Trump era: Fascist dawn, or road to liberation?

[angelburst29]

Trump's recent statements are far from those that one would expect from a leader of a global power, Chinese expert Zhou Yongsheng said, commenting on a recent UN speech by the US president, during which he labelled Venezuela and Iran as dictatorial countries and threatened to "totally destroy" North Korea if it doesn't stop its nuclear activities.

'Extremely Irresponsible': Trump's UN Speech Shows 'Lack of Political Culture'
https://sputniknews.com/us/201709201057564105-trump-un-speech-lack-political-culture/

Trump's threats against other countries are motivated by his personal grievances and emotions, a research fellow with the Center for International Relations Studies of the Diplomatic Academy of China, Zhou Yongsheng, stated.

"This didn't look like an official speech of the president of a major power on the global political scene," the analyst said, adding that Trump's statements rather resembled a "personal attack devoid of any boundaries."

In addition, the analyst noted that the content of Trump's speech was contradictory from the very beginning until the end. On the one hand, the US president called on the international community to respect the principle of state sovereignty, and on the other he threatened some countries with decisive actions, including total destruction, Yongsheng noted.

"Trump's speech…demonstrates a lack of political culture. A president should always follow the principle of political certainty. He or she is not allowed to give way to the unbridled feeling of hatred or bring personal emotions to the level of state policy. This is extremely irresponsible," the Chinese expert concluded. During his UN speech, US President Donald Trump made several statements directed against a number of countries.

After a ministerial meeting at the UN the US Secretary of State said that International Atomic Energy Agency reports show that Tehran is compliant with the nuclear accord.

Tillerson Admits IAEA Reports Indicate Iran in Compliance With Nuclear Deal
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201709211057570049-tillerson-iran-compliance-nuclear-deal/

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said after a ministerial meeting at the UN on the Iran nuclear agreement that reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) show that Tehran is compliant with the accord.

From the technical standpoint the IAEA reports continue to indicate and confirm that Iran is in technical compliance with the agreement," Tillerson said during a press conference in New York.

The EU foreign policy chief claims that there is no necessity to re-negotiate parts of the Iran nuclear deal, adding that all parties agree agreed that Iran fully complies with the accord.

EU Foreign Policy Chief Sees ‘No Need’ to Renegotiate Iran Nuclear Agreement
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201709211057569931-eu-wont-renegotiate-iran-nuclear-deal/

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said after talks at the UN that there is no necessity to re-negotiate the Iran nuclear deal which may have prevented a military intervention.

"We already have one potential nuclear crisis, we definitely do not need to go into a second one," Mogherini told reporters in New York on Wednesday. "This is an agreement that prevented a nuclear program and potentially prevented a military intervention. There is no need to renegotiate parts of the agreement."

Federica Mogherini added that the United States and all other stakeholders agreed that Iran fully complies with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

On Wednesday, China criticized US President Donald Trump’s United Nations General Assembly speech threatening to “totally destroy” North Korea if necessary.

China to Trump: ‘Political Chest-Thumping’ Toward North Korea is Unhelpful
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201709211057568094-political-chest-thumping-north-korea-unhelpful-trump/

Beijing has repeatedly urged Washington to decrease its hostile tone toward North Korea, claiming that the US' antagonistic policies will only drive the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to pursue more dangerous endeavors.

"It is time for the US to realize that irresponsible words and actions are backing the DPRK into a corner with no way out, and it would be a tragedy if Trump's risky game of chicken with the DPRK crosses the point of no return," the editorial went on to state.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang also delivered a similar message at the General Assembly after Trump's speech.

Pyongyang’s response to Donald Trump’s threat “to totally destroy North Korea” did not take long, with Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho pouring scorn on the US President.

'Rocket Man's' Revenge: N Korean FM Slams Trump's Threat as 'Dog Barking'
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201709211057573349-pyongyang-minister-response/

“There is a saying that goes: ‘Even when dogs bark, the parade goes on. If [Trump] was thinking about surprising us with dog-barking sounds then he is clearly dreaming,” Ri told reporters gathered outside his hotel near the United Nations headquarters in New York.

In Korean, a “dog dream” is something absurd and makes little sense, according to Yonhap. When asked by reporters what he thought of Trump calling North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “Rocket Man,” he said he feels sorry for Trump’s aides.

US Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, who has pledged to cut wasteful spending in his agency, took private jets on at least five separate work-related flights last week.

Tom Price Cuts HHS Spending by Taking Five Private Jet Flights in One Week
https://sputniknews.com/us/201709211057570626-tom-price-private-jets/

Unlike his predecessors, who took commercial flights for business trips within the US, Price used the HHS's budget to travel on private jets to a resort in Maine for a health care industry Q&A, as well as community health centers in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.

Earlier in April Price said that one of his goals was to cut redundancy and waste in his agency. In 2009, while serving as a congressman from Georgia, he criticized Congress for authorizing funding for private jets.

But the flights reported by Politico, scheduled between September 13 and 15, cost taxpayers roughly $60,000 more than had he flown commercial.

The revelation comes at a time when other members of the Trump administration, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, are under fire for excessive flights at government's expense.

An HHS spokesperson told reporters that Price only uses charter aircraft when "commercial aircraft cannot reasonably accommodate travel requirements". He didn't specify how many private jets the Secretary has flown since taking office in February, but according to Politico, staffers say he has been using private jets for months.

Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr., the top Democrat on the House energy and commerce panel, said Wednesday that Democrats were planning to ask the HHS inspector general to look into the case.

I would remind Secretary Price that taxpayer funds are not meant to be used as a jet-setting slush fund," Pallone said in a statement. "There is no reason to be regularly chartering private flights at the taxpayers' expense between commercially serviced routes such Washington, D.C. to Philadelphia."

Earlier this year, the Trump administration proposed slashing agency budgets, including a 17.9 percent cut to HHS.

A US European Command spokeswoman is knocking down reports that the US opened a military base in Israel just days after US officials attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony to commemorate a new building cluster in the country.

US Denies Reports it Opened Military Base in Israel
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201709211057569203-us-retracts-israel-base-reports/

“The new buildings located on the Israeli installation are not a US military base,” Meghan Henderson, a media operations official at EUCOM, told The Times of Israel Wednesday.

On September 18, senior leaders from the US military participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony … to commemorate the opening of a new building on an Israeli Air Force base,” the spokeswoman said.

On Monday, Israeli Defense Forces Brig. Gen. Zvi Haimovitch declared “the base is here to stay,” noting that “this is the first time that we have an American flag flying in an IDF base.”

But according to the Israeli publication, shortly afterward, the Israeli Defense Forces scrubbed all references to a US military “base” from its website, calling the new endeavour instead a “facility.”

An Israeli military source verified to The Times of Israel that US military representatives had contacted the IDF to ask for the change in phrasing.

US officials reportedly felt obliged to correct their Israeli counterparts because of an apparent legal discrepancy: A “military base” is subject to different legal statutes than a “military facility.”

According to GlobalSecurity.org, a “main operating base” includes a command and control center, family support structures (churches, fast food joints), and permanently stationed soldiers. Further, MOBs “serve as the anchor points for throughput, training, engagement and US commitment to NATO.”

Then-US President George H.W. Bush designated Israel a major non-NATO ally (MNNA) in 1989. Other MNNAs include Australia, Egypt, Japan, South Korea, Jordan, New Zealand, Argentina, Bahrain, the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, Kuwait, Morocco, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tunisia.

The facilities that opened Monday do not meet the size requirements to be considered a base, the Times of Israel reported. “The buildings will function as a living facility for US service members who are currently working at the Israeli base,” the EUCOM official said.

 

[angelburst29]

‘Nothing Less Than Historic’: US Christens First Military Base Ever in Israel 19.09.2017
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201709191057533832-historic-US-christens-base-israel/

US Denies Reports it Opened Military Base in Israel
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201709211057569203-us-retracts-israel-base-reports/

Reports said Israel's claims that it is able to defeat Hezbollah in the next war received a slap from within following a leaked report released by the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. The report was described as "very dangerous," revealing "gaps" in the readiness and preparedness of the "Israeli" army.

