Trumpwatch: Muslims, mandates, and moral courage
.
.
Muslims…
Trump revealed his extraordinary Executive Order on 28 January. With the flourish of a pen, he banned refugees and demanded travellers from seven predominantly muslim nations be subjected to “extreme vetting” (whatever that is). Seven countries were singled out;
.
.
Of those seven two (Iraq and Somalia) have been invaded by the American Empire; one has been the target of sanctions for supposedly working toward developing an atom bomb (Iran, not Israel); and two others are currently experiencing vicious civil wars (Syria and Yemen).
Interestingly, as others have pointed out, several countries are noticeable by their absence – chiefly Saudi Arabia.
This is ironic in the extreme as, the entire world is aware, the worst terrorist atrocity on US soil was committed by fifteen Saudi nationals, on 11 September, 2001. The late-leader of al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, was also a Saudi citizen – a so-called “prince”. The remainder were from the United Arab Emirates (2), Egypt (1) and Lebanon (1).
Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Lebanon do not appear on Trump’s “Sinful Seven”.
Also omitted from the above list: Israel – 34 Americans killed on 8 June 1967, when Israeli motor-torpedo boats and a warplane attacked the USS Liberty, whilst it lay in international waters.
Making matters worse, on a Christian TV channel, Trump threw petrol onto the bonfire he had lit by stating that there would be an exemption to the ban of refugees from Syria;
Worsening the damage, he also signalled, in an interview with a Christian television channel, that the ban would not apply to Christians. Syrian Christians, claimed Mr Trump, were “horribly treated” by his predecessor. “If you were a Muslim you could come in, but if you were a Christian, it was almost impossible,” he said. “I thought it was very, very unfair. So we are going to help them.” This was not merely incendiary but untrue: last year America accepted 37,521 Christian refugees and 38,901 Muslims.
It is peculiar that the worst offender, Saudi Arabia, is not on the list. Especially since Trump made specific mention of the September 11 attack in the second opening paragraph of his Executive Order;
Section 1. Purpose. The visa-issuance process plays a crucial role in detecting individuals with terrorist ties and stopping them from entering the United States. Perhaps in no instance was that more apparent than the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, when State Department policy prevented consular officers from properly scrutinizing the visa applications of several of the 19 foreign nationals who went on to murder nearly 3,000 Americans. And while the visa-issuance process was reviewed and amended after the September 11 attacks to better detect would-be terrorists from receiving visas, these measures did not stop attacks by foreign nationals who were admitted to the United States.
So having referenced (albeit indirectly) the fifteen Saudi terrorists – Trump studiously ignored them.
Yet, Saudi Arabia is home to “Wahabism” – an extreme form of Islam. Middle East correspondent, Robert Fisk described Saudi Arabia as;
“…a Wahhabist state whose 18th-century puritan morality defined the Taliban – which received moral and financial support from Saudis – and whose misogyny and grotesque public beheadings after unfair trials parallel the cruelty of Isis punishments.”
Fisk wrote of the relationship between the American Empire and the Saudi regime;
Under Obama, Saudi Arabia will continue to be treated as a friendly “moderate” in the Arab world, even though its royal family is founded upon the Wahhabist convictions of the Sunni Islamists in Syria and Iraq – and even though millions of its dollars are arming those same fighters. Thus does Saudi power both feed the monster in the deserts of Syria and Iraq and cosy up to the Western powers that protect it.
Bloomberg business news revealed recently that Trump has personal business dealings in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Egypt;
.
.
According to Bloomberg’s research, Trumps business interests are;
Egypt
Trump lists two companies on his FEC filing possibly related to business in Egypt: Trump Marks Egypt and Trump Marks Egypt LLC.
Saudi ArabiaTrump lists companies on his FEC filing possibly related to a development project in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s second-biggest city, located outside Mecca: DT Jeddah Technical Services Manager LLC, DT Jeddah Technical Services Manager Member Corp., THC Jeddah Hotel Manager LLC and THC Jeddah Hotel Manager Member Corp.
United Arab EmiratesThe Trump Organization has a licensing and management deal in Dubai with Damac Properties Dubai Co. for a golf course and luxury villas currently under construction. Another Trump-branded golf course, designed by Tiger Woods, is under development with Damac nearby.
