"Joltin" Jack Keane, General (ret.), Fox Business Senior Strategery Analyst, Chairman of the Board of the Kagan run neocon "Institute for the Study of War" (ISW) and Graduate Extraordinaire of Fordham University, was on with Lou Dobbs last night. Dobbs appears to have developed a deep suspicion of this paladin. He stood up to Keane remarkably well. This was refreshing in light of the fawning deference paid to Keane by all the rest of the Fox crew.
In the course of this dialogue Keane let slip the slightly disguised truth that he and the other warmongers want to keep something like 200 US soldiers and airmen in Syria east of the Euphrates so that they can keep Iran or any other "Iranian proxy forces" from crossing the Euphrates from SAG controlled territory to take control of Syrian sovereign territory and the oil and gas deposits that are rightly the property of the Syrian people and their government owned oil company. The map above shows how many of these resources are east of the Euphrates. Pilgrims! It is not a lot of oil and gas judged by global needs and markets, but to Syria and its prospects for reconstruction it is a hell of a lot!
Keane was clear that what he means by "Iranian proxy forces" is the Syrian Arab Army, the national army of that country. If they dare cross the river, to rest in the shade of their own palm trees, then in his opinion the air forces of FUKUS should attack them and any 3rd party air forces (Russia) who support them
This morning, on said Fox Business News with Charles Payne, Keane was even clearer and stated specifically that if "Syria" tries to cross the river they must be fought.
IMO he and Lindsey Graham are raving lunatics brainwashed for years with the Iran obsession and they are a danger to us all. pl
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/graham-fox-news-star-showed-trump-map-change-his-mind-n1069901
If only General Keane was as willing to defend America and America’s oil on the Texas-Mexico border. Or hasn’t anyone noticed that Mexico just a lost a battle with the Sinaloa drug cartel?
What happened with old soldiers just fading away?
I view them as selling their Soul for a dollar. Keane comes across as dense enough to believe his bile but Graham comes across as an opportunist without any real ideology except power.
Its probably one step at a time for the Syrians, although the sudden move over the past couple of weeks must have been a bit of a God given opportunity for them.
Whilst the are absorbing that part of their country the battle of Iblib will restart. After that they can move their attention south and southeast, al-Tanf and the oilfields. I can’t see how the US will be able to stop them but at least they will have time to plan their exit.
As I posted in the other thread, the Syrian Government is the only real customer for their oil and the Kurds already have a profit share agreement in place, so the US, if they allow any oil out, will effectively be protecting the fields on behalf of Assad. Surely not what Congress wants?
At the moment the Syrian Government has enough oil, it is getting it from Iran via a steady stream of SUEZMAX tankers. The cost, either in terms of money or quid pro quo, is unknown.
I think this might be President Putin’s next problem to solve. As far as I know, there is no legal reason for us to be there, not humanitarian, not strategic not even tactical. We simply are playing dog-in-the-manger.
My guess is that we will receive an offer to good to refuse from Putin.
Vegetius
Those who believed that ended up like Belisarius.
For those who have wondered as to why the DC FedRegime would fight over the tiny relative-to-FUKUS’s-needs amount of oil in the Syrian oilfields. It is clearly to keep the SAR hobbled, crippled and too impoverished to retake all its territory or even to restore social, civic and economic functionality to the parts it retains. FUKUS is still committed to the policy of FUKUSing Syria.
Why is the Champs Elise’ Regime still committed to putting the F in UKUS?
(I can understand why UKUS would want to keep France involved. Without France, certain nasty people might re-brand UKUS as USUK. And that would be very not nice.)
A good antidote for Joltin’ Jack Keane’s madness would be for Lou Dobbs and other mainstream media (MSM) to have Col Pat Lang as the commentator for analysis of the Syrian situation. Readers of this blog are undoubtedly aware that Col. Lang’s knowledge of the peoples of the region and their customs is a national treasure.
This President appears at times to recognize the reality of nation states and the meaning of national sovereignty. He needs to understand that on principle, not merely on gut instinct. President Trump’s press conference today focused in one section on a simple fact — saving the lives of Americans. Gen. Jack Keane,
Sen. Lindsay Graham, and other gamers who think they are running an imperial chessboard where they can use living soldiers as American pawns, are a menace.
Thanks Col. Lang for calling out these lunatics.
In WWI millions of soldiers died fighting for imperial designs. They did not know it. They thought they were fighting for democracy, or to stop the spread of evil, or save their country. They were not. Secret treaties signed before the war started stated explicitly what the war was about.
Now “representatives” of the military, up to and including the Commander in Chief say it’s about conquest, oil. The cards of the elite are on the table.
How do you account for this?
During the 2016 election, Jack Keane and John Bolton were the two people Trump mentioned when asked who he listens to on foreign affairs/military policy.
Colonel,
The crumbling apart is apparent. I don’t know in what delusional world can conceive that 200 soldiers in the middle of the desert can deny Syria possession of their oil fields or keep the road between Bagdad and Damascus cut. All the West’s Decision Makers can do is threaten to blow up the world.
Justin Trudeau was elected Monday in Canada with a minority in Parliament joining the United Kingdom and Israel with governments without a majority’s mandate. Donald Trump’s impeachment escalates. MbS is nearing a meat hook in Saudi Arabia. This is not a coincidence. The Elites’ flushing government down the drain succeeded.
