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The Trump Era: A New Cold War, on multiple fronts:
Not since Bush launched a propaganda war against three nations (Iran, Iraq, and North Korea) with his jingoistic “Axis of Evil” rhetoric in 2002, has a U.S. president so successfully instigated Cold War II on so many fronts.
Barely a month into his “presidency”, and Trump has achieved what no other US President has in history. Winding back international relations to pre-Perestroika days, Trump (or his operatives in the Occupied White House) has shown belligerence toward;
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— Iran
After Iran test-fired a missile on 31 January, the American Empire has responded with bellicose threats from the Trump-occupied White House. In a press release, National Security Advisor, Michael T. Flynn – a Trump appointee – issued this threat;
“The Islamic Republic of Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism and engages in and supports violent activities that destabilize the Middle East. This behavior seems continuous despite the very favorable deal given to Iran by the Obama Administration. These sanctions target these behaviors.
Iran’s senior leadership continues to threaten the United States and our allies. Since the Obama Administration agreed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran in 2015, Iran’s belligerent and lawless behavior has only increased. Examples include the abduction of ten of our sailors and two patrol boats in January 2016, unwarranted harassment of vessel traffic and repeated weapons tests. Just this week, Iran tested a ballistic missile, and one of its proxy terrorist groups attacked a Saudi vessel in the Red Sea.
The international community has been too tolerant of Iran’s bad behavior. The ritual of convening a United Nations Security Council in an emergency meeting and issuing a strong statement is not enough. The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate Iran’s provocations that threaten our interests.”
The days of turning a blind eye to Iran’s hostile and belligerent actions toward the United States and the world community are over.
At a White House press briefing, Flynn added;
“As of today, we are officially putting Iran on notice.”
Pentagon spokesperson, Christopher Sherwood, stoked the flames;
“The U.S. military has not changed its posture in response to the Iranian test missile launch.”
Unsurprisingly, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was scathing of the militaristic knee-jerk reaction from the Trump White House;
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Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, rejected claims that the Iranian missile test contravened a 2015 UN resolution which prohibited tests of ballistic missiles potentially capable of carrying atomic warheads;
“We do not see any special problems in this area. We want to stress again that missile launches with the use of missile technologies are not a breach of the [Joint Comprehensive] Plan of Action and UN Security Council Resolution 2231. We have brought this position to the notice of the US side as well.”
Trump is scheduled to meet Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu – a sworn enemy of Iran – at the White House on February 15. With Trump’s slavish support for Israel, this will not bode well for peace in the Middle East.
A US war with Iran, coupled with on-going civil wars in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, would disrupt any remaining stability in the entire Middle East and possibly spark a third world war.
— China
Not quite two weeks after his inauguration, Trump created an international incident when he spoke with Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, on 2 December.
The phone call angered the Chinese leadership in Beijing, as the UK’s Guardian explained;
The US closed its embassy in Taiwan – a democratically ruled island which Beijing considers a breakaway province – in the late 1970s following the historic rapprochement between Beijing and Washington that stemmed from Richard Nixon’s 1972 trip to China.
Since then the US has adhered to the so-called “one China” principle which officially considers the independently governed island part of the same single Chinese nation as the mainland.
It seems improbable that Trump was not briefed by the US State Department that such a phone call would raise alarm bells with the Chinese government in Beijing. But according to the Taipei Times article;
Trump reportedly agreed to the call, which was arranged by Taiwan-friendly members of his campaign staff after his aides briefed him on issues regarding Taiwan and the situation in the Taiwan Strait, sources said.
Would one of those “Taiwan-friendly members of his campaign staff” be Steve Bannon?
Steve Bannon – far-right media-blogger, political activist, and executive chairperson of far-right website, Breitbart News.
The same Steve Bannon who – one month after Trump spoke with Taiwan’s president – made this startling statement to the world’s media;
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The same Steve Bannon who is now a close advisor to Trump;
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Another Trump stooge, White House media spokesperson, Sean Spicer, announced;
“The U.S. is going to make sure that we protect our interests there [in the South China Sea].”
When US “interests” are threatened, the American Empire reacts in the only way it understands: war. Especially as our American cuzzies see themselves as Hollywood-style “good guys” in international conflicts;
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As
“Washington policymakers seem addicted to intervention and war, unable to imagine there is any international problem they cannot solve.
[…]
The claim that the United States could have provided just the right amount of assistance to just the right groups [in Syria] to yield just the right outcome is a fantasy, belied by America’s failure to get much of anything in the Middle East right.”
By December, the Chinese government had had enough, issuing this warning through it’s mouthpiece, the state-owned Global Times;
In response, the Global Times, a state-run tabloid that sometimes reflects views from within the Communist party, said on Thursday that China should rebalance its stance towards Taiwan to “make the use of force as a main option and carefully prepare for it”.
“The Chinese mainland should display its resolution to recover Taiwan by force,” the paper wrote in an editorial. If Taiwan were to declare formal independence, it went on, “the Chinese mainland can in no time punish them militarily”.
As tensions increased, in response to US demands over the South China Sea, China unequivocally told the Americans to ‘butt out’. By the end of January, Beijing’s senior Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Lu Kang,issued a more direct warning;
“There might be a difference [of opinion] over the sovereignty of these islands but it’s not for the United States. That might be between China and some other countries in this region. The South China Sea is not the United States territory or the international territory…”
Update: On 10 February, Trump informed China that his Administration will honour the “One China” policy. The Chinese government – again through it’s organ, the Global Times – concluded;
“Since assuming office, Trump and his team have changed their rhetoric about China. Trump has stopped openly challenging China’s core interests, and instead showed respect to Beijing.
[…]
The change creates an impression that Trump is learning about his role in the realm of Sino-US ties. He’s now sending a new message that he does not want to be a disruptor of the Sino-US relations.”
Saner heads have seemingly prevailed somewhere within the dimly-lit coridors and back-rooms of the American Deep State.