According to the same report, Trump also has interests in Israel – which may explain his closeness to that country’s rulers;
Israel
Trump lists two companies on his FEC filing possibly related to business in Israel : Trump Drinks Israel LLC, Trump Drinks Israel Member Corp.
Trump also has ‘had’ (he claims to have sold his share holdings) US$3,900,010 in oil, gas, and coal companies:
Chevron, Total Capital, Occidental Petroleum, Phillips 66, Halliburton, Exxon Mobil, EOG Resources, Schlumberger, Energy Transfer Partners
On top of Trump’s personal business interests in Saudi Arabia – the United States maintains close economic and military ties with the Saudi kingdom. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, the US sold billions of dollars worth of sophisticated, lethal weaponry to the Saudis;
Saudi Arabia was the top destination for U.S. arms in 2011–2015, purchasing 9.7 percent of U.S. exports. Recent sales approved by the U.S. State Department include Black Hawk helicopters worth a total of $495 million and Patriot Missiles worth $5.4 billion, as well as a $1.3 billion sale of air-to-ground munitions meant to replenish stocks used in Yemen. That has drawn criticism from human rights groups and a couple of U.S. lawmakers, who have cited the high civilian toll of the Saudi-led air campaign. Saudi Arabia’s total arms imports increased by 275 percent over 2006–2010, according to the research organization SIPRI (PDF). The United States also helps Saudi Arabia secure its oil assets by providing training and advisers to Saudi security forces.
And US-Saudi business interests are closely intertwined;
Saudi government officials and businessmen, both royals and commoners, have deep ties to the United States. Saudi finance, economy, and petroleum ministers all have degrees from U.S. universities. Fahad al-Mubarak, the central bank governor who controls over $700 billion in reserves, mostly in U.S. Treasuries, was previously chairman of Morgan Stanley’s unit in Saudi Arabia. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the kingdom’s most famous billionaire investor, owns stakes in Citigroup and Twitter.
[…]
As the kingdom’s economy expanded over the past decade and its stock market opened up to investors in 2015, many U.S. and European banks are expanding operations in Saudi Arabia. Bank of America has been preparing for the Saudi market opening for years, and Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse have shifted staff from Dubai to Riyadh. U.S. investment funds such as Providence Equity Partners and Apollo Global Management are also seeking to acquire stakes in Saudi companies.
Saudi Arabia’s influence within the US economy has recently taken a sinister turn;
There’s growing bipartisan support for a Senate bill, sponsored by Democrat Chuck Schumer and Republican John Cornyn, to allow victims of the 9-11 terrorist attacks to sue the Saudi government for recompense for any involvement it may have had in the event. The bill has been motivated by the suspicion that Saudi officials or prominent citizens helped fund the attack, which was perpetrated mostly by terrorists from Saudi Arabia.
This bill is giving Saudi officials serious pause, leading the Saudi finance minister Adel al-Jubeir to warn members of Congress and Administration officials that, if the bill passes, it would be forced to sell off $750 billion worth of U.S. Treasury debt and other American assets, a move that the New York Times said could trigger “economic fallout.”
No wonder that Yemen and Somalia make it on to Trump’s List – but Saudi Arabia does not.
.
Mandates…
On 7 December 2015, on the election-trail, Trump issued his now-infamous state calling for a ban of muslims entering the United States;
“Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our countries representatives can figure out what is going on.”
Trump’s Executive Order on 28 January seemingly fulfills that so-called “election promise”. Trump’s supporters have justified the issuing of that Order on the premise that Trump was simply meeting his promises.
On this issue, we should refer to the lessons of history. Specifically, the rise of nazism in Germany in the 1930s, where Adolf Hitler made certain promises to the electorate;
Hitler offered something to everyone: work to the unemployed; prosperity to failed business people; profits to industry; expansion to the Army; social harmony and an end of class distinctions to idealistic young students; and restoration of German glory to those in despair. He promised to bring order amid chaos; a feeling of unity to all and the chance to belong. He would make Germany strong again; end payment of war reparations to the Allies; tear up the treaty of Versailles; stamp out corruption; keep down Marxism; and deal harshly with the Jews.
[…]
On election day September 14, 1930, the Nazis received 6,371,000 votes – over eighteen percent of the total – and were thus entitled to 107 seats in the German Reichstag.