Corporate Overlords imposed austerity, outsourced industry and cut taxes to get richer, but the one thing for certain is that they can’t keep their wealth without laws, the police and the military to protect them. Already California electricity is being cut off for a second time due to wildfires and PG&E’s corporate looting. The Sinaloa shootout reminds me of the firefight in the first season of “True Detectives” when the outgunned LA cops tried to go after the Cartel. The writing is on the wall, California is next. Who will the lawmen serve and protect? Their people or the rich? Without the law, justice and order, there is chaos.
No doubt that Keane and his ilk want endless war and view Trump as a growing obstacle. Trump is consistent: He wanted out of JCPOA, and after being stalled by his national security advisors, he finally reached the boiling point and left. The advisors who counseled against this are all gone. With Pompeo, Enders and O’Brien as the new key security advisors, I doubt Trump got as much push back. He wanted out of Syria in December 2018 and was slow-walked. Didn’t anyone think he’d come back at some point and revive the order to pull out? The talk with Erdogan, the continuing Trump view that Russia, Turkey, Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia should bear the burden of sorting out what is left of the Syria war, so long as ISIS does not see a revival, all have been clear for a long time.
My concern is with Lindsey Graham, who is smarter and nastier than Jack Keane. He is also Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and may hold some blackmail leverage over the President. If the House votes up impeachment articles, Graham will be overseeing the Senate trial. A break from Trump by Graham could lead to a GOP Senate stampede for conviction. No one will say this openly, as I am, but it cannot be ignored as a factor for “controlling” Trump and keeping as much of the permanent war machine running as possible.
Thoughts?
Decameron
Too old, too broken down
Elora Danan
Bless you. Welcome aboard.
Never heard of Belisarius. Read his Wikipedia page. Funny as hell.
Men are quite evidently are in a state of total complete and irretrievable Fall, all the while living that particular Age of Belief.
Trump has committed the United States to a long war against the Shia Crescent. He has ceded to Turkey on Syrian Kurds, but has continued with his operations against SAR. US needs Turkey, Erdogan knows that. Likewise in regards to Russia, EU, and Iran. Turkey, as is said in Persian, has grown a tail.
I have my doubt that Sen. Graham will lead any revolt, but if it starts to look like Trump will lose big next year, there will be a stampede looking like the Nile getting through a cataract.
They will not want to go down the tube with Trump. I still maintain that there is a good reason for him to resign before he loses an election or an impeachment. It will come down to the price.
I don’t think Keane or Trump are focused on the oil. Keane just used that as a lens to focus Trump on Iran. That’s the true sickness. Keane manipulated Trump by aggravating his animosity towards Iran, more specifically, his animosity towards Obama’s JCPOA. I doubt Trump can see beyond his personal animus towards Obama and his legacy. He doesn’t care about Iran, the Shia Crescent, the oil or even the jihadis any more than he cares about ditching the Kurds. This administration doesn’t need a national security advisor, it needs a psychiatrist.
We massacred two hundred ruskies in the battle of khasham. What can they do.
Colonel,
Your mind is as sharp as ever.
We’re no longer having to listen to Yosemite Sam Bolton. His BFF Graham is left to fight on his own. I don’t think Trump feels the need to pay that much attention to Graham. He didn’t worry about him during the primary when Graham always seemed to be on the verge of crying when he was asked questions.
Harlan Easley One of the Great Captains. I was referring to the legend that he was blinded by Justinian and died a beggar.
Lars,
Lose big to whom in the next election?
Biden got 300 people to show up for his rally in his hometown of Scranton and he is supposedly the front runner. Bernie got 20,000 to show up at his rally in NY when he was endorsed by The Squad and Michael Moore. Do you think the Dem establishment will allow him to be the nominee?
Trump in contrast routinely can fill up stadiums with 30,000 people. That was the indicator in the last election, not the polls. Recall the NY Times forecasting Hillary with a 95% probability of winning the day before the election.
As Rep. Al Green noted , the only way the Democrats can stop him is for the Senate to convict him in an impeachment trial. Who do you believe are the 20 Republican senators that will vote to convict?
I bet those crafty Iranians will wear Syrian army uniforms and even speak Arabic on their radios to complete the ruse.
Colonel, thanks for spelling it out so clearly.
The difference between the reality that we perceive and the way it is portrayed in the media is so stark that sometimes I am not sure whether it is me who is insane or the world – the MSM and the cool-aid drinking libtards whose animosity against Trump won’t let them distinguish black from white. Not that they were ever able to understand the real state of affairs. Discussions with them have always been about them regurgitating the MSM talking points without understanding any of it.
While it will always be mystifying to me why so many people on the street blindly support America fighting and dying in the middle east, the support of the MSM and the paid hacks for eternal war is no surprise. I hope they get to send their children and grandchildren to these wars. More than that, I hope we get out of these wars. Trump might be able to put an end to it, and not just in Syria, if he wins a second term, which he will if he is allowed to contest the next election. There is however a chance that the borg will pull the rug from under him and bar him from the elections. Hope that doesn’t come to pass.
Because France wants to be on the good side of the United States, and as you indicate, the United States is in Syria to turn that country into a failed state and for no other reason.
