Korean-American founder of Women Cross DMZ, told The Nation. “It’s an assurance that renewed conflict is off the table, and that the two sides are starting to define a roadmap that will lead to the end of the 70-year Korean War.”

In fact, despite the indifference of the US media and Democratic Party hostility to the talks, it appears that US and North Korean negotiators have made significant progress in moving the process forward in recent weeks.

It's amazing how Democrats can be against peace in Syria, Afghanistan, and Korea, yet still try to tell us that Trump is the danger.
It's entirely possible that Trump could do more for peace than any president since Clinton, and yet liberals will hate him for it.

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has staunchly argued for strict border controls for years. When I ask him how he feels about it now, he launches into an anti-Trump tirade. It will be interesting to see what he has to say about this.

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chuck utzman

TULSI 2020

it appears that Trump is far more deserving of a Nobel Peace Prize than his predecessor ever was.

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Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

@ovals49
Trump is still guilty of war crimes in the bombing of Mosul and Raqqa.
Nevertheless, if he gets us out of Syria and Afghanistan it'll go a long ways toward salvaging his reputation.

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mimi's picture

@ovals49
Drumpelstiltzchen is worth that prize more than his predecessors? Sorry, something ain't right about it. That thinking is a case of jungle feaver. Nor do I believe that the troops will get out of Syria and Afghanistan, and if they should, they will be replaced with something more dangerous behind the curtains or below the surface.

Have you ever seen someone with power admitting a mistake and agreeing to lose his face?

I just wonder why you all would believe that folks in other parts of the world would trust the Americans to be peace-loving? It's more that people feel (but not say) that you are stealthy peace enforcer, any time risking a war sticking to your guns and force others to be 'peaceful and democratic'. Enforcing peace is not a peaceful activity.

Folks are scared of Americans, especially of the ones, who are so extremely polite and friendly speaking. I think that might be just wishful thinking among Americans that there is trust towards them. On the other hand I have yet to meet someone overseas who admits to be distrusting in front of any American overseas.

With apologies to this community, but Americans are not the only ones, who can be deceivingly kind and mellow. Those you 'advise' are also very capable to deceive you in response. Just like a couple who pretends they love each other, though in honest they don't.

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Shahryar's picture

there must be some sort of crooked deal involved. Still, getting robbed is better than getting robbed and killed....which was previously the Democratic angle until Obama got in.

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@Shahryar makes you wonder if TPTB just need the troops somewhere else for a new patriotic war.

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Raggedy Ann's picture

@Snode
Pleasantry

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

@Raggedy Ann Knee deep, waist deep, neck deep, and the big fool says to push on.

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NK-Japan Summit

Japan's prime minister says he will meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un face-to-face and restore diplomatic relations between the two long-time foes.

Russia-Japan Summit

Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to accelerate negotiations for a peace treaty based on a 1956 joint declaration between their countries that promises to return two of four disputed islands to Japan after an accord is reached.
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Lookout's picture

I'm thrilled at the aspect of leaving Afghanistan...don't get me wrong, but it may be a ploy to install Eric Prince and private mercenaries...

In the first installment of this multi-part series, Trump Expanding the Empire, Abby Martin debunks the notion that Trump is an anti-interventionist president, outlining his first two years of aggressive foreign policy that has expanded US wars and occupations. From the biggest military budget in history, to removing its restrictions to “bomb the hell out of” Iraq and Syria, to ramping-up brutal economic sanctions, to becoming America's 'Arms Salesman-In-Chief.'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAmpD5MvDw8 (17 min)

In Part II of our series Trump Expanding the Empire, Abby Martin addresses the surprise order from Trump that he was "ending the war" in Syria. Having drastically escalated the war in Syria and Iraq, find out what's behind the supposed troop withdrawal and the hidden facts in the policies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ3aatCJK0w (14 min)

Abby ain't no dim so it isn't a partisan position.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Shahryar's picture

"But it only takes two lunatics...
to sit down and sign
a piece of paper...
and we could be plunged into a
nuclear peace so devastating...
that my company, for one, would
be wiped out completely."

https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=bedazzle...