Hitler Made many promises to the country of Germany in order to come to power. Most of the promises he made, he did not keep. After WWII Germany signed the Treaty of versailles which was the main cause of Germany’s economic problems at the time. The U.S. made loans to Germany to help with its failing economy. But when the market crashed in 1929, the U.S. could not continue to help out Germany. This helped set up Hitler perfectly. The people of Germany wee looking for someone who could help fix all of the ongoing problems they were facing in Germany. At the time they had lost faith in their governments ability to take care of its citizens. Hitler believed he could help the people in Germany and he promised them all relief. He also promised jobs for the unemployed and a market for the farmers goods. Hitler began to appeal to peoples emotions instead of their reason. The people of Germany heard what they wanted to hear and ignored the violence of the Nazi party. Hitler blamed Germany’s problems on the “corrupt” politicians, communists, and Jews. He told Germany that if they got rid of them, all of Germany’s problems would vanish and the whole country would improve. Many people in Germany protested Hitler’s ideas and reasoning.
If a candidate vilifies a minority and is subsequently elected to office by a majority, does that confer the right to attack that minority from a position of power conferred by that office? Is an abuse of political power permissable under the guise of “carrying out an election promise”? Do we confer a cloak of respectability to bigotry and racism if it is elected to office?
If the answer is ‘yes’, this must constitute a subversion of democracy and universal human rights by allowing a “tyranny of the majority” to oppress a minority.
It means no minority is safe. It means that mob rule trumps Constitutional safeguards and Declarations of Human Rights built up over the centuries.
1930s Germany offers a clear, chilling lesson where that leads.
Sometimes, the minority voice is the morally righteous one;
.
.
Questions also arise regarding political agendas here in New Zealand. National and John Key campaigned in 2014 on concluding a successful TPPA. National won the election.
If Trump has carte blanche to promote his muslim-ban; unimpeded, because it was an election promise – does that imply that New Zealanders were wrong to protest against the TPPA because National had a mandate?
.
Moral courage…
The growing resistance to Trump’s increasingly fragile administration took a dramatic turn today (31 January). In a move straight out of The West Wing, Madame Secretary, or any other political drama, Attorney General, Sally Yates took a step of moral courage that is a rarity these days;
.
.
Why was Ms Yates’ refusal to carry out Trump’s Executive Order an act of heroism?
Because sometimes, the only way to stand up to an unjust law is to say, “No”.
To participate in unjust law – and taken to extremes – leads humanity down dark paths of evil, whether fascism, stalinism, apartheid, etc.
Ms Yates could have followed Trump’s orders – but would that have been the morally right thing to do? Can a human being justify injustice by asserting they were “only following orders”?
Again, 20th Century history offers guidance for us;
It was impossible for Eichmann to deny his role in the killing of Europe’s Jews. Servatius adopted the defense strategy that had been used at Nuremberg. Since he could not disavow the crime, he disavowed the responsibility for them. “He was just following orders” Eichmann’s defense was designed to let the SS Officer fade from the stand and replace him with the benevolent bureaucrat, a man whose actions had been misrepresented by the prosecution. He even went so far as to claim that his early actions during the period of forced emigration had been for the benefit of the Jews.
Humanity made a conscious decision in 1945-49 that “following orders” could not be a justification for perpetrating injustice.
Ms Yates believed Trump’s Executive Order to be unjust and possibly illegal, and she took the only possible step. She said “No”. Ironically, Trump’s Executive Order makes provision for just this scenario;
This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
Ms Yates was following Trump’s Executive Order – perhaps the only part of it that made sense.
History may judge Attorney General Yates, Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, etc; as people who chose to follow their conscience rather than orders.
.
Meanwhile…
Recent events within the American Empire has moved the world closer to Doomsday, according to the planet’s leading scientists – the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BPA). The Doomsday Clock – made famous in popular culture in the 1986 Watchmen graphic novel and 2009 movie – has moved from three minutes to midnight, to two and a half minutes to midnight;
Scientists have moved the minute hand of the symbolic Doomsday Clock 30 seconds closer to midnight for the first time.
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.
.
![The atomic scientists say the world had edged closer to doomsday [EPA]](https://fmacskasy.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/doomsday-clock-donald-trump.jpg)
The clock now says the world is 2.5 minutes from apocalypse.
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BPA) chief Rachel Bronson urged world leaders to “calm rather than stoke tensions that could lead to war”.
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.
The Trump Administration has led humanity into uncharted waters. Looming on the dark horizon may be the inevitable;
Given the sheer danger to the Republic as well as to the Republicans, Trump’s impeachment will happen. The only question is how grave a catastrophe America faces first. – Robert Kuttner, Huffington Post, 29 January 2017
.