Let’s hope that Trump learns the intricacies and dangers of international relations before he inadvertently blunders into an irretrievable crisis and triggers an atomic apocalypse.
World War I started with less.
— Yemen
During the presidential elections last year (and earlier), Trump made no secret of his inclination to keep the US out of “other people’s wars;
“Now we’re supposed to get involved with Syria? I would say stay out.”
In March 2016;
“I do think it’s a different world today and I don’t think we should be nation-building anymore. I think it’s proven not to work. And we have a different country than we did then. You know we have $19 trillion in debt. We’re sitting probably on a bubble, and, you know, it’s a bubble that if it breaks is going to be very nasty. And I just think we have to rebuild our country.”
In April 2016;
“We can’t be the policeman of the world. What we do get out of it?”
In May 2016;
“I would have stayed out of Syria and wouldn’t have fought so much for Assad, against Assad because I thought that was a whole thing. You have Iran, which we made into a power. Iran now is a power. Because of us, because of some of the dumbest deals I have ever seen. So now you have Iran and you have Russia in favor of Assad. We’re supposed to fight the two of them. At the same time, we’re supposed to fight ISIS, who is fighting Assad.”
On 30 January – ten days after the world witnessed Trump’s inauguration – US Navy Seal forces mounted a raid in Yemen to attack an alleged Al Qaeda base;
Washington, DC: A US commando died and three others were wounded in a deadly dawn raid on the al-Qaeda militant group in southern Yemen, which was the first military operation authorised by US President Donald Trump.
The US military said 14 militants died in the attack on a powerful al-Qaeda branch that has been a frequent target of US drone strikes.
[…]
The gunbattle in the rural Yakla district of al-Bayda province killed a senior leader in Yemen’s al-Qaeda branch, Abdulraoof al-Dhahab, along with other militants, al-Qaeda said.
As usual, civilians were caught up in the gun-battle;
Medics at the scene, however, said around 30 people, including 10 women and children, were killed.
[…]
Eight-year-old Anwar al-Awlaki, the daughter of US-born Yemeni preacher and al- Qaeda ideologue Anwar al-Awlaki, was among the children who died in the raid, according to her grandfather. Her father was killed in a US drone strike in 2011.
“She was hit with a bullet in her neck and suffered for two hours,” Nasser al- Awlaki told Reuters. “Why kill children? This is the new (US) administration – it’s very sad, a big crime.”
Two days later, the US military confirmed that civilians had been killed in the attack;
US Central Command (CENTCOM) on Wednesday confirmed that a raid carried out in Yemen earlier this week “likely killed” civilians, including possibly children.
“A team designated by the operational task force commander has concluded regrettably that civilian non-combattants were likely killed in the midst of a firefight during a raid in Yemen January 29. Casualties may include children,” said a statement from CENTCOM.
Noticeable, however, the story had changed from an “al-Qaeda militant group” to this;
In what was the first confirmed military raid under President Trump, commandos targeted three tribal chiefs with links to al Qaeda in the central province of Bayda.
More obscene still;
Trump on Wednesday paid a surprise visit to the family of the soldier, Chief Special Warfare Operator William “Ryan” Owens, 36, from Illinois. Afterwards, Trump described the visit as “something very sad, very beautiful.”
Though probably not as “beautiful” as one local Yemeni’s description of the brutal violence from the US attack;
“The operation began at dawn when a drone bombed the home of Abdulraoof al- Dhahab and then helicopters flew up and unloaded paratroopers at his house and killed everyone inside,” said one resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“Next, the gunmen opened fire at the US soldiers who left the area, and the helicopters bombed the gunmen and a number of homes and led to a large number of casualties.”
For a man committed not to become involved in “other people’s wars”, Trump was quick of the mark to authorise this latest adventurism in the Middle East.
Update: Former national security official for President Barack Obama, Colin Kahl, has rejected claims that the Navy Seal attack in Yemen had been planned by the previous Administration. In a series of tweets, Khal said;
“1/DoD worked up GENERAL proposal for OVERALL set of expanded authorities for these types of raids at end of Obama admin
[…]
5/And, critically, Obama made no decisions on this before leaving office, believing it represented escalation of U.S. involvement in Yemen”
Even if Trump’s White House officials were being truthful (which is dubious), and the Navy Seal mission had been planned by the Obama Administration, the obvious question remains: why did Trump permit the attack to proceed?
Short answer: because very little has changed within the Deep State of the American Empire.
— Russia/Ukraine
The “bromance” between Trump and Russian President, Putin, is well known. There appears to be a “detente” between Putin and the Trump Administration, with the suggestion last year that the Russians could be given a “free hand” in Syria.
As far back as September 2015, then-Republican candidate, Donald Trump told Bill Reilly on Fox News that he would – in essence – be giving Putin suzerainty over Syria;
“Well, we spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over, and Putin is now taking over what we started, and he’s going into Syria, and he frankly wants to fight ISIS, and I think that’s a wonderful thing. You know, I said that a year ago and everybody said oh, that’s terrible. If he wants to fight ISIS, let him fight ISIS. Why do we always have to do everything. But he wants to go in. He wants to fight ISIS. Now, he wants to keep, as you know, he wants to keep your leadership, your current leadership, Assad in Syria. Personally I’ve been looking at the different players, and I’ve been watching Assad, and I’ve been pretty good at this stuff over the years, cause deals are people. And I’m looking at Assad and saying, ‘Maybe he’s better than the kind of people that we’re supposed to be backing.’ Because we don’t even know who we’re backing.”
O’Reilly probed further;
“Once Putin gets in and fights ISIS on behalf of Assad, Putin runs Syria. He owns it. He’ll never get out, never.”
Trump replied,
“Alright, okay, fine. I mean, you know, we can be in Syria. Do you want to run Syria? Do you want to own Syria? I want to rebuild our country.”
Putin took up the offer, deploying Russian naval and air-power to support Assad’s forces to retake Aleppo.