Trump is far from consistent. This is the man who attacked Syria twice on the basis of lies so transparent that my youngest housecat would have seen through them, and who tried and failed to leave Syria twice, then said he was “100%” for the continued occupation of Syria.
He could have given the order to leave Syria this month, but Trump did not. Instead, he simply ordered withdrawal to a smaller zone of occupation, and that under duress.
Congratulations are hardly in order here.
“This administration doesn’t need a national security advisor, it needs a psychiatrist.”
i think TTG speaks the truth.
Wow!Those 200 marines are going to singlehandedly take on Syria and Iran by themselves!We must be expecting miracles
On Monday, 21 October, president Trump “authorized $4.5 million in direct support to the Syria Civil Defense (SCD)”, a/k/a the White Helmets, who have been discussed here on SST before–
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-89/
Did you notice the Middle East Monitor article on October 21 reporting that the UAE has released to Iran $700 million in previously frozen funds?
Yet in early September, Sigal Mandelker, a senior US Treasury official, was in the UAE pressing CEOs there to tighten the financial screws on Iran. The visit was deemed a success. During this visit she was quoted as saying that the Treasury has issued over 30 rounds of curbs targeting Iran-related entities. That would include targeting shipping companies and banks. It was also reported in September that in Dubai that recent US Treasury sanctions were beginning to have a devastating effect. Iranian businessmen were being squeezed out. Even leaving the Emirates. Yet only a few days ago–a month later– there are now reports that Iranian exchange bureaus have suddenly reopened in Dubai after a long period of closure. Also, billions of dollars in contracts were signed between Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE during Putin’s recent visit to the region. It seems to me that this is real news. Something big seems to be happening. It looks to me as if there could be a serious confrontation between the Trump administration and MBZ in the offing.
Do you have an opinion on the Iranian situation in Dubai at the moment?
What the Colonel calls the Borg is akin to an aircraft carrier that has been steaming at near flank speed for many years too long, gathering mass and momentum since the end of Cold War I. With the exception of Gulf War I, none of our interventions have gone well, and even the putative peace at the end of GUlf War I wasn’t managed well because it eventuated in Gulf War Ii which has been worst than a disaster because the disaster taught the Borg nothing and became midwife to additional disasters. It probably should come as no surprise to us that Trump is having small, but not no, success in getting the ship to alter course – too many deeply entrenched interests with no incentive to recognize their failures and every incentive to stay the course by removing, or at least handicapping the President who was elected on a platform of change. Whether the country elected the right man for the job remains to be seen. At times he appears to be his own worst enemy and his appointments are frequently topsy– turvy to the platform he ran on but he does have his moments of success. He called off the dumb plan to go to war with Iran, albeit at 20 minutes to mid night and he is trying hard against the full might of the Borg to withdraw from Syria in accord with our actual interests. Trumps, alas, assumed office with no political friends, only enemies with varying degrees of Trump hate depending on how they define their political interests.
With that said, I doubt very much whether the Republicans in the Senate will abandon Trump in an impeachment trial. Trump’s argument that the process is a political coup is arguably completely true, or certainly true enough that his political base in the electorate will not tolerate his abandonment by Republican politicians inside the Beltway. I think there is even some chance that Trump, were he to be removed from office by what could be credibly portrayed as a political coup, would consider running in 2020 as an independent. The damage that would cause to the Republican Party would be severe, pervasive, and possibly fatal to the Party as such. I doubt Beltway pols would be willing to take that chance.
Elora Danan
I find the whole business of dressing up and getting in a limo to go to a Tee Vee studio to be wearying. Not interested
TTG IMO you and the other NEVER Trumpers are confused about the presence in both the permanent and appointed government of people who while they are not loyal to him nevertheless covet access to power. A lot of neocons and Zionists are among them.
Bacevich interview:
> Andrew Bacevich, can you respond to President Trump pulling the U.S. troops away from this area of northern Syria, though saying he will keep them to guard oil fields?
>
> ANDREW BACEVICH: First of all, I think we should avoid taking anything that he says at any particular moment too seriously. Clearly, he is all over the map on almost any issue that you can name. I found his comment about taking the oil in that part of Syria, as if we are going to decide how to dispose of it, to be striking. And yet of course it sort of harkens back to his campaign statement about the Iraq war, that we ought to have taken Iraq’s oil is a way of paying for that war. So I just caution against taking anything he says that seriously.
>
> That said, clearly a recurring theme to which he returns over and over and over again, is his determination to end what he calls endless wars. He clearly has no particular strategy or plan for how to do that, but he does seem to be insistent on pursuing that objective. And here I think we begin to get to the real significance of the controversy over Syria in our abandonment of the Kurds.
>
> Let’s stipulate. U.S. abandonment of the Kurds was wrong, it was callous, it was immoral. It was not the first betrayal by the United States in our history, but the fact that there were others certainly doesn’t excuse this one. But apart from those concerned about the humanitarian aspect of this crisis—and not for a second do I question the sincerity of people who are worried about the Kurds—it seems to me that the controversy has gotten as big as it is in part because members of the foreign policy establishment in both parties are concerned about what an effort to end endless wars would mean for the larger architecture of U.S. national security policy, which has been based on keeping U.S. troops in hundreds of bases around the world, maintaining the huge military budget, a pattern of interventionism. Trump seems to think that that has been a mistake, particularly in the Middle East. I happen to agree with that critique. And I think that it is a fear that he could somehow engineer a fundamental change in U.S. policy is what really has the foreign policy establishment nervous.