Leaked Document Reveals Largest Israeli Maneuver Failed Thu Sep 21, 2017
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960630000862

The Israeli public was shocked by the Committee's leaks. Although the report is classified and should presumably remain under lock and key, the reason behind the leak was the result of a disagreement between the members of the committee, Al Akhbar reported.

The disagreement was not about the gaps in the army's preparations, but about who was responsible for these gaps. A member of the committee refused to sign the report because it holds the Israeli authorities, especially Benjamin Netanyahu, fully responsible for the deteriorating readiness and preparedness of the soldiers.

This brings us back to the subject of the great military exercise that Israel just concluded a few days ago, which was focused on defeating and crushing Hezbollah. The point of focus has been the subject of debate and widespread skepticism by military correspondents, experts and the public.

Even though Israel and its enemies understand that the former is incapable of defeating the latter in the next war, "Israel" and its army use the following justifications to prove otherwise:

There is no doubt that the legionary maneuver was an urgent necessity for Israel in raising the readiness of its army to confront Hezbollah's growing military and weapons capabilities. It reveals the size of Hezbollah's military threat and the magnitude of the challenge facing Israel. On the other hand and in light of the magnitude of the unprecedented maneuver, the first of its kind in 19 years, which consumed all of Israel's military, security and political capabilities, the army couldn't simply claim that the objective of the drills revolved around gaining the ability to expel Hezbollah from settlements it may occupy during the next war, preventing Hezbollah from reaching those settlements and successfully defending military sites.

It is also difficult for the Israeli army, with such a large military exercise, to say that it has dealt a serious enough blow to the party, ensuring Israel's deterrence for years. These results are seen as an unnecessary refraction, which entails claiming an overwhelming victory that is also accompanied by the lifting of white flags by Hezbollah.

On the other hand, it appears that the political and military decision maker in Israel has realized that recognizing the limited military ability to defeat Hezbollah, which is the accepted truth in Israel, would harm the level of the activated deterrence against the party. Israel's deterrent is measured by the actual result it can achieve in the event of a war, and by recognizing its inability to achieve victory and that it is only capable of inflicting limited harm on the enemy, means that Hezbollah possess an opposite deterrence to inflict harm on Israel. This mutual deterrence is currently prevailing in the equation and balance of power between the two sides.

From here, Israel had to, albeit belatedly, re-distort expectations and doubts regarding the fact that it could only inflict limited harm on Hezbollah and Lebanon, even though it has acknowledged this fact in word and action for years. If it succeeds in achieving change in the consciousness of the enemies that it is able to win the war, it will achieve a complete and non-reciprocal deterrence, while its enemies will recognize its capability to inflict harm whether limited or extensive and thus result in a mutual deterrence.

The mission failed. Israel has not been able to convince its enemies of its ability to win, nor has it been able, in parallel, to convince its public.

The report by the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee confirms a series of separate reports published in "Israel", which questioned the outcome of the declared maneuver: the defeat of Hezbollah. The wide range of skepticism on the part of military correspondents and experts leaves little room for the report to add new information.

Israeli Chief of General Staff, Gadi Eizenkot, said on Wednesday that Hezbollah has gained so much experience in the past years, especially as regards the fighting, that there is no point in underestimating it, noting the Lebanese movement has received massive military support from abroad and greatly improved its ways of collecting information, stressing that the movement is not only a political party, but also a sophisticated military force.

"Hezbollah is Israel's worst nightmare" - IDF supreme commander Wed. September 20th, 2017
http://www.fort-russ.com/2017/09/hezbollah-is-israels-worst-nightmare.html

He stressed that the enemy that worries Israel the most right now is Hezbollah, and is at the absolute top of the chart, noting that Hezbollah and Hamas are both aware of the “bitter price” they will pay, should they ever infiltrate into Israel’s territory.

“During the second Lebanese war we looked at Nasrallah as a target and tried to strike him from the beginning of the war”, he mentioned.

Eizenkot noted that he could not guarantee that there will be no infiltration into the territory of Israel and its settlements.

“This week the Lebanese chief of staff boasted of victory in Qalamoun. We will now have to impose our responsibility in the south”, he said, adding that shortly after Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah and his crew launched “hostile statements” about the border issue, the Lebanese Prime Minister Sa’ad Hariri traveled to the United States where he became aware that there is a demand to impose the responsibility of the Lebanese state as regards the border.

On the Syrian-Iranian issue, Eizenkot said that should Iran indeed boost its presence in Syria, this would be the bad news for the whole region. “We already said that we will not accept any type of Iranian concentration near Israel. This is a clear Israeli interest, which can be expressed not only by words, but also by deeds.”

The Chief of General Staff considered that Iran was the major threat to Israel during the last decade, pointing out that Israel demands that Iran immediately removes its forces from Syria in favour of regional security and stability, a thing that would greatly conform to the interests of Israeli security.

Eizenkot said Iran sees itself as a regional superpower, pointing out that confronting its threat is Israel's primary task, and especially focused on preventing its nuclear program from being further developed, as well as to reducing its political influence in the region.

The Israeli Chief of General Staff noted that in the past, Israel demanded immediate removal of Iranian and Hezbollah’s forces from the border area between Israel and Syria, though nothing has happened so far.

Regarding the situation in occupied Palestine, Eizenkot considered that changing the status quo in Temple Mount is not acceptable, stressing that the staff recommended the army to return to the site as soon as possible.

Regarding the issue of Gaza, Eizenkot said the humanitarian situation there is difficult, especially due to severe shortages of water and electricity, noting that there is no famine as Israel allows at least 1,000 trucks to cross into Gaza on a daily basis, bringing the necessary food and aid supplies.

“The Israeli Army continues to build the wall throughout the West Bank to reach a situation similar to that on the southern border where no one managed to infiltrate from the Egyptian side of the border”, he said.

Before finishing his speech, Eizenkot said IDF has already made a plan for a possible attack on Iran, and which is only waiting to be green-lighted by the politicians.

More than 50 countries, with Brazil and South Africa among them, signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons at a signature ceremony at the UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday.

Over 50 Countries Sign To Ban Nuclear Weapons At UN Headquarters, The US Regime Vows Never To Be A Part Of The Treaty Thu Sep 21, 2017
http://nrt24.ru/en/news/over-50-countries-sign-ban-nuclear-weapons-un-headquarters-us-regime-vows-never-be-part-treaty

Brazil’s President Michel Temer was the first to put his signature under the document. The high-level signature ceremony was attended by several heads of state and government along with dozens of foreign ministers, including Austrian, Irish and Cuban ones. Guyana, the Vatican and Thailand are expected to provide signed advance copies of the ratification instruments later in the day.

On September 20, the draft treaty banning nuclear weapons was open for signing. The document is due to come into force 90 days later after 50 countries have ratified it. Under the treaty, the parties will be obliged never and under no circumstances to develop, produce, or stockpile nuclear weapons as well as to use or threaten to use them. It compels non-nuclear signatory states not to deploy third nations’ nuclear weapons in their territories.

The treaty was approved on July 7 at the talks that major nuclear powers (Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, China and France) skipped. Two hours later after the document had been passed, the UK, US and France released a joint statement vowing they would never become party to the treaty. Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow would not ratify the nuclear weapons ban treaty as it runs counter to the country’s national interests.

Nations start signing nuke ban treaty opposed by big powers
https://www.mail.com/news/world/5527050-nations-start-signing-nuke-ban-treaty-opposed-big.html#.7518-stage-hero1-8

Are Turkey, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands and Italy Nuclear Powers?

Author’s Note : This article was originally published by Global Research in February 2010 under the title:Europe’s Five “Undeclared Nuclear Weapons States” The media, politicians and scientists have remained silent. The focus was persistently on Iran’s non-existant nuclear weapons. And now the focus is on North Korea.

Double Standards? Europe’s Five “Undeclared Nuclear Weapons States”. Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Turkey
https://www.globalresearch.ca/europe-s-five-undeclared-nuclear-weapons-states/17550

Double Standards? All eyes on North Korea

Amply documented, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Turkey are in possession of nuclear weapons which are deployed under national command against Russia, Iran and the Middle East.