But Trump’s willingness to carve up the world, Yalta Conference-21st Century style, delineating “spheres of influence”, does not seem to extend to the Ukraine which lies on Russia’s doorstep.
On 2/3 February, Trump’s appointee as the US’s ambassador to the UN, former-Republican South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, launched a blistering attack on Russia for it’s activities in eastern Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea;
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“ I consider it unfortunate that the occasion of my first appearance here is one in which I must condemn the aggressive actions of Russia. We do want to better our relations with Russia. However, the dire situation in eastern Ukraine is one that demands clear and strong condemnation of Russian actions.”
The sudden increase in fighting in eastern Ukraine has trapped thousands of civilians and destroyed vital infrastructure and the crisis is spreading, endangering many thousands more. This escalation of violence must stop.The United States continues to condemn and call for an immediate end to the Russian occupation of Crimea,” said Nikki Haley, President Donald Trump’s envoy to the world body. “Crimea is a part of Ukraine. Our Crimea-related sanctions will remain in place until Russia returns control over the peninsula to Ukraine.”
The Ukraine’s Ambassador to the UN, Volodymyr Yelchenko, pitched in, holding up a photo of a slain Ukrainian serviceman;
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The Ukrainian Ambassador addressed the Russian ambassador, Vitaly Yelchenko, accusing;
“You killed him.”
The Russian ambassador, though, was having none of the United States’ grandstanding, but responded with noticeable restraint;
“The essence of those events is quite clear: Kiev is trying to use the armed clashes that it provoked as a pretext for a complete rejection of the February 12, 2015, Minsk agreements, sealed by the UN Security Council resolution 2202.
Any serious intensification of hostilities in Donbass miraculously coincides with foreign visits of the Ukrainian leadership. Apparently, this is how Kiev expects to keep the crisis that it had provoked on the international agenda.
And, of course, the Ukrainian leadership needs money today, that can easily wheedle out of the European Union, some European nations, the United States and international financial institutions when they pretend to be a victim of ‘aggression’.”
Later, the Russian ambassador appeared conciliatory toward Ambassador Haley;
“I think it was friendly enough, given the circumstances, and given the subject which we were discussing. We may have some differences on some individual issues from time to time, but the fact remains that she is going to play a very important role in whether or not the SC will be able to play a role as a collective international body carrying the main responsibility for international peace and security.”
It is not hard to guess why.
Putin wants to maintain the positive relationship that appeared between himself and Trump during last year’s election campaign. No doubt the Russian leadership is hoping to get Trump back “on board” with some skilled diplomacy. A few sugar-coated words from the Russian president should appeal to Trump’s ego.
Putin may have his work cut out for him as Trump has already been in contact with the Ukrainian leadership, at about the same time Ambassador Haley was busily denouncing the Russians;
President Donald J. Trump just had [5 p.m. Saturday] a very good call with President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine to address a variety of topics, including Ukraine’s long-running conflict with Russia. “We will work with Ukraine, Russia, and all other parties involved to help them restore peace along the border,” said President Trump. Also discussed was the potential for a meeting in the near future.
The new American leadership is hyper-Nationalistic and has more in common with the Ukrainian nationalistic government than it does with Moscow.
It may be a matter of time before Putin and Trump’s “respect for each other” dissolves into acrimony. The president of Mexico and Prime Minister of Australia can testify to how fractious Trump can be when he doesn’t get his own way;
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There is no way that Russia will surrender it’s interests in the Ukraine. Just as the American Empire considered Cuba to be well within it’s “sphere of influence”, and blockaded the island during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Russia will not abandon it’s influence on it’s western borders.
Like the South China Sea and the Korean Peninsula, the Ukraine is a dangerous flash-point. It is one mis-calculation away from war.
— Doomsday Clock
Recognising the dangerous situation posed by a volatile Trump and the new Nationalist regime in Washington, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has moved the Doomsday Clock forward by thirty seconds. It is now two and a half minutes to Doomsday.
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![The atomic scientists say the world had edged closer to doomsday [EPA]](https://fmacskasy.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/doomsday-clock-donald-trump.jpg)
Leading scientists, who are the clock’s keepers, say the world has edged closer to apocalypse in the past year amid a darkening security landscape and comments by US President Donald Trump.
[…]
In a report, the BPA said Mr Trump’s statements on climate change, expanding the US nuclear arsenal and the questioning of intelligence agencies had contributed to the heightened global risk.
It is the closest the clock has come to midnight since 1953, when the minute hand was moved to two minutes away following hydrogen bomb tests by the US and Russia.
The minute hand on the Doomsday Clock is a metaphor for how vulnerable the world is to catastrophe.
No wonder Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Executive Director, Rachel Bronson appealed to world leaders to “calm rather than stoke tensions that could lead to war”.
The last time the hands of the Doomsday Clock were so close to mid-night (Doomsday) was in 1953, when the US test-detonated it’s first Hydrogen Bomb.
We live in dangerous times.