>
> NERMEEN SHAIKH: As you mentioned, Professor Bacevich, Trump has come under bipartisan criticism for this decision to withdraw troops from northern Syria. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was one of the many Republicans to criticize Trump for his decision. In an opinion piece in The Washington Post McConnell writes, quote, “We saw humanitarian disaster and a terrorist free-for-all after we abandoned Afghanistan in the 1990s, laying the groundwork for 9/11. We saw the Islamic State flourish in Iraq after President Barack Obama’s retreat. We will see these things anew in Syria and Afghanistan if we abandon our partners and retreat from these conflicts before they are won.” He also writes, quote, “As neo-isolationism rears its head on both the left and the right, we can expect to hear more talk of ‘endless wars.’ But rhetoric cannot change the fact that wars do not just end; wars are won or lost.” So Professor Bacevich, could you respond to that, and how accurate you think an assessment of that is? Both what he says about Afghanistan and what is likely to happen now with U.S. withdrawal.
>
> ANDREW BACEVICH: I think in any discussion of our wars, ongoing wars, it is important to set them in some broader historical context than Senator McConnell will probably entertain. I mean, to a very great extent—not entirely, but to a very great extent—we created the problems that exist today through our reckless use of American military power.
>
> People like McConnell, and I think other members of the political establishment, even members of the mainstream media—_The New York Times_, The Washington Post—have yet to reckon with the catastrophic consequences of the U.S. invasion of Iraq back in 2003. And if you focus your attention at that start point—you could choose another start point, but if you focus your attention at that start point, then it seems to me that leads you to a different conclusion about the crisis that we are dealing with right now. That is to say, people like McConnell want to stay the course. They want to maintain the U.S. presence in Syria. U.S. military presence. But if we look at what the U.S. military presence in that region, not simply Syria, has produced over the course of almost two decades, then you have to ask yourself, how is it that we think that simply staying the course is going to produce any more positive results?
>
> It is appalling what Turkey has done to Syrian Kurds and the casualties they have inflicted and the number of people that have been displaced. But guess what? The casualties that we inflicted and the number of people that we displaced far outnumbers what Turkey has done over the last week or so. So I think that we need to push back against this tendency to oversimplify the circumstance, because oversimplifying the circumstance doesn’t help us fully appreciate the causes of this mess that we’re in.
more here, about Tulsi, about Afghanistan, about Trump:
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/10/24/trump_lifts_turkey_sanctions_syrian_kurds
In addition to oil from Iran, Assad also gets oil from the SDF and the Kurds. Supposedly a profit sharing arrangement as commented on by JohninMK in a previous post.
This oil sharing deal was also mentioned by Global Research and Southfront back in June of 2018:
https://www.globalresearch.ca/video-syrian-government-sdf-reach-agreement-on-omar-oil-field/5643086
They just need Captain America
Trump barely won the last time and while he currently has wide support in the GOP, it is not nearly as deep as his cultists believe. When half the country, and growing, want him removed, there is trouble ahead. Republicans are largely herd animals and if spooked, will create a stampede.
You can tell that there are problems when his congressional enablers are not defending him on facts and just using gripes about processes that they themselves have used in the past. In addition to circus acts.
I realize that many do not want to admit that they made a mistake by voting for him. I am not so sure they want to repeat that mistake.
Colonel Lang, I am well aware of the power seekers who gravitate towards Trump or whoever holds power not out of loyalty, but because they covet access to power. The neocons and Zionists flock to Trump because they can manipulate him to do their bidding. That fact certainly doesn’t make me feel any better about Trump as President. The man needs help.
The USA could have returned to the spoils system of government employment. Unfortunately I think it is too late to do that now.
Sir,
Everybody and his mother has a YouTube livestream now. With viewership vastly exceeding any text blogs, and much less production value than the blogs. If you and the other correspondents could spare us about 10-minutes of video a day, from the couch, that would be awesome. We’d all subscribe.
And in response,Russia killed and captured Hundreds of US Special forces and PMC’s alongside SAS in East Ghouta . It is said that the Abrupt Russian op on East Ghouta was a response to the Battle of Khasham.
http://freewestmedia.com/2018/04/11/skripal-affair-real-reason-is-capture-of-200-sas-soldiers-in-ghouta/
https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201805211064652345-syrian-army-foreign-military-presence/
http://www.newsilkstrategies.com/news–analysis/a-real-h-o-t-war-with-russia-is-underway-right-now
http://www.newsilkstrategies.com/news–analysis/confirmation-that-us-uk-special-ops-are-in-syria-some-captured
Harper,
I believe that would be extortion, not blackmail, but IMO Graham hasn’t the stones required to conduct extortion on a house cat and he’s afraid to even criticize Trump.
imo Trump cares about what Sheldon Adelson wants and Adelson wants to destroy Iran.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sCW4IasWXc
note the audience applause
No, they just have to sit there and be an excuse to fly Coalition CAPs that would effectively prevent SAA from crossing the Euphrates in strength. Feasible until the SAA finishes with Idlib and moves some of its new Russian anti-aircraft toys down to Deir Ezzor.