.
.
References
The Guardian: Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration – the full text
Wikipedia: Hijackers in the September 11 attacks
Wikipedia: September 11 attacks
Wikipedia: USS Liberty incident
Belfast Telegraph: War with Isis – If Saudi Arabia isn’t fuelling the militant inferno, who is?
The Independent: Iraq crisis: Sunni caliphate has been bankrolled by Saudi Arabia
The Economist: Donald Trump gets tough on refugees
Bloomberg: Trump’s Immigration Ban Excludes Countries With Business Ties
Bloomberg: Tracking Trump’s Web of Conflicts
New York Times: Trump Speaks With Netanyahu, Seeking to Thaw U.S. Relations
Council for Foreign Relations: U.S.-Saudi Relations
Fortune.com: Could Saudi Arabia Trigger an American Debt Crisis?
Fortune.com: Donald Trump Wants to Stop All Muslim Immigration
The History Place: The Rise of Adolf Hitler – Germans elect Nazis
The Rise of Hitler & Nazism: Hitler’s Promises to Germany
Interest.co.nz: Election 2014 – Party Policies – Trade
Al Jazeera: US attorney general Sally Yates fired in Muslim ban row
Holocaust Research: The Trial of Adolf Eichmann
Radio NZ: Doomsday Clock moved closer to midnight
Huffington Post: The Inevitability Of Impeachment
Additional
The Independent: Obama knows 9/11 was linked to Saudi Arabia – its massive oil reserves are behind his official visit
Other Blogs
The utter madness of Trump’s #MuslimBan
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
.
.
.
.
.
= fs =
‘The Reality Of It: “Immigration Can NEVER Be An Effective Way To Deal With The Suffering People Of The World” (Video Presentation)’
http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/the-reality-of-it-immigration-can-never-be-an-effective-way-to-deal-with-the-suffering-people-of-the-world-video-presentation_02052017
(better to protest against the wars by imperialists that created the people to flee their own homelands ie created the refugees in the first place)
Where are my two comments and one reply ? ? ?
Please give your reasons for not publishing those three submissions ?
This is not a good look for the good reputation that has been developed by TDB. Not good at all. Shows bias and misjudgments and that someone
is stuck in their beliefs – not open minded.
Now quickly delete this one as well for you would not want anyone to know
the real truths and the hidden disgraces.
WHERE ARE MY COMMENTS ?
Someone at TDB refuses to put up comments with things they do not agree with. This is called biased journalism and stopping freedom of speech.
USA has always banned people…eg in 1969…Ernest Mandel (the noted European Marxist scholar)… Carlos Fuentes (Mexican novelist)
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1969/11/20/the-mandel-case/
It is nothing unusual…and it hardly compares to the murder and mayhem wrought to Iraq, Libya and Gaddafi instigated by Hillary Clinton…and the destabilisation of Syria and Palestine
Chooky, you really need to stop being an apologist for Trump. You’re embarrassing yourself.
The US may’ve banned individuals for various reasons, but I can’t recall the last time (since WWII) that they banned an entire class of people based on religion/ethnicity. In fact, the US has consistently welcomed refugees from Eastern Euyrope and Cuba during the Cold War.
Trump’s travel ban is racism, my friend, and if you can’t recognise that then you really have been seduced by the Dark Side.
you are the idiot and you are not even embarrassed
‘Watch Jimmy Carter Ban Iran Immigrants And Deport Students During The Hostage Crisis’
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-11/watch-jimmy-carter-ban-iran-immigrants-and-deport-students-during-hostage-crisis
‘Banning people is wrong, but killing them is even worse’
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/375894-banning-people-regime-change-muslims/
“Which is more morally reprehensible: (1) Introducing a ban on refugees and immigrants from a small number of countries for a temporary period or (2) Killing people and destroying their countries through illegal regime change wars?
A bit of a no-brainer, eh? It has to be the second answer, surely.
Well, you’d think so, but for some it seems, the first option is far worse than the latter.
How else to explain that large sections of the Western liberal-left seem to be more incensed by Donald Trump’s ban on visitors from some Muslim countries (unjust though it is) than they were by the war which destroyed Libya, a country that had the highest living standards in Africa.