Following the failed July 2016 military coup in Turkey, the media reported on Turkey’s nuclear weapons stored and deployed at the Incirlik airbase.

The US National Resources Defense Council in a February 2005 report confirmed Turkey’s deployment of 90 so-called tactical B61 nuclear weapons, some of which were subsequently decommissioned.

The stockpiling and deployment of tactical B61 in these five “non-nuclear states” are intended for targets in the Middle East. Moreover, in accordance with “NATO strike plans”, these thermonuclear B61 bunker buster bombs (stockpiled by the “non-nuclear States”) could be launched “against targets in Russia or countries in the Middle East such as Syria and Iran” (quoted in National Resources Defense Council, Nuclear Weapons in Europe , February 2005)

In 2016, press reports including Deutsche Welle confirmed the deployment of Turkey’s 50 B61 nuclear weapons out it Incirlik air force base. But this has been known for years. It took the media ten years to acknowledge that Turkey (a non-nuclear State) possesses a sizeable nuclear arsenal.

There was however some confusion in the media reports as to the nature of the nuclear bombs stored and deployed at Incirlik. They are B61 gravity bombs [of the bunker buster type] with nuclear warheads, with an explosive capacity of up to 170 kilotons (up to 12 times a Hiroshima bomb).

The accuracy of the numbers of bombs quoted in the media reports remains to be acertained. Some of the bombs were decommissioned. Some of them may have been replaced with a more recent version including the B61-11.

It should be emphasized that in the last few years, the Pentagon has developed a more advanced version of the B61, namely the B61-12, which is slated to replace the older versions currently stored and deployed in Western Europe including Turkey.

Nuclear weapons are on the table: A trillion dollar nuclear weapons is now being contemplated by the Pentagon.

The notion of deterrence has been scrapped These so-called mini-nukes are intended to be used.

Under The Pentagon’s so-called Life Extension Program, the B61 nuclear weapons are intended to “remain operational until at least 2025.”

The number of nuclear bombs deployed is far greater than those of the DPRK, which is object of economic sanctions and war threats.

Turkey, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany and Italy possess B61 nuclear bombs, deployed under national command and targeted at Russia, Iran and the Middle East.

 

[aragorn]

Now that Trump is in their pocket, one would think that they would stop the 'Russia interfered with our elections'-propaganda. I mean, if he's an optimal puppet, why still try to undermine his status? As usual, with the Freeman video and also the 'Facebook's Russian advertising', it's just one big theatrical show without any evidence. Someone is trying to...well, to do what exactly? Is someone seriously preparing for an actual real war with Russia?

 

[Anthony]

Now that Trump is in their pocket, one would think that they would stop the 'Russia interfered with our elections'-propaganda. I mean, if he's an optimal puppet, why still try to undermine his status? As usual, with the Freeman video and also the 'Facebook's Russian advertising', it's just one big theatrical show without any evidence. Someone is trying to...well, to do what exactly? Is someone seriously preparing for an actual real war with Russia?

They were hammering the anti-Russian propaganda before Trump, I think it has to do with a constant need of generating some bogus 'threat' to justify the actions of the psychopaths in power.

 

[aragorn]

Now that Trump is in their pocket, one would think that they would stop the 'Russia interfered with our elections'-propaganda. I mean, if he's an optimal puppet, why still try to undermine his status? As usual, with the Freeman video and also the 'Facebook's Russian advertising', it's just one big theatrical show without any evidence. Someone is trying to...well, to do what exactly? Is someone seriously preparing for an actual real war with Russia?

They were hammering the anti-Russian propaganda before Trump, I think it has to do with a constant need of generating some bogus 'threat' to justify the actions of the psychopaths in power.

Yeah, I understand the "normal" anti-Russian stance to keep the military industrial complex thriving, that's as old as it gets, but I'm wondering more about the "meddling in our elections" angle. But perhaps the psychos, once they started, just can't stop with that thing. They need to win that, too. However, if they'd succeed in "proving" Russia meddled in the election, then Trump's legitimacy would be in serious question. Well, pathological people are known to be illogic and not that smart, so it could be just that...pathological behavior.

 

[angelburst29]

Now that Trump is in their pocket, one would think that they would stop the 'Russia interfered with our elections'-propaganda. I mean, if he's an optimal puppet, why still try to undermine his status? As usual, with the Freeman video and also the 'Facebook's Russian advertising', it's just one big theatrical show without any evidence. Someone is trying to...well, to do what exactly? Is someone seriously preparing for an actual real war with Russia?

They were hammering the anti-Russian propaganda before Trump, I think it has to do with a constant need of generating some bogus 'threat' to justify the actions of the psychopaths in power.

Yeah, I understand the "normal" anti-Russian stance to keep the military industrial complex thriving, that's as old as it gets, but I'm wondering more about the "meddling in our elections" angle. But perhaps the psychos, once they started, just can't stop with that thing. They need to win that, too. However, if they'd succeed in "proving" Russia meddled in the election, then Trump's legitimacy would be in serious question. Well, pathological people are known to be illogic and not that smart, so it could be just that...pathological behavior.

Trump: Russia hoax continues, now it's ads on Facebook
https://www.rt.com/usa/404191-trump-facebook-ads-hoax/

US President Donald Trump has accused the media of bias over a continuing “Russia hoax.” The statement comes on the heels of a Facebook investigation into alleged Russia-linked ads on the social network during the 2016 presidential campaign.

“The Russia hoax continues, now it's ads on Facebook,” Trump tweeted on Friday. “What about the totally biased and dishonest Media coverage in favor of Crooked Hillary?”

After Democratic lawmakers exploded with outrage following Facebook's revelation that it sold some $100,000 worth of political advertising to a Russia-linked organization during the presidential campaign, the social media behemoth has agreed to release some of the 3,000 suspect advertisements that appeared on its platform with Congressional investigators, Politico reports.

Facebook Will Release 3000 Russia-Linked Election Ads To Congress
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-21/facebook-will-release-russia-linked-political-ads-congressional-investigators

"After an extensive legal and policy review, today we are announcing that we will also share these ads with congressional investigators," Facebook general counsel Colin Stretch said in a statement. "We believe it is vitally important that government authorities have the information they need to deliver to the public a full assessment of what happened in the 2016 election."

According to the Financial Times, the decision to release the ads marks a shift after the company earlier was "not forthcoming about Moscow's use of social media to influence the US election." Facebook initially denied reports of the ad-buys, which the FT says were conducted by a "Russian operative", earlier in the spring.

The decision to release the ads was made in response to mounting pressure from members of Congress, particularly Virginia Senator Mark Warner, who has demanded that Congress pass legislation requiring companies like Facebook to take steps to stop foreign governments from meddling in US elections by...purchasing banner ads.

Democrats and political commentators have treated the ads like "the smoking gun" that proves Russia intended to do everything in its power to sway the election in Trump's favor.

The company will also send copies of the ads to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team. According to Politico, it had previously only shown some of the ads to members on the Hill in a private session, but has until now refrained from releasing "extensive information" about them. The ads didn't advocate on behalf of a particular candidate, but instead focused on political issues, as previously reported.

Given that these ads supposedly were responsible for swaying the election in Trump's favor - not, say, the many miscalculations undertaken by the Clinton campaign, the undersampled polls which gave the Hillary nearly 100% confidence she would win, or the inherent failings of the Democrats' scandal-tarnished candidate - we imagine they'll eventually make their way into the public domain, considering Mueller's investigation has proven to be a sieve for sensitive materials.

In a statement released shortly after the Politico story broke, Facebook General Counsel Colin Stretch said the company made its decision after "an extensive legal and policy review" and that the company remains "deeply committed to safeguarding user content, regardless of the users' nationality, and ads are user content." (Article continues.)

An appeal seeking documents related to Whitewater is due in court Friday

Push to unseal the draft Whitewater indictment against Hillary Clinton gets court date (Videos)
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article174454791.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEQOhJXeO10 (6:56 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nInC6Mz6DGw (7:15 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEhzdZvQ1WM (1:55:16 min.)