The Great Trumpian Mystery. I don’t pretend to understand but I’m intrigued by his inconsistent inconsistencies.
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/03/17/trump-mysteries-inconsistent-inconsistencies/
Jimmy W
If you want a video show, go somewhere else. I am not interested.
TTG
you are an experienced clan case officer. You do not know that most people are more than a little mad? Hillary is more than a little nuts. Obama was so desperately neurotically in need of White approval that he let the WP COIN generals talk him into a COIN war in Afghanistan. I was part of that discussion. All that mattered to him was their approval. FDR could not be trusted with SIGINT product and so Marshall never gave him any, etc., George Bush 41 told me that he deliberately mis-pronounced Saddam’s name to hurt his feelings. Georgie Junior let the lunatic neocons invade a country that had not attacked us. Trump is no worse than many of our politicians, or politicians anywhere. Britain? The Brexit disaster speaks for itself, And then there is the British monarchy in which a princeling devastated by the sure DNA proof that he is illegitimate is acting like a fool. The list is endless.
CK, the people surrounding Trump are largely appointees. Keane doesn’t have to be let into the WH. His problem is that those who would appeal to his non-neocon tendencies are not people he wants to have around him. Gabbard, for instance, would be perfect for helping Trump get ourselves out of the ME, is a progressive. Non-interventionists are hard to come by. Those who he does surround himself with are using him for their own ideologies, mostly neocon and Zionist.
oldman22
This is not a bulletin board for expression of your admiration for Bacecich r anyone else. Go somewhere else to worship him.
Elora Danan
No!
lars
IMO you and the others here or elsewhere who will stop at nothing in seeking to overthrow Trump will have taken a major step toward a send dissolution of the Union if you succeed.
After hanging up from a call to Putin, thanking him for Russia’s help with the Turks, YPG leader Mazloum Kobane returned to the Senate hearings in which he alternately reminded his flecless American allies of their failure, not only to protect Rojava from the Turks, but didn’t even give them a heads up about what wa about to happen and begged an already angry [at Trump] Senate about their urgent need for a continued American presence in the territory.
It seems that some in the USG do not understand that all the land on the east bank of the Euphrates is “Rojava” or somehow is the mandate of the Kurds to continue to control. For a long time, now, the mainly Arab population of that region have been chafing under what is actually Kurdish rule. This could be a a trigger for ISIS or some other jihadis to launch another insurgency, or at the least, low level attacks, especially in Rojava to the north.
To remind, the USG is not using military personnel, but also contracts, about 200 troops in one field and 400 contractors in the other.
There is video of the SAA escorting the Americans to the Iraqi border. PM Abdel Hadi has reiterated that the US cannot keep these troops in Iraq, as they go beyond the agreed upon number. It is quite likely that the anti-Iranian aspect of the border region is NOT something they wish to see.
“Iranian proxies” refers to Hezbollah, the various Shia militia groups from Pakistan and Afghanistan, and of course, others, not the SAA.
Colonel Lang, the only way to “overthrow” Trump is through impeachment in the House and conviction in the Senate. That is a Constitutional process, not a coup. The process is intentionally difficult. Was the impeachment of Clinton an attempted coup?
TTG
IMO Clinton’s lie to the FBI about his affair was not sufficient grounds to expel him for office. The senate wisely refused to convict him. Yes, that was a coup attempt. The Democrats are abusing the implicit trust that lies at the root of the possibility of a North American Union.
We have Alexander Hamilton to thank for including Impeachment in the US Constitution. He wanted a powerful chief executive, but he also wanted robust guard rails around him. The process is following those guidelines that were included in the document.
Of course, it would be wonderfully ironic if Donald Trump is constitutionally removed by the superior moral and intellectual efforts by an immigrant.
lars
I hope you are still living as the country falls apart.
No doubt we are an important crossroads in the country right now, but the projected demise of the republic is not new. I doubt it will happen now either. It will probably come down to the GOP having to defend 23 seats in the Senate next year. If the public want Trump to be gone and that segment of it is growing, then he will be removed. Should he survive the trial, I suspect he will take many with him out the door in the next election.
There is also a demographic and generational aspect and while thousands of Trump supporters die off every month, thousands more are becoming voters and they overwhelmingly prefer Democrats.
Latin America is burning too – although the elites here have plundered and imposed structural plunder for too long. No matter where you are it .. Chile poster of the right, or Ecuador, Peru, etc
It depends on who will be the democratic ticket .. will it mobilize the basis? I think the compromise candidate is Warren, but she looks to me a lot like John Kerry, Al Gore.. representing the professional, college educated segment of society, and that doesn’t cut it.
Algeria is sending him oil. He is not friendless.
The US is reportedly planning to deploy tanks and other heavy military hardware to protect oil fields in eastern Syria, in a reversal of Donald Trump’s earlier order to withdraw all troops from the country.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/24/us-military-syria-tanks-oil-fields
Lars,
It’s not a question if he barely won. The fact is he competed with many other Republican candidates including governors and senators and even one with the name Bush. He was 1% in the polls in the summer of 2016 and went on to win the Republican nomination despite the intense opposition of the Republican establishment. He then goes on to win the general election defeating a well funded Hillary with all her credentials and the full backing of the vast majority of the media. That is an amazing achievement for someone running for public office for the first time. Like him or hate him, you have to give credit where it’s due. Winning an election for the presidency is no small feat.