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References
BBC: Who’s who in the ‘axis of evil’
The White House: Statement by National Security Advisor Michael T. Flynn on Iran
Reuters: Trump adopts aggressive posture toward Iran after missile launch
Press TV: New US sanctions on Iran unacceptable – Russia
The Jerusalem Post: Trump’s UN envoy – Israel will ‘never again’ question US support
Taipei Times: Tsai-Trump telephone call scheduled
The Guardian: Trump’s phone call with Taiwan president risks China’s wrath
Wikipedia: Steve Bannon
The Guardian: Steve Bannon – ‘We’re going to war in the South China Sea … no doubt’
The Huffington Post: Steve Bannon Believes The Apocalypse Is Coming And War Is Inevitable
The Independent: US would go into any war with China with ‘unparalleled violence’, warn experts
The Daily Star: ‘We’re going to war with China – no doubt’ says Trump’s right-hand man
The IB Times: Trump’s adviser Steve Bannon – ‘We’re going to war in the South China
TV3 News: Trump advisor Steve Bannon warned of war against China
The Nation: Donald Trump Could Be the Military-Industrial Complex’s Worst Nightmare
The Guardian: Donald Trump on North Korea going to war – ‘Good luck, enjoy yourself folks’
Politico: Trump pledges to hit Islamic State, not Assad
Sydney Morning Herald: US raid on al-Qaeda compound in Yemen Donald Trump’s first military engagement as president
DW News: US confirms Yemen raid ‘likely killed’ civilians
The White House Archives: Vice President Biden Announces Dr. Colin Kahl as New National Security Advisor
Salon: Former Obama official – Trump’s deadly Yemen raid wasn’t planned under Obama’s watch
Sputnik News: Trump on Putin Controlling Syria: ‘OK, Fine,’ Him Fighting ISIS ‘Wonderful Thing,’ ‘Very Little Downside’
The Independent: Largest Russian military deployment since Cold War passes through British waters en route to ‘crush’ Aleppo
Wikipedia: Yalta Conference
Washington Post: Trump nominates two prominent GOP women: DeVos as education secretary, Haley as U.N. ambassador
CNN: UN Ambassador Haley hits Russia hard on Ukraine
RT News: Russia’s Churkin cites US constitution after ambassador Haley’s rant at UNSC over Ukraine
The White House: Readout of the President’s Call with President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine
Complex.com: Did Donald Trump Piss Off Two of Our Biggest Allies?
Radio NZ: Doomsday Clock moved closer to midnight
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists: Timeline
Additional
Fox News: Trump unveils plan to boost US military
Other Blogs
Bowalley Road: Political Paradoxes
Brian Edwards: Profile of Leader of the Free World
Cafe Pacific: Colourful, vibrant Aotearoa rally condemns Trump’s ‘racist, Islamophobic’ bans
Imperator Fish: The fascism of facts
Gordon Campbell on NZ’s silence over Trump’s anti-Muslim agenda
Local Bodies: Trump’s Muslim ban exposes stupidity
Mars2earth: you are the resistance
Mars2earth: uglytrump
Mars2earth: the start of the peel
No Right Turn: Outright corruption in the US
Pundit: When Donald calls Bill… make him an offer
The Standard: New Zealand Second?
The Standard: Postcards from the Trumpocalypse
Previous related blogposts
Black Ops from the SIS and FBI?
The Rise of Great Leader Trump
The Sweet’n’Sour Deliciousness of Irony: Russia accused of meddling in US Election
Trump escalates, Putin congratulates
Trumpwatch: Voter fraud, Presidential delusions, and Fox News
Trumpwatch: Muslims, mandates, and moral courage
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= fs =
No worries.
We all know that Koreans/Vietnamese/Chinese/Arabs/Iranians/Afghans etc. run towards Americans with machine guns and drop like flies, but cannot aim their own weapons. Therefore one American is worth at least a hundred other races in any battle (with the possible exception of the British, who might be worth one third of an American, depending on which century you are discussing). Don’t mention Russia, except to say that it invaded Crimea recently and has its sights set on Barcelona. But the American tank brigade in Lithuania will soon sort out the Russians.
Mexicans? Stole their land in the nineteenth century and they would not dare ask for it back. They dare not even try to renegotiate the water treaty that requires Mexico to sacrifice its own agriculture to ensure American agriculture has water.
America, the biggest, bestest, mightiest, most unstoppable nation on Earth, and most of them overfed fuckwits.
It’s all a puppet show, Frank, geared to keeping Americans believing in empire, and perhaps geared to delaying the second American Civil War.
I suggest you watch this to see who really won the Cold War:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYUP7zJ0CwU
Not only did the Americans make numerous miscalculations but they were absolutely astounded when they discovered what the USSR was capable of. It has got a lot worse for the Americans since then, and it is only the 24/7 propaganda and short-lived fracking that is holding the American empire together. And it is only the sanity of people like Putin and the threat of nuclear annihilation of America that holds the idiots and warmongers in Washington and New York in check.
Come on man. Because there is no forign force in Iraq, NZDFs participation in Iraq amounts to an invasion force. New Zealand is there representing an iligitimate government installed after the destruction of life sustaining infrastructure and our best and only response is to send a handful of trainers to teach people how to walk into buildings with out blowing every one up. That’s a weak and incorrect response based on an incorrect threat assessments that comes across as truer than your threat assessment.
With regards to Crimea, No less than 70% of the population and speak Russian saw what America was doing to Ukrain and said fuck that, we out, when the votes where cast the live streams coming out showed celebrations which is a sharp contrast to how you’ve framed it so fake news applies to your opinion sunshine. The kicker is that west Ukrain wanted to join Crimea and the western backed Ukrain government said lol nope, you will not have access to democratic process then civil war.
We undermine Russia for following democratic structure but when it comes to America killing Mexicans unjustly through drug enforcement and raids your response is Mexicans stole land. Come on brother, that’s a weak argument.
I suggest we watch none of your perspective because it’s generated fake news.
The threat was never Russia. Russia has always been used as a ruse because there was no other threat that could convene the hyper vigilant American voter that America need to maintain a global interventionist force that could control the flow of oil straight into London and New York stock exchanges. And now we have ISIS to replace Russia so does that now make us all wonderful people?
You have repeatedly shown us that you cannot spell. Now you have shown us that you cannot read.
When you have learned to read and have acquired a dictionary look up satire and irony.
Can i ask the reason for ur request?
Afewknowthetruth and Sam – I actually look forward to both your responses to my stories. You both offer varied ‘takes’ on what I’ve written.
Frank,
where do you get the time to do all this research and put bread on your table?
Good work,
Patrick – thanks.
Cut back on sleep plus a decent pot of coffee simmering away?
(Now if only I can train the cats to use a can-opener for their food, plus do the laundry.)
My impression is trumps statements on Syria and war ect some how serve to delegitimise mainstream media because they constantly flip trumps lies through out the major media network corridors and on to feeder networks.