In their anti-Trump crusade, some ‘progressives’ appear perfectly happy to link arms and sing ‘Kumbaya’ with the serial warmongers who unleashed the carnage which caused the refugee crisis in the first place?
…Such is the ‘Sorosification’ of the Western liberal-left that to impose controls on immigration is now regarded as a more heinous crime than launching brutal, imperialist wars of aggression, which are a prime cause of the significant level of migration from the Middle East. At the same time, the people who create and propagandize for destructive wars for economic gain against countries of the global south, are regarded as less reprehensible than those who advocate visa restrictions, especially if they come out and condemn visa restrictions.
Liberals, for instance, fawned over the former Secretary of State Madeline Albright when she said she “stands ready” to “register as Muslim” in “solidarity” against Trump. The very same Madeline Albright once declared that the death of half a million (predominantly Muslim) children in Iraq due to sanctions was a price that was “worth it.”…
The obvious response, Chooky, is why it has to be an Either/Or situation.
The correct answer is that both are wrong. Humans are quite capable of holding moral positions on multiple issues.
As I pointed out in my piece above, Trump’s travel ban does not extend to Syrian Christians. So despite Trump’s mendacity that it’s not a “muslim ban”, it clearly is. We cannot turn our back on racism because there might be “worse sins” happening in the world today.
“If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.”
― Samuel Adams. (Was an American statesman, political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.)
“If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.”
― Samuel Adams. (Was an American statesman, political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.)
Excellent reporting and analysis, as we’ve come to expect from you, Frank. The Trumpistas will be foaming at the mouth as you reveal Trump’s lies and machinations, but the truth eventually comes out. Trump will not live out his full 4 year term, people power will see to that!
Like you’re even remotely concerned about human rights, Andrew.
Andy, if – as you suggest – it was an “inside job”, I’m sure our Russian cuzzies would know about it by now and there would be hacked emails splattered all over the internet.
If you can find anything on Wikileaks on the subject, I’d love to know.
See my reply above (if it gets published). The problem is that the OFFICIAL story itself is a MASSIVE conspiracy. And it doesn’t pass any sort of scrutiny.
Just 5 minutes of your time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5LCByiai14
Do you believe EVERYTHING in that summary? Well, it’s the official story.
Frank – if you think that it was not an obvious and planned demolition than do some deeper research and start to see who bought multi-millions of dollars worth of insurance just days before. That is just the beginning.
Andrew, it’s fairly obvious you haven’t read my blogpost…
Andrew, Frank explains how much US weaponry Obama gave the Saudis during his two terms in power. This has created a massive loss of Yemeni lives. Human rights organisation’s refer to it in genocidal terms. Oh he goes on about Trump being like Hitler or something as well dunno why.
There certainly is a chill in the air….
Oh gawd, here we go, the conspiracy fruiitcakes come out.
Listen fellas, get a grip on reality. If it had been an “inside job”, we’d all know about it by now. Someone would’ve leaked, or the Russians would found out and revealed it.
Andy, you quoted John Pilger earlier, so what does he say about any stupid 9/11 conspiracy notions??
Yes Priss. Here is the official story for you. Seriously – THIS is the official story – the one you apparently believe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5LCByiai14
*yawn*
More fairy tales……
Really? ‘Cos that’s the scenario that “officially” happened. If you don’t believe EVERY SINGLE THING that is described in that video then YOU too are a conspiracy fruitcake.
Priss, you do know that 3 buildings collapsed on 911. The third structure to come down was WTC building 7. Its collapse was reported on BBC before it actually happened. The official account is full of holes, passports found at the scene of the ‘attackers’ perfectly intact, thermite an explosive used in building demolition – the buildings had been wired, you can see the windows blowing out below the collapse in footage.
Bert, thermite is also used in welding steel in buildings. Considering the massive steel framing wrapping the WTC, it would be surprising if traces had not been detected.
As for the BBC report about WTC7, I refer you to this statement from the broadcaster: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2007/02/part_of_the_conspiracy.html
Surely you can’t be suggesting that an entire broadcasting company is part of the conspiracy and everyone within the organisation kept it secret?!
That is why I give little credence to conspiracy theories; they run counter to human nature not to disclose a secret. And as others have pointed out, where are the leaks? The hacked emails? Russia? Russia would have known about such a vast conspiracy before it had been initiated.
As the hacked emails from the DNC show, you can’t keep a secret of such magnitude without the secret being exposed.