There only two ways to defeat him. First, the Senate convicts him in an impeachment trial which will require at least 20 Republican senators. Who are they? Second, a Democrat in the general election. Who? I can see Bernie with a possibility since he has enthusiastic supporters. But will the Democrat establishment allow him to win the nomination?
oldman22
He let them roll him, just like Obama and so many others. Just a different set of rollers.
lars
Ah! The revenge of the marxist-leninist cradle. The masked antifa cowards are going to force the creation of a socialist state. You really don’t know much about this country.
Two things.
In the first place isn’t the dissolution of Ukraine and Syria and Iraq and Libya and Yemen exactly what we have wished to achieve, and wouldn’t an intelligent observer, such as Vladimir Putin, want to do exactly the same thing to us, and hasn’t he come very close to witnessing the achievement of this aim whether he is personally involved or not? What goes around comes around?
But that is relatively unimportant compared to the question whether dissolution of the Union is a bad thing or a good thing. Preserving it cost 600,000 lives the first time. One additional life would be one additional life too many. Ukraine is an excellent example. Western Ukraine has a long history support for Nazi’s. Eastern Ukraine is Russian. Must a war be fought to bring them together? Or should they be permitted to go their separate ways?
As Hector said of Helen of Troy, “She is not worth what she doth cost the keeping.”
Col. Lang, are you aware that questioning the bloodlines of a member of the royal family is treason for British subjects???
walrus
They’ll never take me alive! Will he still be a member of the Royal Family when they take up residence in Malibu?
Colonel…The Most recent example of the Truth of that is..Donald Trump is the One who got elected POTUS…Not Hillary Clinton..Or She would bottle feeding the Baby..in that Cradle..and Aborting All other babys with Great Passion..Most of these Antifa Brats are the Great Grand Persons..of The West Coast Old Communists in Washington..Oregon..and California..Where Gus Hall hekld very successful Comminist Rallys..back in the 1930s and 1940s…Before The FBI Took Him down…and The New generation of Frankfurt School Marxist..Spawn were the New Anti American Partisans to take over..From that time..1950s…Right Up to Today..And we Can see what Inbreeding has done to them..They are all over TV..But..They were only able to occupy Urban areas..because that’s where all The Socialist Pograms are available…Trump got elected because the Rural people are hard working..down to Earth Tax payers..and Our System..developed the Electoral College..Thats why This :”COUNTRY” The USA..and The Constitution…Will..Survive…Light..In a Dark..Dark World.
That never actually happened. The only journalists who investigated the incident with people on the ground was German Der Spiegel and they found a pro-Syrian tribal militia encroached on some Kurd/US-held complex to an overwhelming barrage of airpower which killed 9 Russian civilian contractors who happened to be nearby.
The mendacious media were almost orgasmic in their reporting of the deaths of 200 sometimes up to 500 Russians. Breathtaking stupidity, so you should feel embarrassed for consuming that garbage.
It depends why they voted for him as to whether they think they made a mistake or not.
I voted for him in order to keep Clinton out of the office. I thought Clinton posed too large a danger of thermonuclear exchange between the US and Russia. So far we have avoided that exchange.
Clinton’s libelous slander against Gabbard indicates what kind of antiRussianitic McCarthyism she would have used the office to infect America with. Even in defeat, she is doing all she can to pollute the political atmosphere in which we have to try avoiding war with Russia and other things.
Trump also set aside the International Free Trade Conspiracy’s cherished TPP. Another thing for which I voted for him for, and one more basis upon which my vote for Trump was not-a-mistake.
As for Election 2020, if only it could be Trump versus Sanders. I would vote for Sanders. Warren? Yeahhh . . . maybe. Gabbard? Fer Sher.
But the Catfood Democrats don’t want us to have nice things, do they? No, they don’t. They will do everything they can to give us a ticket with Biden or Harris or some other low life creeps on it. Under what circumstances would I vote for Trump again? If the C F Dems nominate Clinton again, I will vote for Trump again. If various patient un-winders of the ClintoBama Conspiracy against Trump get so close to bringing the conspirators to justice that a Trump re-election would earn a very real chance of the patient unwinders actually being able to unwind and destroy certain harmful agencies and groups of people, then I might vote for Trump in order to get that unwinding as well.
There’s always time for some Socialism later.
Ahhh . . . but do they prefer any old Democrats? Or do they prefer Sandercrats in particular? And if Sandercrats is what they prefer, and Catfood is what they are given instead, will they vote for the Catfood? Or will they turn their bowls over?
Lars,
How is that demographic change wrought solely for political reasons working for your beloved Sweden? Did you buy your return ticket yet?
The Zionists have been a pox upon the USA since 1881. The neo-cons, relabeled Trotskyites, since 1926. Those Trump surrounds himself with come and go as he sees fit. They serve his plan and then move along. E.G. Bolton. There yesterday, big whoop-de-do gone today crawling around the think tank circuit looking for his next meal. Gabbard is a lovely lady; and a socialist, and that she might be correct on Syria and the Middle East is irrelevant … many are just as correct as she and without her partisan baggage.
The people surrounding the President are way too many gs15 SES 1 and 11 types answerable to no one but their own inflated sense of superiority.