A federal appeals court will hear a case brought by Judicial Watch on Friday to make public draft indictments of Hillary Clinton from the Whitewater scandal in the 1990s.

Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group that files Freedom of Information Act requests, wants copies of the documents that the National Archives and Records Administration has declined to release. It filed a FOIA request for the documents in March 2015 and in October 2015 the group sued for the 238 pages of responsive records.

According to Judicial Watch: “The National Archives argues that the documents should be kept secret, citing grand jury secrecy and Clinton’s personal privacy.”

But Judicial Watch says that because so much about the Whitewater case has already been made public, “there is no secrecy or privacy left to protect.”

The documents in question are alleged drafts of indictments written by Hickman Ewing, the chief deputy of Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel appointed to investigate Bill and Hillary Clinton’s alleged involvement in fraudulent real estate dealings. Although others were sentenced for their role in the matter, neither Clinton was ever prosecuted.

Ewing told investigators he drafted the indictments in April 1995. According to Judicial Watch, the documents pertain to allegations that Hillary Clinton provided false information and withheld information from those investigating Whitewater.

Ewing told investigators he drafted the indictments in April 1995. According to Judicial Watch, the documents pertain to allegations that Hillary Clinton provided false information and withheld information from those investigating Whitewater.

 

[angelburst29]

Robert Mueller, Deep State enforcer

Why Trump Needs to Shut Mueller Down Now!
http://www.targetliberty.com/2017/09/why-trump-needs-to-shut-mueller-down-now.html

I am absolutely stunned by the latest action taken by special prosecutor Robert Mueller.

The New York Times just reported:

Five years ago, Paul Manafort arranged for a prominent New York-based law firm to draft a report that was used by allies of his client, Viktor Yanukovych, the Russia-aligned president of Ukraine, to justify the jailing of a political rival. And now the report is coming back to haunt it.

The Justice Department, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation, recently asked the firm, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, for information and documents related to its work on behalf of Mr. Yanukovych’s government, which crumbled after he fled to Russia under pressure.

The request comes at a time when Mr. Manafort, his work for Mr. Yanukovych’s party and for Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs as well as the handling of payments for that work have become focal points in the investigation of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, and connections between Russia, Mr. Trump and his associates.

It’s unclear if the Justice Department’s request to Skadden, as the firm is known, is part of Mr. Mueller’s inquiry. But the interest from prosecutors in what Skadden did for the Ukrainian government is one indication of the wide-ranging nature of the inquiries related to Mr. Manafort. It also highlights the risks associated with advising authoritarian governments overseas, a lucrative sideline among Washington lawyers, lobbyists and public relations consultants.

I have always held the belief that if there was a technical legal question on a given action, the best thing to do is stick a quality lawyer in the middle of it. He will keep you out of trouble and there is an unwritten code not to go after lawyers.

Mueller, based on the NYT report, is apparently breaking that code--big time.

Skadden has 22 offices, more than 1,700 attorneys and 50-plus practice areas. It is the definition of the big leagues. If Manafort was using them, he was trying to stay on the right side of the law. What the hell kind of work product does Mueller want from Skadden?

This is over the top aggressive on Mueller's part and it should be noted that this was for work done five years ago---long before Donald Trump announced he was going to run for president.

This signals to me that the Deep State is out to crush anyone who has ever thought of crossing the Deep State.

Judge Napolitano has warned that Mueller is tightening the legal noose around Trump and that was before this NYT story dropped.

It now appears clear that Mueller is a Deep State enforcer and is not afraid to go nuclear. Trump needs to get rid of him. Kin Jun-un might not press the button, but Mueller will if necessary.

It is politically dangerous to ditch Mueller, but Trump won't survive the kind of investigation Mueller is running. A grandmother who sits on a rocking chair on her porch all day wouldn't be able to survive.

Trump needs to move Jeff Sessions to an ambassadorship somewhere and put a real tough guy in at Attorney General that will get the job done.

I am no fan of Donald Trump but a Mueller victory here will signal to anyone contemplating a challenge the Deep State not to try, ever. It will put a chill on America that it may never come out of.

 

[angelburst29]

Sebastian Gorka, until recently a deputy assistant to President Donald Trump, has predicted that Trump will conduct an imminent cull of his White House team in order to bring back people more beholden to the president’s original agenda.

Trump Will Fire White House Staff Soon and Get the ‘Old Team’ Back Together, Says Former Aide Sebastian Gorka 9/22/17
http://www.newsweek.com/trump-white-house-gorka-bannon-669268

Gorka was ousted from the White House last month, just days after his former Breitbart News colleague Steve Bannon met a similar fate as part of a shakeup in the wake of John Kelly's arrival as Trump’s chief of staff. Since coming on board at the end of July, Kelly, a former general, has sought to cut out the numerous voices competing for the president’s attention, restricting access to those who, like Bannon, once regularly dropped by the Oval Office.

Reports have since described Trump as isolated within the West Wing. And Gorka, a self-styled counter-terrorism expert who earned Trump’s admiration with his combative defense of the president in interviews, does not believe the current setup will continue for much longer.

“The president has a very interesting management style,” Gorka told Newsweek Thursday. “He’s comfortable with unusually high levels of creative chaos beneath him because he sees who’s the best fighter and who makes the best argument. But if he feels he’s being poorly served by his lieutenants he allows that frustration to increase until he gets to a point where he takes decisive action. I predict he will take decisive action to get those people around him who are not serving his original platform out of the building and that’s just how he works. I predict that there will be some firings in the near future that come from the president himself when he realizes just how much he needs the old team to be around him.”

As for who those working against the president’s agenda are, Gorka opted not to name names. He stressed that the pushback to Trump’s plans to “Make America Great Again” began long before Kelly came on board and as soon as the political outsider and his small team of allies entered the White House in what he termed “the largest hostile in modern history.”

Since his departure, Bannon has gone back to work at Breitbart, where he claims he will be a “wingman” for Trump’s agenda. Meanwhile, Gorka this week signed up to be chief strategist for pro-Trump super PAC the MAGA Coalition. His first role for the organization will, in a bizarre twist, come this week when campaigning for Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, the opponent of Trump-backed establishment-candidate Luther Strange.

Gorka does not attach much significance to Trump's public stance in the Senate race and said, ultimately, he and Trump are very much on the same page.

“This is very unfortunate but it’s a temporary state of affairs,” Gorka said about the recent changes at the White House. “And people like myself are now going to go to the outside to support the president from the outside, that’s why Steve is doing what he’s doing, that’s why I joined the MAGA Coalition. It’s just a function of the swamp protecting itself but eventually they will lose because the president is a fighter and he will realize that sooner or later he is not being well served by the anti-MAGA voices and the RINO establishment that have encircled him. And he will make some strident changes.”

Since leaving the White House, Bannon has said he still talks regularly to Trump, a claim that the White House has attempted to pour cold water on. Gorka, too, hinted that, while he is no longer officially working alongside the president, he and others still had Trump’s ear.

“Does anybody really think the president doesn’t reach out to people who he trusts,” he said. “The president, apart from being a patriot and a pragmatist, is very loyal to people who are loyal to him, let me just leave it at that.”

Gorka said he and Bannon were working to set an agenda that would shape U.S. politics well into the next decade.

“I’m not making any predictions about Steve and myself,” he said. “Whether or not Steve goes back or I go back—this is the long game, we’re in this for eight years and then eight years of President Pence—I guarantee you people associated with the original campaign will be coming back in or the president will be leaning upon them more than ever.”

 

[JGeropoulas]

Sebastian Gorka, until recently a deputy assistant to President Donald Trump, has predicted that Trump will conduct an imminent cull of his White House team in order to bring back people more beholden to the president’s original agenda.

Trump Will Fire White House Staff Soon and Get the ‘Old Team’ Back Together, Says Former Aide Sebastian Gorka 9/22/17
http://www.newsweek.com/trump-white-house-gorka-bannon-669268

Gorka was ousted from the White House last month, just days after his former Breitbart News colleague Steve Bannon met a similar fate as part of a shakeup in the wake of John Kelly's arrival as Trump’s chief of staff. Since coming on board at the end of July, Kelly, a former general, has sought to cut out the numerous voices competing for the president’s attention, restricting access to those who, like Bannon, once regularly dropped by the Oval Office.