Oh FFS!!! Bert and Nitrium, are you people so deluded that you can’t grasp the reality that if such a vast conspiracy existed the Russians would’ve hacked it by now and it would be all over Wikileaks!!!! Imagine if Putin ever got wind of such a conspiracy. Imagine what damage the Russians would do to the US! Why would they keep it secret??
FFS, hacked emails destroyed Clinton’s electoral chances so do you really think anything as vast and complicated as your fantasies would stand a snowball’s chance in Hades for remaining secret?????
Jesus wept, get a grip on reality.
Using Russian hacking as a denial strategy seems to have worked for the elites for a while but its smelling fishy now.
Just to be 100% clear, the “reality” of the scenario that is described in the video link I posted? You believe ALL of that verbatim? If so, IMO it isn’t me that’s the fruitcake here.
For the record, I don’t “believe” in any of the “conspiracies” per se, iNCLUDING the one presented as the “official account”.
Andy –John Pilger was wrong.
Next.
Thank you Frank for such a comprehensive and insightful piece. Your referencing is very helpful. Reading history parallels and seeing it repeat itself is very disconcerting.’The banality of evil’.
(I wish we had the thumbs up down tool on this site as we used to have).
Precisely the same thoughts occurred to me, Susan. History repeats, and it is chilling to the marrow.
As for those who try to point the finger at some non-existent “inside job” for 9/11, I find that repugnant that culpability is removed from the Saudi regime and redirected at non-existent conspirators.
Frank, thank you for weaving the different threads together. Trump fans may be enamoured with their hero, but the rest of us can see another Key-like figure staring back at us. The difference though is that the lunatic in the White House has nukes at his finger tips.
And that is the important thing here, the nukes.
The last megalomaniac the planet had to deal with managed a score of over 60 million dead and that was with 70 year old military technology and WITHOUT nukes.
(The two nukes used were not Hitler’s and were very primitive fission devices. Fission bombs have a top limit on size and power.)
The nukes at Trump’s disposal are thermonuclear (fusion) and have no limit on size and power.
Current conventional or non-nuclear military technology also includes such delights as electro-magnetic projectiles (railguns), thermobaric bombs, depleted uranium armour piercing projectiles, neuro-disruptive sonic chemical and biologic weapons, as well as all sorts of tricks with lasers and with artificial intelligence…
The death toll for WWIII will be counted in the billions, assuming there is someone left to do the counting…
We (our household) agrees, Susan. Frank’s pieces are “must read” for us all. He’s the “John Pilger/Noam Chomsky” who presents information, analysis, and insights that we rarely get from the msm. Long may he continue.
Here’s the reason for the Trump ban on listed countries (you can believe or not): http://inteldinarchronicles.blogspot.co.nz/2017/01/republic-intel-via-email-by-mr-ed-1-31.html
It’s all about the money.
Andy, you haven’t actually bothered to read Frank’s article, have you? Go on, read it and see what he has to say about Saudi Arabia.
IF you think Hillary Clinton was more likely to start WW3, tell us why. Simply saying it doesn’t make it so. We know you are hostile to the Left.At the moment Trump is turning into a loose cannon. NO wonder Thiel has bought “doomsday insurance” by taking out NZ citizenship. Rats. Sinking ship.
the model for first strick usually consists of conventional forces capitulating. And I don’t see that happening in any way, military spending is the highest it’s ever been, so as long as the USnavy has effective aircraft carriers that will always be America first strick response
The man who didn’t salute
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Landmesser
A brave man married to a Jew. It ended badly.
It’s going to end badly again. A storm is coming and it’s not going to end well.
“Look over there! Nothing to see here, folks!!”
Is that your “logic”, Andy? Do you think dictators and demagogues should get a free run because someone else is worse? Weird logic, at best.
9/11 was an inside job and had nothing to do with the patsies who were set up to take the rap. Oil pipelines, oilfields, gas pipelines, gas fields and poppy production. And lots of paperwork that had to go up in smoke very quickly.
Here we are over 15 year later, with a mountain of evidence that concrete and steel building do not fall to the ground with free-fall acceleration (one not even hit by a plane!) amongst about 50 other major inconsistencies in the official narrative, and the phony official version of event is still being regurgitated by ‘the left’.
There really is no hope (well, we’ve known that for quite a while).
I’m worried about Trump, Andrew.