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detroitmechworks's picture

@Shahryar But I have to admit it's only because a few of my friends were in it. (Very small roles)

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

expressing doubts that any such peace will be forthcoming, and those doubts will certainly be well-founded, the key point here is that our political situation has become so dysfunctional that the democrats criticisms are based, not on doubt of forthcoming peace, but on denunciation of forthcoming peace.

it is the equivalent of the republicans rejecting their own policies, and even their own judges, just to thwart any appearance of successful governing by Barack Obama.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

The Liberal Moonbat's picture

I am a liberal. ANYBODY who makes decisions based on knee-jerk partisanship is, by definition, NOT.

Let's all please quit enabling the conflation of betrayers and the betrayed.

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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!

@The Liberal Moonbat
maybe you should change how you self-identify.
Because the people who make up the #McResistance self-identify almost entirely as liberals.

I'm thinking that the word has been co-opted and watered down.
Or maybe, it was always a weak term.

Either way, I believe that you have more in common with progressives than liberals.

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The Liberal Moonbat's picture

@gjohnsit ...my impression had increasingly been that "progressive" was what had been hijacked and "liberal" had been pointedly abandoned after being sumo-smashed by Rush Limbaugh in the 1990s (and remember how Howard Dean swam upstream to reclaim the term, and how both John Kerry and Obama subsequently shied away from it?).

I'm aware of heavy variation from hither to thither (for example, It's been brought to my attention that, by the Australian lexicon, I'm probably a "libertarian"), and indeed, my own "magic Marxist" teacher (you probably know the model - the one who introduces you to Howard Zinn, presents you with the red and blue pills, etc.) rejected "liberal" as a term for "sellouts" like the Clintons, and did indeed prefer the mantle of "progressive"...and this was in 2000. My timing for encountering him was rather uncanny. Still, I prefer to define words on my terms rather than reactively, and I've come to believe in the concept of "wore it best", Archimedes's Lever, and above all, the inevitability of independent thought leading to independent language. It's good practice for Americans learning to be multilingual, and everyone who has not yet managed to learning to see past the garish facade of letters and numbers and into the noumena of thought.

If it's any indication of the prevailing wind...I'm not aware of any car insurance company out there going by the brand "Liberal". ^_-

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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!

@The Liberal Moonbat
There is confusion about that word too, because of decades of misinformation.
But at least the confusion is from simpletons who think "scary!" and I can deal with that. I just ask them, "What is the dictionary definition of socialism? Don't give me your opinion. I don't want to hear you list what you think are examples. I want you to tell me the actual definition of the word."
The conversation usually ends quick.

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@The Liberal Moonbat But the term "liberal" has long since been co-opted/hijacked by disingenuous evil.

I consider myself liberal, in the classic sense, but that bears no resemblance to the so-called "liberals" of today's discourse.

I think we have to resign ourselves to this reality and let that term go; the batshit crazies aren't gonna let go of it willingly.

I'm good with "rational, non-insane, let people be." Doesn't roll off the tongue, but at least it can no longer be misused Smile

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jorogo's picture

@The Liberal Moonbat
I oppose caving in to manipulators and allowing ideas and ideals to be co-opted by selfish, sinister forces. My bumper sticker says, "Thank a Pacifist For Their Service", because I refuse to surrender the ideal of service to country to war profiteers and xenophobic haters. To cave to these forces just welcomes further ideological erosion.
Stay liberal, and keep pointing out the phonies.

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"If I sit silently, I have sinned." - Mossadegh

Raggedy Ann's picture

Who wants peace? Do the American people want peace? Who does Herr Drumpf think he is if he is trying to go for peace? Of course, I'm just kidding, but many are not. Herr Drumpf derangement syndrome is a real thing - I know many people afflicted with it!

On the other hand, I do have to wonder, as Abby Martin - is there someone waiting in the wings to replace the troops? I sincerely hope not, but tptb will do as they please, especially when it involves money...and money is always involved.
Pleasantry

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

OzoneTom's picture

At least according to an article linked at this JPR OP, we would be abandoning Afghan women to the Taliban if we quit after only 17 years.

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@OzoneTom
Do you know, I have never once seen an unsolicited and annoying internet ad promising to connect me with beautiful Afghani women who want to come to America and be my bride? WTF? Is there something wrong with Afghani women that we're not being told about?

Yes, I am very, very concerned about this matter.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.