Reports have since described Trump as isolated within the West Wing. And Gorka, a self-styled counter-terrorism expert who earned Trump’s admiration with his combative defense of the president in interviews, does not believe the current setup will continue for much longer.

“The president has a very interesting management style,” Gorka told Newsweek Thursday. “He’s comfortable with unusually high levels of creative chaos beneath him because he sees who’s the best fighter and who makes the best argument. But if he feels he’s being poorly served by his lieutenants he allows that frustration to increase until he gets to a point where he takes decisive action. I predict he will take decisive action to get those people around him who are not serving his original platform out of the building and that’s just how he works. I predict that there will be some firings in the near future that come from the president himself when he realizes just how much he needs the old team to be around him.”

As for who those working against the president’s agenda are, Gorka opted not to name names. He stressed that the pushback to Trump’s plans to “Make America Great Again” began long before Kelly came on board and as soon as the political outsider and his small team of allies entered the White House in what he termed “the largest hostile in modern history.”

Since his departure, Bannon has gone back to work at Breitbart, where he claims he will be a “wingman” for Trump’s agenda. Meanwhile, Gorka this week signed up to be chief strategist for pro-Trump super PAC the MAGA Coalition. His first role for the organization will, in a bizarre twist, come this week when campaigning for Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, the opponent of Trump-backed establishment-candidate Luther Strange.

Gorka does not attach much significance to Trump's public stance in the Senate race and said, ultimately, he and Trump are very much on the same page.

“This is very unfortunate but it’s a temporary state of affairs,” Gorka said about the recent changes at the White House. “And people like myself are now going to go to the outside to support the president from the outside, that’s why Steve is doing what he’s doing, that’s why I joined the MAGA Coalition. It’s just a function of the swamp protecting itself but eventually they will lose because the president is a fighter and he will realize that sooner or later he is not being well served by the anti-MAGA voices and the RINO establishment that have encircled him. And he will make some strident changes.”

Since leaving the White House, Bannon has said he still talks regularly to Trump, a claim that the White House has attempted to pour cold water on. Gorka, too, hinted that, while he is no longer officially working alongside the president, he and others still had Trump’s ear.

“Does anybody really think the president doesn’t reach out to people who he trusts,” he said. “The president, apart from being a patriot and a pragmatist, is very loyal to people who are loyal to him, let me just leave it at that.”

Gorka said he and Bannon were working to set an agenda that would shape U.S. politics well into the next decade.

“I’m not making any predictions about Steve and myself,” he said. “Whether or not Steve goes back or I go back—this is the long game, we’re in this for eight years and then eight years of President Pence—I guarantee you people associated with the original campaign will be coming back in or the president will be leaning upon them more than ever.”

That's what I've been wondering. Has Trump been hood-winked by false intel into believing he needs to be pro-war now? Or is he being coerced by threats? Has he lost sight of the fact that it's own appointees who have undermined/derailed his vision for his presidency? In fact, so much he has little left to lose now--despite potential uproar (hardly novel)--by taking radical action and clearing them all out--beginning with hangman, Mueller for many reasons obvious to all including those discussed above (https://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,43576.msg734009.html#msg734009), continuing with Jared, then telling Kelley he wanted assistance, not imprisonment!!

 

[JGeropoulas]

... Someone is trying to...well, to do what exactly? Is someone seriously preparing for an actual real war with Russia?

Remember Hiroshima: “Collateral Damage” and The “Pre-emptive” First Strike Use of Nuclear Weapons
Prof. Michel Chossudovsky
https://www.globalresearch.ca/is-the-bush-administration-planning-a-nuclear-holocaust-2/2032

Nuclear war with Russia, China, Iran and North Korea is “on the table”. Non-nuclear states in the Middle East are also contemplated as potential targets for a preemptive nuclear attack. A first strike nuclear weapons attack against these four countries is an integral part of America’s military agenda.

Theater Nuclear Operations (TNO)
While presidential approval is formally required to launch a nuclear war, geographic combat commanders would be in charge of Theater Nuclear Operations (TNO), with a mandate not only to implement but also to formulate command decisions pertaining to nuclear weapons.

We are no longer dealing with “the risk” associated with “an accidental or inadvertent nuclear launch” (but with) geographical commanders with discretionary powers to use tactical nuclear weapons.

Moreover, because these “smaller” tactical nuclear weapons have been “reclassified” by the Pentagon as “safe for the surrounding civilian population”, thereby “minimizing the risk of collateral damage”

Stockpiled tactical nuclear weapons are now considered to be an integral part of the battlefield arsenal. In other words, nukes have become “part of the tool box”, used in conventional war theaters.

 

[angelburst29]

Now that Trump is in their pocket, one would think that they would stop the 'Russia interfered with our elections'-propaganda. I mean, if he's an optimal puppet, why still try to undermine his status? As usual, with the Freeman video and also the 'Facebook's Russian advertising', it's just one big theatrical show without any evidence. Someone is trying to...well, to do what exactly? Is someone seriously preparing for an actual real war with Russia?

They were hammering the anti-Russian propaganda before Trump, I think it has to do with a constant need of generating some bogus 'threat' to justify the actions of the psychopaths in power.

Those two statements reminded me of something ... and since the General's have taken over the White House as "a new MAN-PAD and mini Pentagon" remember this .... (?)

The Underground White House (Photos)
https://whitehouse.gov1.info/tunnel/index.html

West Wing Construction: A New White House Bunker?

In 2010, tall fences went up outside the West Wing of the White House and a massive construction project was underway. Officially, the construction project was described as a much-needed infrastructure systems replacement. The massive scope of the project, described as a "sprawling, multistory structure whose underground assembly required truckloads of heavy-duty concrete and steel beams", led to many questions and conspiracy theories.
Was this a new presidential command center housing its own massive communications data center? One official stated off the record "It is security-related construction."

Before and After Photos of the Secret White House Construction Area

In 2007, a nondescript white building was constructed adjacent to the West Wing. The building is visible in the photo below, located on the far right.
During the George W. Bush Administration, this mysterious building did not officially exist. No one asked about the sudden arrival of the building and no explanations were given.

There was some speculation that this temporary building housed a data center with communications equipment. The building was removed at some point during the West Wing construction project perhaps with its equipment relocated below ground.

The first photo below shows the West Wing construction area in 2010 with the secret white building visible above ground. The second photo shows the completed construction area at the end of 2012 with the white building removed.

The White House Tunnel System

Work first began on the secret White House underground tunnel system back in early 1950 under the Truman administration. The White House was deteriorating and it was determined that massive reconstruction was required. President Truman relocated to the nearby Blair House for three years while the interior of the White House was completely rebuilt with concrete and steel beams. During that time, a tunnel was built connecting the West Wing and East Wing providing access to the bomb shelter.

In 1987, another secret tunnel was built during the Reagan Administration to protect the President in the event of a terrorist attack. This new tunnel allows the President to access a secret staircase outside the Oval Office by pressing on a wall panel to reveal and open a secret door. The passageway at the bottom of the stairs leads to a closet near the President's private elevator in the basement of the Residence.

There is also a known tunnel leading from the basement of the East Wing to the basement of the Treasury Building which was built by FDR as an air raid shelter. An underground passageway provides pedestrian access between the White House and the Old Executive Office Building next door. There are rumors of tunnels connecting the White House to the Capitol, Blair House, VP Residence, Camp David and the Pentagon, but these are unsubstantiated at this time. (White House Tunnel Photos)

Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC)

The PEOC was built by FDR below ground under the East Wing to provide the President with a secure meeting place in the event of an emergency. While the exact specification of this underground presidential bunker is classified, it was originally built to withstand a direct nuclear hit. Access to the PEOC is by an elevator located behind multiple vault-type doors with biometric access control systems.