So trump lies on twitter, then a counter view is aired on media to which trump replies fake news, rinse and repeat. I find it a little bit genius to be honest, not in a good way, but genius.
The problem is this causes many harts to palpitate. And thats not a good thing when the guy every one is looking at side ways has niclear weapons.
Iv spoken a bit about US carrier battle groups (CBG) being Americas first strike option over a nuclear tipped response and it turns out things aren’t going well for the CBG of the 1st to 7th fleets – http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-01/first-time-world-war-ii-no-us-carriers-are-deployed-anywhere-world – “for the first time time since WW2 no US carriers are deployed in the world
I don’t believe this to be a money issue at all. By that i mean Newport News shipyard and Northrup need want more cash to pay off pollies in the crystal palace i call weapons and acquisitions.
The entire US navy strike wing has no less than 20 years on the clock which is the equivalent of a 60 year old pensioner so there is no way trump can maintain hgh tempo deck opps the Bush snr/jnr and Obama did. And i dont know if the Navey variant of the F35 is in full production yet, don’t think it is, dont care to look.
So there are major problems and illusions with any potus trump wishes to use as geopolitical tools of response and he’s being boxed by his own stupidity and that all needs to be dispelled.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_T._Flynn I suspect General Flynn (ret) of the US National security council will be thrown under the bus so fake news can paper over all this fobar (fucked up beyond all recognition)
Interesting, Sam…
https://twitter.com/samibrown17_sam/status/831353933721251840 – Looks like Flynn is resigning. Called it with a day to spare, wasnt a difficult bet so meh
America stole Mexican land – Texas. 1846-48 – a precursor to the American Civil War in the 1860s.
America takes Mexican water for American agriculture.
That is some of what Afewknowthetruth has spoken of.
It also takes Mexican labourers, pays them a pittance, has them living in appalling conditions and working in worse ones.
Read up about the kids working in tobacco farming, the strawberry pickers and the lettuce pickers – just for a start. (Google is your friend.)
People who came from Mexico as children, with parents AS THEY WERE LEGALLY ABLE TO DO have been denied citizenship in America. Just like Kiwi kids who have grown up in Aus.
Sam, with migratory movements and shifting of post-WW2 borders, there are considerable ethnic groupings in various countries they do not consider themselves a part off.
Case in point, there are large ethnic Hungarian groups in Romania, after large chunks of Hungary were ceded, simply because Romania happened to switch sides in time (from an Axis nation to Allied cause).
But no one would suggest Hungary invade Western Romania to reclaim territory lost after WW2.
The world has had sufficient tribal warfare in Europe to last us a long time.
Philosophers also attribute nuclear proliferation as ending the severe blood feud between Britain and France but nobody else in my opinion has been able to replicate those successes. By the time nuclear proliferation had come about, France and UK had already gone bankrupt through 2 world wars so i wonder how much sun block actually chilled relations. The fact the the soon to be defunk’d European Union love paper work probably kicked the complex chieftains down to supervisory rolls. So squabbling over land and resources in Europe has become more pronounced since trump. At the same Putin has given Elvira free rein to use different types of accounting in an effort to secure Russia international money transfers which i am betting will absorb a lot of lose change scattered across europ – http://www.forbes.com/sites/leemathews/2016/12/03/hackers-targeted-russian-central-bank-in-45-million-heist/
I think this is relevant to your observations, Sam;
ref: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/capsule-review/1993-12-01/spheres-influence-great-powers-partition-europe-munich-yalta
I disagree with stalin, no parties, no nukes.
My dream scenario is that MMP has no major parties.
Remember there was some bloke called Hitler did this prior to WW2. But then again old jerry didn’t have the bomb either.
Im have very little confedence in conceptual ideas. We have officially hit peak little Hittler. Flynn has been overwhelmed. Those promoting nuclear weapons will find themselves on the wrong side of a starting gun
New Zealand is supporting the fascists in the Ukraine ….. with trade sanctions against the Russian and Crimean people …. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYyy0aeWrnw …. and trump gets criticized for talking to the russians ????
… But then again we support killers and fascists in the Pacific which is closer to home …
NZ mfat Government website …”New Zealand enjoys a strong relationship with Indonesia” …
But
” in the aftermath of the Suharto dictatorship, which came to power through the killings, and under which unions had been illegal. The conditions on this Belgian-owned plantation were really terrible. The Belgian company made the women workers spray a weedkiller with no protective clothing, and the mist would get into their lungs and then into their bloodstream and then into their livers and kill them in their 40s” …..
“And when they complained to the company about it as part of their efforts to start organizing a union, the company hired Pancasila Youth, the paramilitary group in The Act of Killing, to attack them. They were, it turned out, easily intimidated, because their parents and grandparents had been killed for being in a big union in 1965. ” ….
in a sense, a genocide, at least in one fundamental important way, never ends, because the perpetrators remain in power and continue to keep everyone afraid. ” http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/interrogation/2015/07/joshua_oppenheimer_interview_the_director_of_the_look_of_silence_and_the.html
mfat NZ Government: “we’re natural partners.” ….
But
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i15J1zfJ2xc … “It’s as Though I’m in Germany 40 Years After the Holocaust, but the Nazis Are Still in Power”
mfat NZ Government: “We work with the Indonesian defence force”….
But http://www.slideshare.net/adgjll/the-neglected-genocide-west-papua
“several military operations were launched in the Papuan highlands’…” The operations resulted in mass killings of, as well as violence against civilians. The stories of survivors recall unspeakable atrocities including rape, torture and mass executions.”