I truly wish he would have axed every Obama, Bush and Clinton holdover in the Administration on the day after he was inaugurated.
Unfortunately doing that would have eliminated way too many Israeli Firsters simultaneously.
Guardian sources usually require a box of Morton’s iodized.
I think Gulfies and the United States did not expect an attack of scale of what Houthis launched on September 13 on Saudi Arabia.
That attack, like the proverbial death sentence, sharply concentrated their minds.
UAE leaders understood that war will obliterate a trillion dollars off their societies, cause massive foreign worker departures, send them 3 generations in terms of infrastructure., and likely eliminate for decades the possibility of foreign investment in Dubai or anywhere else.
So they are hedging, promising this or that to US while appeasing Iranians.
Specifically about Dubai: Iranian businessmen have decamped and moved to Iraq and Turkey.
It is the same old story we have seen since the War Between States numerous times: expectations of quick victory being dashed on the reality of a long war; in US, in Europe, in Vietnam, in Afghanistan, in Iran, in Palestine….
Trump has said that we defeated ISIS. What will he say to the parents of a soldier killed protecting oil fields in Syria from ISIS?
I admit that it is conceivable he will tell them nothing at all. Focus on golf. And Golf Clubs. It’s tough being President Trump.
But I give him this. The utter hypocrisy of our “presence” in Syria has been laid bare. It is a sin, a mortal sin, to train American young people to risk their lives for this tissue of lies. God damn him and the clique that supports him.
Should Keane be recalled to active duty and then prosecuted under the UCMJ for a host of violations, including failure to register as an agent for a foreign power?
Getting out of Syria and getting out of JCPOA are very different from eachother. The only consistent principle uniting the two “getting outtas” is that if we are in something, Trump wants out of it.
Taking US out of JCPOA raises the chance of war with Iran. It gives all the neo-whatever embeds in government, plus the bitter and vengeful armed forces people time to try Gleiwicz after Gleiwicz after Gleiwicz against Iran in hopes that one of those engineered Gleiwiczes can catch fire and lead to a war so big and so forever that all Trump can do is hand it off to his successor.
If Gabbard were to say that . . if nominated . . she would run on taking US back into JCPOA and cancelling every Trump-sanction against Iran, she might start doing so well in primaries and caucuses that other DemParty nomination-seekers might have to pretend to agree and support the same.
In the first link: “On March 17, 2018, some 200 US special-forces operators were killed, according to Chinese intelligence”
That’s was enough for me.
God preserve us from narcissists, give me a plain old egotist any day.
Elora Danan
Now you are confusing. This comment could have been written by the GRU. It was not the usual frivolities of wildly expansive Spanish lefty.
You should read the sputnik article which interviews Akram Al Shalli. Russian Envoy to UN Vasiliy Nebenzia himself stated that the Syrian forces had captured a large number of US PMC’s and British intelligence personnel during the security Council meetings on the Douma chemical false flag . The Hysterical reaction of Western MSM suggested strongly and chemical attack warnings suggested that Russia was bombing and killing US SOF and PMC’s and capturing them. It was very similiar to the Battle of Aleppo when several US military advisors were trapped by the Russian artillery and aviation and Kerry and the Western press was all hysterical about human rights,chemical weapons,demanding halt/no fly zone .
http://freenations.net/british-us-troops-alongside-jihadists-aleppo/
People are worried that the Socialist will take the White House from Trump in 2020. One of those is a Senior Analyst Shaw of Stansberry Research who is saying the ‘force’ behind AOC and Sanders cannot be stopped. A Socialist in the White House in 2020, citing the debit incurred by the poor and middle class is a bigger problem than the debt incurred by the rich. The rich debit is economic, the debt of the poor is political. Shaw cites when such ‘force ‘ took control it caused major changes like the Labor Movement of the 1930s, etc.. The Democratic Socialist Party membership has grown 500% in the past 2 years, 43% of Americans are now saying that Socialism would be good for the nation. Shaw cites the Socialist Presidential Candidate will be running on one of the most radical tickets imaginable. A small percentage of the population are the rich, whereas the poor and middle class are a huge percentage of the population.
Socialist promises to the middle class and the poor, will cause economic disasters that will follow such an inauguration. A Socialist President’s first 100 days in office will wreak havoc on those who have 401(k)’s, IRAs, and other savings.
Nobody saw Trump taking the Presidency, and a few like Shaw ringing the alarm bell that none are watching the rise of a Socialist President’s capture of the White House, few are expecting such a diameteric turn that will be caught blindsided. One of those fixing to be blindsided is the Trump 2020 Presidential Campaign, unless they pull their head out of their ass.
J
It’s all about oil. American troops smuggling oil that belongs to another country. King Leopold of Belgium would approve. Generations of British Imperialists including Queen Victoria herself would approve. A grand tradition.
https://tass.com/defense/1085449
Just like smuggling opium out of Afghanistan. 17 years is a lot of opium profits. Wait, I forgot that we have destroyed all the opium fields. Haven’t we? Let me check. Oh, actually we protect opium farmers because that is our, excuse me, their only source of income.
Stephanie
Yes, you can get Trump’s attention by waving money under his nose.