On September 11, 2001, President Bush met with his National Security Council in the PEOC bunker. Photos of this secret location were published by the National Archives showing details of this extraordinary gathering. In her 2010 memoir, First Lady Laura Bush describes her 9/11 experience of going through a pair of big steel doors to access an unfinished subterranean hallway underneath the White House on her way to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center conference room which was adjacent to the PEOC’s nerve center. (PEOC Photos)

Meetings in the PEOC and Executive Briefing Room

The White House Visitor Access records provide detailed information about visitors to the White House. Records with a Description field containing "peoc", "shelter" or "executive briefing room" and/or records with the Meeting_Room field containing "peoc" or "ebr" provide information related to PEOC visitors.

It is a huge hole in one of the world's most famous gardens - but nobody knows what it is for.

Mystery of the West Wing hole: What IS Obama building under the White House? Oct. 19, 2011 (Photos)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2050508/Is-Obama-building-super-bunker-swimming-pool-White-House.html

Workmen have torn up an enormous section of the lawn in front of the White House for a mysterious, top secret project.

The hole by the West Wing is roughly 100ft by 100ft in size and has for the first time in living memory left the ground and pipes beneath the Oval office exposed to the elements.

What is known is that every day for the past 17 months workmen have come and gone with nobody revealing what the project it.

The funds were allocated after 9/11 and apparently it will eventually link up with the Presidential Operations Centre.

 

[angelburst29]

Just speculation but would the White House's (mysterious) construction have anything to do with Obama's sudden expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats:

31 of the Russian diplomats that were ordered out of the country were from the Washington DC embassy? And closure of two Russian compounds, in New York and Maryland.

Is it possible that all the media hype of "Russia hacking the election" is actually a reflection of "the Deep States fear" that Russian Diplomats in their D.C. Embassy and other locations, might "hack" into their communications ... in their newly constructed hide-away?

According to the US leader, nine Russian entities, including the GRU (Russian Military Intelligence) and the FSB (Federal Security Service), were sanctioned. Four individual GRU officers of the GRU and three companies that “provided material support to the GRU’s cyber operations” were also among the blacklisted.

Would any of this be related to "U.S. Senators seeking a military ban on Kaspersky Lab products" in the U.S. and pulling them off the market?

Have we gone from Mad Dog Obama - to Mad Dog Mattis - to a planned full blown War - with Russia as the target?

US expels 35 Russian diplomats, closes 2 compounds 29 Dec, 2016
https://www.rt.com/news/372190-us-expels-russian-diplomats/

Mad dog Obama ready to 'punish Russia' for allegedly hacking US election Tue, 27 Dec 2016
https://www.sott.net/article/338088-Mad-dog-Obama-ready-to-punish-Russia-for-allegedly-hacking-US-election

U.S. senators seek military ban on Kaspersky Lab products amid FBI probe June 28, 2017
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kasperskylab-probe/u-s-senators-seek-military-ban-on-kaspersky-lab-products-amid-fbi-probe-idUSKBN19J2IX

 

[angelburst29]

The Power Elite in the Time of Trump

Who Rules America?
https://www.globalresearch.ca/who-rules-america-2/5608802

In the last few months, several competing political, economic and military sectors – linked to distinct ideological and ethnic groups – have clearly emerged at the centers of power.

We can identify some of the key competing and interlocking directorates of the power elite:
* 1. Free marketers, with the ubiquitous presence of the ‘Israel First’ crowd.
* 2. National capitalists, linked to rightwing ideologues.
* 3. Generals, linked to the national security and the Pentagon apparatus, as well as defense industry.
* 4. Business elites, linked to global capital.

This essay attempts to define the power wielders and evaluate their range of power and its impact.

The Economic Power Elite: Israel-Firsters and Wall Street CEO’s

‘Israel Firsters’ dominate the top economic and political positions within the Trump regime and, interestingly, are among the Administration’s most vociferous opponents. These include: the Federal Reserve Chairwoman, Janet Yellen, as well as her Vice-Chair, Stanley Fischer, an Israeli citizen and former (sic) Governor of the Bank of Israel.

Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and an Orthodox Jew, acts as his top adviser on Middle East Affairs. Kushner, a New Jersey real estate mogul, set himself up as the archenemy of the economic nationalists in the Trump inner circle. He supports every Israeli power and land grab in the Middle East and works closely with David Friedman, US Ambassador to Israel (and fanatical supporter of the illegal Jewish settlements) and Jason Greenblatt, Special Representative for International negotiations. With three Israel-Firsters determining Middle East policy, there is not even a fig leaf of balance.

The Treasury Secretary is Steven Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs executive, who leads the neo-liberal free market wing of the Wall Street sector within the Trump regime. Gary Cohn, a longtime Wall Street influential, heads the National Economic Council.

They form the core business advisers and lead the neo-liberal anti-nationalist Trump coalition committed to undermining economic nationalist policies.

An influential voice in the Attorney General’s office is Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Robert Mueller the chief investigator, which led to the removal of nationalists from the Trump Administration.

The fairy godfather of the anti-nationalist Mnuchin-Cohn team is Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sach’s Chairman. The ‘Three Israel First bankerteers’ are spearheading the fight to deregulate the banking sector, which had ravaged the economy, leading to the 2008 collapse and foreclosure of millions of American homeowners and businesses.

The ‘Israel-First’ free market elite is spread across the entire ruling political spectrum, including ranking Democrats in Congress, led by Senate Minority leader Charles Schumer and the Democratic Head of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff. The Democratic Party Israel Firsters have allied with their free market brethren in pushing for investigations and mass media campaigns against Trump’s economic nationalist supporters and their eventual purge from the administration.

The Military Power Elite: The Generals

The military power elite has successfully taken over from the elected president in major decision-making. Where once the war powers rested with the President and the Congress, today a collection of fanatical militarists make and execute military policy, decide war zones and push for greater militarization of domestic policing. Trump has turned crucial decisions over to those he fondly calls ‘my Generals’ as he continues to dodge accusations of corruption and racism.

Trump appointed Four-Star General James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis (retired USMC) – a general who led the war in Afghanistan and Iraq – as Secretary of Defense. Mattis (whose military ‘glories’ included bombing a large wedding party in Iraq) is leading the campaign to escalate US military intervention in Afghanistan – a war and occupation that Trump had openly condemned during his campaign. As Defense Secretary, General ‘Mad Dog’ pushed the under-enthusiastic Trump to announce an increase in US ground troops and air attacks throughout Afghanistan. True to his much-publicized nom-de-guerre, the general is a rabid advocate for a nuclear attack against North Korea.

Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster (an active duty Three Star General and long time proponent of expanding the wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan) became National Security Adviser after the purge of Trump’s ally Lt. General Michael Flynn, who opposed the campaign of confrontation and sanctions against Russia and China. McMaster has been instrumental in removing ‘nationalists’ from Trumps administration and joins General ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis in pushing for a greater build-up of US troops in Afghanistan.

Lt. General John Kelly (Retired USMC), another Iraq war veteran and Middle East regime change enthusiast, was appointed White House Chief of Staff after the ouster of Reince Priebus.

The Administration’s Troika of three generals share with the neoliberal Israel First Senior Advisors to Trump, Stephen Miller and Jared Kushner, a deep hostility toward Iran and fully endorse Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s demand that the 2015 Nuclear Accord with Tehran be scrapped.

Trump’s military directorate guarantees that spending for overseas wars will not be affected by budget cuts, recessions or even national disasters.

The ‘Generals’, the Israel First free marketers and the Democratic Party elite lead the fight against the economic nationalists and have succeeded in ensuring that Obama Era military and economic empire building would remain in place and even expand.

The Economic Nationalist Elite

The leading strategist and ideologue of Trump’s economic nationalist allies in the White House was Steve Bannon. He had been chief political architect and Trump adviser during the electoral campaign. Bannon devised an election campaign favoring domestic manufacturers and American workers against the Wall Street and multinational corporate free marketers. He developed Trump’s attack on the global trade agreements, which had led to the export of capital and the devastation of US manufacturing labor.

Equally significant, Bannon crafted Trumps early public opposition to the generals’ 15-year trillion-dollar intervention in Afghanistan and the even more costly series of wars in the Middle East favored by the Israel-Firsters, including the ongoing proxy-mercenary war to overthrow the secular nationalist government of Syria.