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/07/joshua-oppenheimer-the-look-of-silence-interview-indonesia …”I tried to film at the very beginning of 2003 with Adi and his family and other survivors from Adi’s village, only to have the army come and threaten all of the survivors not to participate in the film. ”
“New Zealand has a formal agreement with Indonesian police” …
BUT
“We crushed their necks with wood. We hung them. We strangled them with wire. We cut off their heads. We ran them over with cars. We were allowed to do it. And, the proof is we murdered people and were never punished”
“one of the biggest planned screenings of “The Look of Silence,” at the Jakarta Theological Seminary, was cancelled by police.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHGbb64YxAk
Afewknowthetruth, whether one fifty megatonne bomb or fifty one megatonne bombs, the result would be pretty much the same; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf8RCiaLJug
(Damn, you gotta love 1960s/70s movies.)
This is a fairly good depiction of what nuclear war would actually be like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yif-5cKg1Yo&t=6121s&nohtml5=False
Which is why Putin does everything he can to avoid it.
That said, Putin has made it abundantly clear that if the Americans insist on attacking Russia (after all, they did resurrect their first strike nuclear policy several years ago after abandoning it) the Americans can expect all the major cities of America to be obliterated and most of the homeland to be rendered uninhabitable.
That was no empty threat (unlike most of the threats made by America); Russia has developed the most advanced missile systems in the world, and will use them if the American warmongers were stupid enough to attack Russia.
It is always worth remembering that American weapons industries are primarily concerned with making profits for corporations and Wall Street, whereas Russian weapons industries are primarily concerned with making effective weapons that counter the existential threat.
NZ is, of course, aligned with the wrong partners, an inevitable consequence of history.
It’s hard how Trump can reconcile both Bannon and his “slavish support for Israel,”, given that Bannon is a well-known anti-Semite (not sure why this wasn’t mentioned in your write up, because it’s surely HIGHLY relevant in how Trump deals with Israel and/or Bannon who you suggest is Trump’s bestest friend). Is Bannon perhaps less important than you make out? Or is his “slavish support of Israel” just a ruse?
https://mediamatters.org/blog/2016/11/13/white-nationalist-who-hates-jews-will-be-trumps-right-hand-man-white-house/214419
I seem to recall Frank mentioning that previously, Nitrium, and he got bollicked for it. He can’t win either way with trumpistas it seems.
I remember pointing out in a different way that Trump and Bonan are genius because it takes genius to turn a smaller mandate into fascism. It may not come across like that but they are smart, very clever, they know what they want and they’ll do anything to get it.
Respecting these two personalities and understanding that it’s all illusionary may sound a contradiction in terms but not if you understand the flow of money.
Humanities greatest achievements are not in our discoveries but how those discoveries are applied to reducing the great inequalities and Frank and to a lesser extent Nitrium do do that in there continued struggle for truth justice and the kiwi dream
Well I mention it because you can’t have it both ways. Is Trump under the influence of Bannon OR Israel (or, as I think, neither)? It’s an important distinction imo in how much relevance you heap upon each (and who you blame) with regard to Trump’s policy. Personally, I think Trump is far too narcissistic to allow any one individual or country to influence his policy in any meaningful way.
Perhaps we can have it both ways?
Nitrium, do you have any evidence suggesting Bannon doesn’t want the USA to sustain a Zionist Israel? I’ve been thinking the same thing.
Someone pointed out to me that anti-Semites often support the state of Israel because it means the Jews will not live in USA (or other countries), it also means perpetual war between the Jews and Muslims (anti-Semites are usually Islamophobes too, so having them kill each other is win-win).
I don’t mean Banon and his ilk overtly support Israel like the neo-conservatives do, but more of a quiet funding while also promoting anti-Semitism.
It’s also worth noting that Trump’s foreign alignments were never coherent. He claimed he could solve Syria alongside Russia, but Trump was always going to pick a fight with Iran and support Israel. Meanwhile Trump bows down to the Saudis like every other POTUS, and claims to be able to defeat ISIS as well. Iran remains a key player in the Middle East, and Trump has reignited Bush’s ham-fisted approach to that country.
Trump’s approach to the Middle East has been incoherent since he put his hat in the ring for the GOP. He won’t solve anything
Fatty – that about sums it up, nicely. (Just with more brevity than I can muster.)
Even briefer – Zionism IS anti-Semitism, genius. Z sows the seeds of destruction for all Israel, all Semites.
Nitrium, there is much more I could have written in my piece above. I could easily have made the story twice as long, mentioning Bannon’s anti-semitism, as well as Mattis’ trip to South Korea and Japan. Plus Iran’s second missile test. And other comments from our Russian cuzzies…
But I doubt anyone would’ve read it.
As for referencing Bannon’s anti-semitic views, I have pointed it out previously, on several occassions – https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/01/23/the-problem-with-jacinda/#comment-367231 – so it’s not something I’m sweeping under the carpet.
Bannon may indeed have Trump’s ear on several issues, but judging from Trump’s own comments (which I have referenced), the US’s strategic alliance with their “puppet policeman” in the Middle East probably outweighs Bannon’s anti-semitism. For the moment, at least.
Steve Bannon ” His working class, Irish Catholic family were pro-Kennedy, pro-union Democrats.”
On the other hand, he may be an honest chap, under all the venom.
And from the Guardian:
“But many observers balk at the idea that Xi’s ever-more repressive, nationalist and, in some ways, insular nation might become a standard-bearer for a progressive economic policies. Foreign companies complain that under Xi they feel increasingly unwelcome in China. More than 80% of respondents to a recent US chamber of commerce poll felt the business climate was growing frostier; few had faith China would fulfil promises to further open its markets to outsiders.
China’s 710 million internet users are also feeling the heat. According to anti-censorship group Greatfire.org, almost 20% of the world’s top 1,000 websites, including Google, Facebook and Twitter, are blocked in Xi’s China, as part of a bid to keep out western ideas and competition. In recent weeks authorities have moved to make it even harder to circumvent their draconian internet controls. Free speech is also increasingly curtailed in Chinese universities, publishing houses and the fawning, party-controlled news media; foreign NGOs have been shown the door; and even mild critics of the regime have found themselves spirited into secret detention. “If Xi’s our saviour, then we are all screwed,” said Bishop. “If this is the kind of state or model that is becoming the leading state in the world, then that is a very dangerous thing for all of us.”