Maybe I have the advantage of old age and living my entire 66 years under the threat of Mutually Assured Destruction courtesy of the Soviet Union and the American Empire. You think that is no longer an issue because there is no Soviet Union?
That betrays a sad lack of understanding the American mind. They are extreme control freaks and will stop at nothing to remain in control.
Trump isn’t threatening us with rapes and beheadings,
He’s offering us a dead irradiated cinder of a planet…
Come on Frank stop parroting the views of the global elites. I see Prince Charles is now wanting to join Soros and Rothschilds and give Trump a piece of his mind. LoL you should be championing the cause of the blue collar people in USA not the 1% and Hollywood – who fckd us with labour law reform with key for hobbit enriching a few. Sell out.
Climate scientists have only recently started picking up pollution from 20 years ago. At least that’s how long it takes for cow piss to reach our water ways. So any response due to climate change in New Zealand will be delayed. I haven’t looked at the global data but my impression is a nuclear response induced by climate change will have a similar delayed response. And Soro’s will be dead long before then.
Lost all respect for Soro’s when he was found out to be destroying the western world
Bert – are any of the facts I’ve presented in error?
Frank, it’s not the facts I’m questioning it’s the conclusions you draw from those facts. Working people backed Trump, because the left have abandoned them. Take a moment to let that sink in. Democrats under Obama have made workers and middle America the enemy (deplorable kkk etc) yet champion refugees & gays. Anyone who questions this left narrative is tarred as a fascist bigot in the eyes of the left. The liberal left are now in a precarious position. Their base now consists of non citizens and fringe elements that tend to be urban.
Bert, are you for real? Calling Frank a “sell out”?? For god’s sakes, he’s done more to reveal the workings and machinations of this Tory government than you probably have sitting on your comfortable ass and you have the nerve to have a go at him??
Telling Frank that he “should be championing the cause of the blue collar people in USA not the 1% and Hollywood ” is a load of crap. Take it up with your fearless hero, Trump, who has undermined his OWN WORKERS and union negotiations.http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4181962/Trump-s-DC-hotel-workers-overwhelmingly-vote-unionize.html
I am disgusted that you would attack a comrade while championing a bloated, sexist, racist billionaire who continues to exploit his own workers. Be thoroughly ashamed of yourself, Bert”!!!
Hi Priss,
At no stage have I specifically said I support Trump nor is he my hero. Not being critical of Trump is not to be mistaken for political support.
I’m not opposed at all of Franks record in left wing issues and acknowledge his contribution to democratic discussion, analysis and debate. Dead wrong about Trump though. I do look forward to an article from Frank or Martin about how the working class and former middle class people in the USA will now have increased job opportunities and a future for themselves and their kids.
And why the hell would they not vote for that? While your ordering your soy chino latte with fair trade alfa alfa sprouts surfing facebook on your apple i phones, their towns are gutted, their bridges and roads are collapsing, the local factory just moved to Mexico. For the left to not acknowledge this aspect of reality is such a monumental elephant in the room analytical fail that you can betcha Trump and Steve Bannon will fully exploit. It’s like the left hate the working class in the US because Trump represents them and their interests. Therefore one can view incessant Trump bashing as attacking US working class political aspirations.
Are you aware prices are projected forward 12-24 months? So any value the untouchables generate won’t be felt by consumers for atleast another 11 months, but those are some ballsy predictions
Sam, The Prez’s rate of return on initial investment will be 5000% for his supporters political capital thats for sure.
Yeah but Frank was right to single out the Saudis. All they want is the Saudi Aramco IPO fees and they will say anything to get it.
And supporters is a lose term applying that to any type of putos. As Kissinger once said. America has interests, not friends.
” I do look forward to an article from Frank or Martin about how the working class and former middle class people in the USA will now have increased job opportunities and a future for themselves and their kids. ”
What do you base that on, Bert? Wishful thinking??
If Trump can’t look after his own hotel workers he sure as hell won’t be much concerned for ordinary workers throughout the US.
It appears that your faith in the bloated billionaire is misplaced as the Republicans ram through legislation geared to smashing US unions, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/02/republicans-unions-right-to-work-bill
No Priss, I looked forward to an article from Martin re working class in USA vis a vis Trump and boom …mic drop… here it is…
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/02/03/if-you-want-to-defeat-trump-in-america-and-trumpism-at-home-you-need-to-understand-why-he-was-elected/