The tanker trucks belong to Syrian Arab brokers from Raqqa. They transport the oil west to President Assad’s refineries. The SDF gives that oil to Assad free of charge. The brokers are the ones who get a huge profit. And many of those brokers may be the same ones that used to sell ISIS crude to Berat Albayrak, Erdodog’s son-in-law. Operation Tidal Wave II, the US and coalition bombing of that oil trade to Turkey, is what started Turkish hostility to the US four years ago.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-accuses-president-erdogans-son-in-law-of-being-linked-to-isis-oil-trade-a6761436.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Tidal_Wave_II
No money or compensation of any kind has gone in the past to the US. No cash goes goes to the SDF, however they do receive a share of the oil. That was a deal between Assad and the SDF that was negotiated by the Russians.
But it seems that now Trump wants to starve the SAG economy by stopping that oil trade. And he is doing Adelson’s bidding as someone mentioned above.
Stephanie –
No American troops are smuggling oil. Trump is keeping the Syrian Government from al-Omar oilfields because he is following his orders from Israel. Probably via his son-in-law, or he is getting some huge cash donations from Adelson and others for doing it.
But he forgot about the Rmeilyan oilfields in the NE. That oil has been given to Assad’s refineries by the SDF/YPG in the past. And now it will be completely under Syrian Government control and managed by Russian oil giant Rosneft.
https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Kurds-In-Syria-Share-Oil-With-Government-As-Part-Of-A-Deal.html
Plus Trump forgot or never knew about the Syrian Natural Gas fields between Homs and as-Suknah. Those are already under Assad’s control and in production under Rosneft.
http://energy-cg.com/MiddleEast/Syria/Syria_Turkey_Kurds_ChessBoard_Start_Image1x1_Oct19_EnergyConsutlingGroup_web.png
Trump’s seizure of the al-Omar fields is just pi$$ing into the wind. Unfortunately the blowback is going to hit all Americans.
Yes it *seems* that Trump now wants to starve the SAG economy by stopping that oil trade. Has Trump really been rolled, or are we just seeing a tactical withdrawal in his strategic aim of ending involvement in Syria? I think it is quite likely Trump will one day out of the blue declare that Assad can take care of ISIS now, dodge questions on the oil and simply order the rest of the troops out.
His MO seems to be to try something and when the push-back is overwhelming give a little & wait for a better angle/time. He’s a cunning SOB and I suspect some of his apparent cave ins are merely pragmatic PR stunts. If talk of “guarding” the oil helps the Borg believe he has some interest in Syria, so much the better. I’m not convinced he gives 2 sh**s about it.
Stephanie,
What did Obama say to Cindy Shehan? Ah, she was of no value to him after the election. Just like the left has no further use for Beau Bergdhal, Nathan Phillips, or a bunch of others.
Stephanie,
And brave Barack did just what for 8 years?
Mandelker, yet another dual national, is no longer the undersecretary in charge of sanctions. She left the treasury on Oct. 2 to pursue private life.
One by one the warmongers are moving out of this administration.
Once you have his attention he will just give it back to the government. Like he has done with his salary as president these last three years. It always amazes me how people with “some money” think that all it takes is a few bucks to buy a really wealthy person’s honour or interest or attention or support.
Or, to put it mathematically how much money do you have to wave when you are trying to capture a billionaire’s attention? $10, maybe $100? You might get his attention for $100,000,000. I suspect that no one on this forum has that kind of “small change” to throw around for a wee bit of attention.
As for the opium farmers, the Taliban had them out of business in 2000. They came back with the US military. Oh how we all missed Air America.
Why does the Elora Danan keep referring to hermself in the Third Person?
You know who else used to do that? Richard Nixon. ” When Nixon was President” . . . etc. etc.
A year ago James Jeffrey, in an on-the-record briefing at State Department, said,
https://ru.usembassy.gov/amb-jeffrey-on-the-record/
Whose policy is this — to deny Syria the ability to rebuild itself, Trump’s or neocons/zionists/Israeli-ists?
Jeffrey is a particularly nasty piece of work, as charming as Bolton.
What motivates these people?
Artemesia
An obsession with international power wielded in the cause of US global leadership. This is encouraged by the Zionist influence who find it easy to bend to their purposes.
DC
Elora Danan is a cover identity increasingly abandoned by the authors.
CK
I expressed myself poorly. He is tempted by money to improve the balance sheet of his “company,” i.e., the US, not for himself. Thanks for insulting my intelligence
“Tir”, arrow in Persian, also the name of a summer month in the Persian solar calendar – June 21 to July 22.
Asleen, from Arabic “aleph, saad, mim” – origin.
Iranians should have coyrighted all these.
It is an older style of speech, Bob Dole did that all the time.
“Aleph saad laam”
My bad.
Ukraine, in its present format, is already in process of dissolution. The countr, in 1991, was already an artifact of the Soviet Nationalities policies: in Tsarist times, Ukraine had a different format. But Russia destroyed its post 1991 format and will gobble up the rest of it in the ripeness of time. She did not last even 30 years.
Central Asian states also will not stay in the format they are today. Look at the map for Ferghanah Valley and tell me if it is a workable arrangement.
Colonel
Np insult to your intelligence was meant. I agree that he is an American firster and I suspect that under his surface he truly loves this country and wishes to see its errors corrected and its people healthy wealthy and wise.
I assumed that what you wrote was what you meant, I have the soul of an engineer; neither an accountant nor a builder.