While Xi sermonised against Trump-style economic nationalism in Davos, Howie said the US president’s attempts to cow automakers who had shifted production to Mexico were straight out of the Chinese playbook. “Economic blackmail and bullying? China has been doing that for years,” he said. Bishop agreed that while Xi’s address sounded “warm and fuzzy on the surface … in reality we all know that the Chinese view of globalisation is quite a mercantilistic view – it’s very much focused on what can the world do for China.”
Sorry, Frank, but many on the Left are revealing their true colours in support of the Chinese mega-dictatorship (i.e. not “Left” at all). Where are your regular posts on the organ-harvesting and other human rights abuses of the so-called saviour of the free world, China?
I do not believe I have ever referred directly or indirectly to China as a “saviour of the free world”. That appears to be an invention in your own mind.
Castro, each post from you reinforces my feeling that you are a faux-leftist, with your own agenda.
Carry on.
I believe that it is you who is the faux leftist. Though in calling me such you reveal your so-called left leanings to be little more than semantics. Again where are your missives on the true orwellian nightmare that is the Chinese dictatorship?
If it is such a critical human rights problem for you, feel free to write something yourself. Why expect others to do your bidding?
By the way, I look forward to your missives on the failures of neo-liberalism since the 1980s. It shouldn’t be hard, “Castro”, there are numerous examples.
Castro, I’ve noticed your postings as well and I think Frank has nailed your ass to the wall. I don’t know what your game is, but “agent provacateur” is a good place to start.
In all your postings I’ve never once read anything criticising National, neo-liberalism, or globalisation.
So the only querstion I’m left to ask is, are you a Young Nat or Act on Campus activist?
+1
Great summation, Frank. The Trump administration isn’t so much as draining the swamp as replacing it with toxic waste from the Neo-cons, alt right, and Republican Party cronies.
We have a lot to be wary of. Trump is moving us ever closer to doomsday.
Thanks, Samwise. Let’s hope that the “nuclear football” given to Trump is a dummy; perhaps a plastic version made by Mattel, in one of it’s Chinese factories. (https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/8c/38/e1/8c38e14d0efd1f2c1d05c24ad83c131a.jpg)
Or else we may have to pray for men (and women) like Stanislav Petrov to save our planet from atomic armageddon.
ref: https://www.rt.com/news/soviet-officer-awarded-dresden-530/
Bloody lot of work putting it together frank, and made it succinct.
What agonises me is that we should always have stayed in a block with UK,USA Russia and other alliances outside NATO influence as the way I see it has always been the EU and the NATO influence who are pushing us to war with Russia and that is dumb as why are they doing this?
Keep tabs on this man, Jens Stoltenberg, secretary of NATO.
Try looking up this handy work of the war mongering Jens Stoltenberg Secretary of NATO his father was an active Nazi military war criminal during the last war.
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201606281042050232-nato-nazi-ss-brussels-hitler/
Is it EU’s plan to weaken us all again as we were before US entered the war in 1941 and needed that alliance with USSR then to win that war??
Best we all remember our history less we make the fatal error of judgement eh?
Again Frank please keep tabs on this man, Jens Stoltenberg, secretary of NATO.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p004t1s0/episodes/downloads.rss
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm0w7irTD5E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCrSDXmIHxI
2014 Nazi Waffen-SS Heiberg ☠ Stoltenberg next Secretary General of NATO | Paulician Trail of Blood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCrSDXmIHxI
Published on Mar 18, 2014
Spear of Destiny — Nazi past of Clan Heiberg Stoltenberg lands them the top NATO position in the forthcoming Allied «crusade» against Vladimir “The Great, Saviour of the World – Rurik” Putin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNOxpQIHlHc
1943 Stoltenberg’s Nazi uncle murdered Gorbachev’s PoW uncle in Narvik concentration camp
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Stoltenberg
Life[edit]
Stoltenberg was born in northern Germany in Kiel. In 1944 he became a soldier of the Wehrmacht. After the war, when he was no longer a prisoner of war, he finished school in 1949 (Abitur). Stoltenberg began to study history, sociology and philosophy at the University of Kiel. In 1954 he graduated as a Doctor of Philosophy and worked as an academic in Kiel. In 1960 he became a professor. In the years 1965 and again 1969/1970 Stoltenberg was the director of the company Friedrich Krupp in Essen. In 2001 he died in Bad Godesberg.[2]
Stoltenberg was married and had two children. He was member of the Lutheran church.
Trump changes his mind and no matter how fervent he is about a policy, he appears to without any sense of shame totally do a u turn.
For instance he now accepts the ‘One China’ policy, decided against relocating the embassy to Jerusalem and has accepted that water boarding does not work and won’t be used.
Hopefully he will find out that Iran is playing an important role in Iraq supporting the Shia government against ISIS ( thus the Coalition ) as they are in Syria. Thus a war with them is not recommended.
On the Ukraine I agree with Sam.
On Yemen. The poor people of Yemen are being killed and starved by the brutal Saudi regime who keep the bombs coming with the endless supply by the UK and US. Where is the daily tv coverage and outrage like we saw when it suited the West’s narrative in Aleppo ?
Today the CIA gave the Saudi prince an award for fighting terrorism. This is like ISIS being given an award for preserving heritage sites.
Indeed, Jax. Plus a war with Iran would sap the economic power of the US (as WW2 sapped the British Empire), as well as plunge the entire Middle East into chaos.
That’s the “Good” News.
Bad News? Like Syria, Iran has links to the Russians. I think we know where that might lead if the US attempted to “bomb Iran back to the stone-age” – Moscow might have a few words to say about that.
Our American cuzzies might not appreciate it, but a stable Iran is better than another Iraq; riven with civil war; factionalism; the growth of extremist groups; and mass migration of refugees.