Within 8 month of Trump’s administration, the combined forces of the free market economic and military elite, the Democratic Party leaders, overt militarists in the Republican Party and their allies in the mass media succeeded in purging Bannon – and marginalized the mass support base for his ‘America First’ economic nationalist and anti-‘regime change’ agenda.

The anti-Trump ‘alliance’ will now target the remaining few economic nationalists in the administration. These include: the CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who favors protectionism by weakening the Asian and NAFTA trade agreements and Peter Navarro, Chairman of the White House Trade Council. Pompeo and Navarro face strong opposition from the ascendant neoliberal Zionist troika now dominating the Trump regime.

In addition, there is Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross, a billionaire and former director of Rothschild Inc., who allied with Bannon in threatening import quotas to address the massive US trade deficit with China and the European Union.

Another Bannon ally is US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer a former military and intelligence analyst with ties to the newsletter Breitbart. He is a strong opponent of the neoliberal, globalizers in and out of the Trump regime.

‘Senior Adviser’ and Trump speechwriter, Stephen Miller actively promotes the travel ban on Muslims and stricter restrictions on immigration. Miller represents the Bannon wing of Trump’s zealously pro-Israel cohort.

Sebastian Gorka, Trump’s Deputy Assistant in military and intelligence affairs was more an ideologue than analyst, who wrote for Breitbart and rode to office on Bannon’s coat tails. Right after removing Bannon, the ‘Generals’ purged Gorka in early August on accusations of ‘anti-Semitism’.

Whoever remains among Trump’s economic nationalists are significantly handicapped by the loss of Steve Bannon who had provided leadership and direction. However, most have social and economic backgrounds, which also link them to the military power elite on some issues and with the pro-Israel free marketers on others. However, their core beliefs had been shaped and defined by Bannon.

The Business Power Elite

Exxon Mobile CEO Rex Tillerson, Trump’s Secretary of State and former Texas Governor Rick Perry Energy Secretary lead the business elite. Meanwhile, the business elite associated with US manufacturing and industry have little direct influence on domestic or foreign policy. While they follow the Wall Street free marketers on domestic policy, they are subordinated to the military elite on foreign policy and are not allied with Steve Bannon’s ideological core.

Trump’s business elite, which has no link to the economic nationalists in the Trump regime, provides a friendlier face to overseas economic allies and adversaries.

Analysis and Conclusion

The power elite cuts across party affiliations, branches of government and economic strategies. It is not restricted to either political party, Republican or Democratic. It includes free marketers, some economic nationalists, Wall Street power brokers and militarists. All compete and fight for power, wealth and dominance within this administration. The correlation of forces is volatile, changing rapidly in short periods of time – reflecting the lack of cohesion and coherence in the Trump regime.

Never has the US power elite been subject to such monumental changes in composition and direction during the first year of a new regime.

During the Obama Presidency, Wall Street and the Pentagon comfortably shared power with Silicon Valley billionaires and the mass media elite. They were united in pursuing an imperial ‘globalist’ strategy, emphasizing multiple theaters of war and multilateral free trade treaties, which was in the process of reducing millions of American workers to permanent helotry.

With the inauguration of President Trump, this power elite faced challenges and the emergence of a new strategic configuration, which sought drastic changes in US political economic and military policy.

The architect of the Trump’s campaign and strategy, Steve Bannon, sought to displace the global economic and military elite with his alliance of economic nationalists, manufacturing workers and protectionist business elites. Bannon pushed for a major break from Obama’s policy of multiple permanent wars to expanding the domestic market. He proposed troop withdrawal and the end of US military operations in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, while increasing a combination of economic, political and military pressure on China. He sought to end sanctions and confrontation against Moscow and fashion economic ties between the giant energy producers in the US and Russia.

While Bannon was initially the chief strategist in the White House, he quickly found himself faced with powerful rivals inside the regime, and ardent opponents among Democratic and Republican globalists and especially from the Zionist – neoliberals who systematically maneuvered to win strategic economic and policy positions within the regime. Instead of being a coherent platform from which to formulate a new radical economic strategy, the Trump Administration was turned into a chaotic and vicious ‘terrain for struggle’. The Bannon’s economic strategy barely got off the ground.

The mass media and operatives within the state apparatus, linked to Obama’s permanent war strategy, first attacked Trump’s proposed economic reconciliation with Russia. To undermine any ‘de-escalation’, they fabricated the Russian spy and election manipulation conspiracy. Their first successful shots were fired at Lt. General Michael Flynn, Bannon’s ally and key proponent for reversing the Obama/Clinton policy of military confrontation with Russia. Flynn was quickly destroyed and openly threatened with prosecution as a ‘Russian agent’ in whipped-up hysteria that resembled the heydays of Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Key economic posts in the Trump regime were split between the Israel-Firster neoliberals and the economic nationalists. The ‘Deal Maker’ President Trump attempted to harness Wall Street-affiliated neoliberal Zionists to the economic nationalists, linked to Trump’s working class electoral base, in formulating new trade relations with the EU and China, which would favor US manufacturers. Given the irreconcilable differences between these forces, Trump’s naïve ‘deal’ weakened Bannon, undermined his leadership and wrecked his nationalist economic strategy.

While Bannon had secured several important economic appointees, the Zionist neoliberals undercut their authority. The Fischer-Mnuchin-Cohn cohort successfully set a competing agenda.

The entire Congressional elite from both parties united to paralyze the TrumpBannon agenda. The giant corporate mass media served as a hysterical and rumor-laden megaphone for zealous Congressional and FBI investigators magnifying every nuance of Trump’s US Russia relations in search of conspiracy. The combined state-Congressional and Media apparatus overwhelmed the unorganized and unprepared mass base of Bannon electoral coalition which had elected Trump.

Thoroughly defeated, the toothless President Trump retreated in desperate search for a new power configuration, turning his day-to-day operations over to ‘his generals’. The elected civilian President of the United States embraced his generals’ pursuit of a new military-globalist alliance and escalation of military threats foremost against North Korea, but including Russia and China. Afghanistan was immediately targeted for an expanded intervention.

Trump effectively replaced Bannon’s economic nationalist strategy with a revival Obama’s multi-war military approach.

The Trump regime re-launched the US attacks on Afghanistan and Syria – exceeding Obama’s use of drone attacks on suspected Muslim militants. He intensified sanctions against Russia and Iran, embraced Saudi Arabia’s war against the people of Yemen and turned the entire Middle East policy over to his ultra-Zionist Political Advisor (Real Estate mogul and son-in-law) Jared Kushner and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.

Trump’s retreat turned into a grotesque rout. The Generals embraced the neoliberal Zionists in Treasury and the Congressional global militarists. Communication Directory Anthony Scaramucci was fired. Trump’s Chief of Staff General Joe Kelly purged Steve Bannon. Sebastian Gorka was kicked out.

The eight months of internal struggle between the economic nationalists and the neoliberals has ended: The Zionist-globalist alliance with Trump’s Generals now dominate the Power Elite.

Trump is desperate to adapt to the new configuration, allied to his own Congressional adversaries and the rabidly anti-Trump mass media.

Having all but decimated Trump’s economic nationalists and their program, the Power Elite then mounted a series of media-magnified events centering around a local punch-out in Charlottesville, Virginia between ‘white supremacists’ and ‘anti-fascists’. After the confrontation led to death and injury, the media used Trump’s inept attempt to blame both ‘baseball bat’-wielding sides, as proof of the President’s links to neo-Nazis and the KKK. Neoliberal and Zionists, within the Trump administration and his business councils, all joined in the attack on the President, denouncing his failure to immediately and unilaterally blame rightwing extremists for the mayhem.

Trump is turning to sectors of the business and Congressional elite in a desperate attempt to hold onto waning support via promises to enact massive tax cuts and deregulate the entire private sector.

The decisive issue was no longer over one policy or another or even strategy.

Trump had already lost on all accounts. The ‘final solution’ to the problem of the election of Donald Trump is moving foreword step-by-step – his impeachment and possible arrest by any and all means.

What the rise and destruction of economic nationalism in the ‘person’ of Donald Trump tells us is that the American political system cannot tolerate any capitalist reforms that might threaten the imperial globalist power elite.

Writers and activists used to think that only democratically elected socialist regimes would be the target of systematic coup d’état. Today the political boundaries are far more restrictive. To call for ‘economic nationalism’, completely within the capitalist system, and seek reciprocal trade agreements is to invite savage political attacks, trumped up conspiracies and internal military take-overs ending in ‘regime change’.

The global-militarist elite purge of economic nationalists and anti-militarists was supported by the entire US left with a few notable exceptions. For the first time in history the left became an organizational weapon of the pro-war, pro-Wall Street, pro-Zionist Right in the campaign to oust President Trump. Local movements and leaders, notwithstanding, trade union functionaries, civil rights and immigration politicians, liberals and social democrats have joined in the fight for restoring the worst of all worlds: the Clinton-Bush-Obama/Clinton policy of permanent multiple wars, escalating confrontations with Russia, China, Iran and Venezuela and Trump’s deregulation of the US economy and massive tax-cuts for big business.

We have gone a long-way backwards: from elections to purges and from peace agreements to police state investigations. Today’s economic nationalists are labeled‘fascists’; and displaced workers are ‘the deplorables’!

Americans have a lot to learn and unlearn. Our strategic advantage may reside in the fact that political life in the United States cannot get worse – we really have touched bottom and (barring a nuclear war) we can only look up.

 

[angelburst29]

In a room, somewhere deep inside the Pentagon generals and admirals met recently in order to prepare an assessment for the United States Senate Armed Services Committee. Present at the metering were General Mark Milley, the U.S. Army’s Chief of Staff, the Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson, the Commandant of the Marine Corps General Robert Neller, and U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff General David L. Goldfein. At such a meeting there’s no doubt that Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford attended seeing he’s the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The agenda for this meeting was serious as a heart attack – America’s most brilliant and powerful military men gathered that day to discuss Armageddon.

The Day of the Generals: Winning Armageddon Sept. 15, 2017
https://journal-neo.org/2017/09/15/the-day-of-the-generals-winning-armageddon/

The minutes of this fateful meeting are top secret. Only a handful of people will ever know what was discussed. But the end result of the strategy session was revealed on September 15, 2017 before the people of the United States. The top generals of the most powerful nation on Earth advised congress that America could in fact win an all-out war with Russia and China. It must have been a scene right out of Director Stanley Kubrick’s classic Cold War film, Dr. Strangelove. I was not there, so I can only imagine the gathering of war hawks, the stoic expertise and military intellect, and the obtuse arrogance being conveyed across the congressional forum that day. The vision makes me wonder, “Who in the hell ordered such an assessment in the first place?” But I think we all know the answer.

General Milley expressed his only concern over World War III by citing the U.S. Army’s “lack of resources and training to execute America’s national security strategy without high military risk.” Admiral Richardson agreed with Milley, but his level of confidence in the U.S. Navy’s dominance seemed somehow higher. Milley told committee:

“I concur with Gen. Milley. If we get into one of those conflicts, we’ll win, but it going to take a lot longer than we’d like and it’s going to cost a lot more in terms of dollars and in casualties.”

Marine General Neller parroted these opinions, only with a typical “Jar Head” obtuseness and psychosomatic bravado proclaiming America’s current force array is “effective” against counterinsurgent forces around the world. I am assuming the General means the Taliban now resurgent in Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda that’s being supported in Syria, and the ultimate enemy ISIL, which Russia has all but destroyed on the ground. I’ll not get into the Marine mentality, they are my shipmates after all. As for the Air Force’s General David L. Goldfein, the former combat pilot’s assessment showed that flying an airplane does not qualify one to be a military bean counter. General Goldfein also concurred with the others but in an overcomplicated way, as if he were the accountant of the group. In short, the man shot down over Serbia when America destroyed Yugoslavia earned his pay September 15th by stating the plainly obvious – World War III is a high-risk endeavor. No shit General.

My fellow Earthlings, it’s abundantly clear that the United States military industrial complex now runs America. The meeting before the U.S. Senate was simply a formality. A psycho-thriller being played out before an audience asleep in the back row of the theater. With Russia’s Vladimir Putin pleading with every breath for discourse and sanity, and after Russia’s military machine has been forced into high alert, America’s top Generals have been put in charge. Let me cite the Army’s General Milley on his plea for more money and weapons in order to abate the “dire consequences” of this Armageddon:

“The butcher’s bill is paid in the blood of American soldiers for unready forces. We have a long history of that— Kasserine Pass, Guadalcanal, Okinawa, Tarawa, Task Force Smith in the Korean War. It goes all the way back to Bull Run—Lincoln thought he was going to fight a war for 90 days. Wars are often thought to be short when they begin—they’re not. They’re often thought to cost less than they end up costing and they end up with outcomes and take turns you never know. It’s a dangerous thing.”

Let me make something abundantly clear here. The “generals” did not prepare their assessments for a waiting U.S. Senate committee, for those same senators work in collusion with the military and the industrial complex, everyone knows this. This dog and pony show was orchestrated for one audience only – the idiots who believe our system works like it should – the American people. Look at the narrative. It’s all PR and propaganda dialogue, grade school fodder crafted to appease convenience store workers. A “dangerous thing”, indeed. Milley went on pandering for a brand new arms race, a brand new Cold War, in suggesting force build up and reequipping for major conflict. We’re right back to Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars” initiative. For those of you who believe this is all saber rattling, this Defense Intelligence Agency report shows us the military industrialists and the U.S. President are aware of the ultimate outcome. Part of the report addresses Vladimir Putin’s “preparedness” in the event of Armageddon to the extent he is getting ready just in case. The fact of the matter is that the deep underground bunkers America’s defense industry cites as “Putin’s Armageddon protection” were built during Soviet times.

Finally, if you read about the new role of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, then you’ll understand the takeover of American policy by the deep state is complete. While his colleagues were busy pandering the public for more guns, ships, and missiles, America’s top general was politicking in Asia with career bureaucrats like South Korea’s Moon, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Gen. Fang Fenghui, chief of the general staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. So, with North Korea, Russia, and Iran in the crosshairs of new US sanctions, the Trump administration takes aim with real killing weapons too. Generals as diplomats, and idiot U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley as cheerleader for the ultimate game of war? The insanity is at “Biblical” on the reality meter today. Half the world is on the brink of starving, and most of the rest feels milked dry by the elitist order, so naturally World War III must come.

All I have left to offer is this:

“I saw that publishing all over the world was deeply constrained by self-censorship, economics and political censorship, while the military-industrial complex was growing at a tremendous rate, and the amount of information that it was collecting about all of us vastly exceeded the public imagination.” – Julian Assange

 

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Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton explains the complicated special counsel investigation into whether Russia intervened in the 2016 election.

Why Mueller's actions could be constitutionally suspect Sep 20, 2017 (Video)
http://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/2017/09/20/why-muellers-actions-could-be-constitutionally-suspect.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akqOqprvfYY (6:39 min.)

The intricacies and intrigues in the Russia investigation continued to unspool on Wednesday, when it came to light that special counsel Robert Mueller’s team investigated Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, as reported by Fox News.

In May, Rosenstein penned a memo criticizing then-FBI Director James Comey’s handling of the investigation in Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state. That memo was then cited by the Trump administration for reasoning behind Comey’s firing later that month.

To further complicate the investigation, Rosenstein’s position places him as the overseer of the Justice Department’s investigation into the Trump team’s alleged ties to Russia after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself.

“We’re faced with a constitutional mess over at the Justice Department, where Rosenstein is being interviewed by the guy he’s supposed to be supervising in theory,” Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton told FOX Business’ Lou Dobbs on “Lou Dobbs Tonight.”

If Sessions refuses to “un-recuse” himself from the investigation, President Donald Trump should exercise his authority under the Constitution to remove Mueller from the special counselor, he said.

Earlier this week, CNN reported that U.S. investigators wiretapped former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort under special court orders, both before and after the November presidential election.

“I think the special counselor regulations, and Mueller’s appointment, are constitutionally suspect,” Fitton said.