It is no coincidence that ISIS was born out of the destruction of Iraq. We’ve witnessed this before, in Cambodia, with the US bombing of that country. It paved the way for the collapse of Prince Sihanouk’s government; the coup by pro-US General Lon Nol; and the rise of the Khmer Rouge.
The genocide that followed in Cambodia, and later in Iraq, shows what happens when stupid US adventurism creates unintended consequences.
Frank, reading your post, especially about Putin, it occurred to me that Putin is a smart cookie. Maybe he’s playing Trump, knowing/hoping that he’ll tear the USA apart one way or another, which will be all to the good of Russia!
Trump is an inexperienced idiot, which Putin is not. Perhaps by dividing America, he (Putin) will achieve his purpose.
While no apologist for Putin, I won’t shed many tears if the US empire falls on difficult times!
No “maybes” about it, “Tony Veitch (not the partner-bashing 3rd rate broadcaster)” – I’d say there’s more than an element of realpolitik about it.
Hence why Russian ambassador, Vitaly Yelchenko, handled Ambassador Haley with “kid gloves”. No shoe-banging and “VE VILL BURY YOU!” rhetoric on this occassion.
Haley got a free pass on this occassion. I hope she doesn’t expect more-of-the-same in future.
I bet if there is a Third World War and humans survive it, there will still be Trump supporters who say Hilary would have been worse.
esoteric pineapples – LOL! That has to be the funniest post I’ve read for a wee while! 😀
We’ll never know, but I agree with John Pilger’s assessment that Clinton probably would have been worse for world peace. She would have been better on domestic issues like reproductive rights, and that is important. But rose-tinting her hawkish record on international relations is the kind of reality denial that has lead the left into tolerating neo-liberalism more whenever it was a “left” party in charge. Like Obama, the Clintons are the apotheosis of the neo-liberal fake “left” that, as I’ve said in other comments, are just as opposed to the grassroots left as the neo-conservative right are.
So shall we drag labour left or continue to push the fake identities Killary and Obama pushed?
Look out for another “Gulf of Tonkin” incident to provide an excuse for yet more US military misadventures. Remember the murderous charade that Nazi Germany played out on the Poland/German border, as justification to invade and start WWII.
And more recently, the “weapons of mass destruction” and the impending “mushroom cloud” as justification for the Iraq war.
Ne Oublie and Nitrium – indeed.
On the issue of the fake WMDs in Iraq, this interview on Radio NZ, on Kathryn Ryan’s “Nine to Noon” show is informative; http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201831601/us-'got-it-wrong'-says-saddam's-interrogator
Listen to John Nixon’s comments carefully. You can almost see him shrugging with a “meh!” expression as he explains how the WMD allegations in Iraq were a lie.
It is one reason why so many people do not trust our American cuzzies further than we could throw them.
Few seem aware of who is actually behind Trump, funding him and pulling most of the strings: Robert Mercer (and his daughter Rebekah).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQUkaEVe7II&nohtml5=False
With respect, Frank, international relations is not your speciality.
Furthermore, you can not draw dot-to-dot between what Trump and his representatives say, such as UN rep Halley, and come up with a picture. Given his revert to One China, you can’t even draw a squiggly line.
For instance, the Ukraine neo-fascists in Kiev backed Clinton over Trump mouthing off for months. Now they are begging for money, which Trump would hate even without the former. And he will hate the stupidity of the whole Nato-US adventure in overthrowing Ukraine. THe paranoid hysterics in Europe about Russia is sheer bludging from small and failing states that can not support themselves. the Ukraine project will lapse after these leeches are put into line by Trump’s belt-tightening, and the Ukraine will fall back towards the Russian sphere where it has historic and cultural ties, nazi extremists aside.
There is a larger picture, and it is a different sector of the American elite calling the shots. It is nationalist, as opposed to the neoliberal globalists, is gambling on separating Russia from China and Iran, instead of the ww3 scenario Clinton et al were rushing towards, provoking war with Russia (ie, overthrowing Ukraine.)
With respect, Frank, international relations is not your speciality.
Furthermore, you can not draw dot-to-dot between what Trump and his representatives say, such as UN rep Halley, and come up with a picture. Given his revert to One China, you can’t even draw a squiggly line.
For instance, the Ukraine neo-fascists in Kiev backed Clinton over Trump mouthing off for months. Now they are begging for money, which Trump would hate even without the former. And he will hate the stupidity of the whole Nato-US adventure in overthrowing Ukraine. THe paranoid hysterics in Europe about Russia is sheer bludging from small and failing states that can not support themselves. the Ukraine project will lapse after these leeches are put into line by Trump’s belt-tightening, and the Ukraine will fall back towards the Russian sphere where it has historic and cultural ties, nazi extremists aside.
There is a larger picture, and it is a different sector of the American elite calling the shots. It is nationalist as you say, as opposed to the neoliberal globalists, and is gambling on separating Russia from China and Iran, instead of the ww3 scenario Clinton et al were rushing towards, provoking war with Russia (ie, overthrowing Ukraine.) Cold war really better describes what Trump has just backed the world away from, all we have now is barking, while the real goal is to bring manufacturing back to the US. the nationalists won’t condone genuine threats, and the biggest one currently is reliance on foreign commodities to keep the populace under control. THey don’t trust the globalist system to hold US on top, and nor should they.
Well, nice to know I got a couple right, PB. 😉
LOL, you are a funny person, PB. You say “international relations is not his speciality”, and then you endorse points he’s made!
I trhink his assessment is fairly clear and we’re getting a more concise picture of the Trump administration. In many ways it is not much different to the Bush 1 and Bush 2 regimes. The only difference is that Trump is populist (for the moment) and has sucked in a few on the alt.left. Which is regrettable.
Trump IS leading the world to another war. Let’s pray that saner heads lead the way in other capital cities.
Another outstanding assessment from you, Frank. We live in a dangerous world because of a narcissitic demagogue, with his enablers. It will take the combined skills of the Chinese, Brits, and Russians to keep that bloated bigot in check.
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