Global Research

In presenting the administration’s tax plan at a White House press briefing on Wednesday, Trump’s top economic advisers, Gary Cohn (net worth $610 million) and Steven Mnuchin ($500 million), both former Goldman Sachs bankers, could barely contain their glee over the prospect of a massive transfer of wealth to themselves and their fellow oligarchs.

Cohn, the director of Trump’s National Economic Council, set the tone, gushing:

“This is quite an historic day for us and one that we’ve been looking forward to for a long time… We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to do something really big.”

The “really big something,” as the one-page handout to reporters made clear, is a plundering operation that will shift trillions of dollars from the federal Treasury to the bank accounts of the rich and the super-rich. The aim, besides adding to the obscene wealth of the financial aristocracy, is to starve and eventually eliminate basic social programs such as Medicare and Social Security.

Gary Cohn

The proposals outlined by Cohn and Mnuchin include:

• Abolishing taxes that impact only the rich, such as the estate tax, the alternative minimum tax and a capital gains surcharge for Obamacare;

• Cutting the corporate tax rate as well as the rate for business profits taken as personal income from 35 percent to 15 percent; and

• Reducing the top income tax rate from 39.6 percent to 35 percent.

The administration is also proposing to eliminate the taxation of profits made by US-based corporations outside the country, along with a one-time tax incentive for corporations to repatriate trillions of dollars in profits held in offshore accounts.

The list of demands totaled a mere 200 words. In reality, the agenda could have been summed up in just four:

“We want more money!”

The corporate-financial elite is particularly fixated on abolishing the estate tax. This is because it wants to nail down for its great grandkids everything it has stolen in the past. This tax on inherited wealth, established in 1916, has been repeatedly watered down, but the billionaire parasites want it wiped off the books to establish themselves as an American royalty.

Trump and his Goldman Sachs advisers are resorting to shameless lying to promote the tax scheme. Mnuchin, who appeared on the three network morning news programs on Thursday, insisted that the tax plan will benefit working and middle-class people, not the rich.

“This isn’t about a dramatic tax cut for the wealthy,” he asserted. “It’s a middle class income tax cut to create American jobs. Jobs, jobs, jobs.”

He also repeated the ridiculous claim that the multitrillion-dollar cost of the plan will not increase the federal debt because it will pay for itself through increased economic growth. An independent analysis of Trump’s campaign tax plan, similar to the proposal presented Wednesday, estimated that it would raise the federal debt by an additional $7 trillion in the first decade and $21 trillion by 2036.

The massive transfer of wealth will not go to investment, but to acquiring bigger diamonds; more luxurious mansions, yachts and private jets; new private islands; more security guards and better-protected gated communities to segregate the financial nobility from the masses whom they despise and fear.

A portion of the money stolen from the working class will be used to buy more politicians and reporters to keep the democratic façade going.

Steven Mnuchin

The official “debate” on the tax scheme will be nothing more than a smokescreen for implementing virtually all the tax proposals. The Democrats are no less the lackeys of Wall Street than Trump and the Republicans. The Obama White House proposed a cut in the corporate tax rate to 28 percent and repeatedly granted tax breaks to big business as the centerpiece of its phony “jobs” programs.

Even as the Trump administration was rolling out its tax plan, it was reported that Obama, following in the footsteps of the Clintons, had agreed to speak at a Wall Street event in return for $400,000 fee. Payment for services rendered.

It is nearly half a century since the Democratic Party abandoned any policy of social reform, which it adopted under the pressure of mass struggles of the working class. The increasing concentration of wealth in the hands of the rich, abetted by changes in the tax structure, has been underway for decades, carried out by Democratic-controlled Congresses and Democratic as well as Republican administrations.

As a result, the corporate tax accounted for just 10.6 percent of the federal government’s revenue in 2015, down from a third in the 1950s. Today, two-thirds of active corporations pay no corporate tax. Large profitable corporations pay an average rate of 14 percent, and some of the biggest companies pay nothing.

The Trump administration marks the emergence of government of, by and for the oligarchy in the purest form. But Trump is no aberration and he did not emerge from outer space. He is the noxious outcome of decades of social counterrevolution.

Obama handed to Trump a country in which the annual income of the top 1 percent ($1.3 million) is more than three times what it was in the 1980s, while the pre-tax income of the bottom 50 percent ($16,000) has not changed in real terms. The share of national income going to the top 1 percent rose from 12 percent to 20 percent over that period, while that of the bottom 50 percent fell from 20 percent to 12 percent.

In human terms, this translates into a society wracked by social crisis and vast suffering, with tens of millions unemployed or consigned to poverty-wage, part-time jobs, life expectancy declining, and drug abuse and suicide rates soaring. Entire generations of young people are condemned to lives of economic insecurity, forced to live with their parents and postpone getting married or having children. The elderly face the destruction of their health and retirement benefits.

And all of this to sustain the meaningless and corrupt lives of a small elite of financial parasites!

With the people of America and the world facing ever worsening social conditions and the looming threat of world war, the top priority of the political establishment is to hand over trillions more to the wealthy elite. This shows that no social problem can be tackled without directly confronting the oligarchy, breaking its power and seizing its wealth so that it can be used to meet social needs.

The American oligarchy, steeped in criminality and parasitism, can produce only a government of war, social reaction and repression. In its blind avarice, it is creating the conditions for unprecedented social upheavals. It is hurtling toward its own revolutionary demise at the hands of the working class.

The US military says it has deployed a group of troops and military vehicles along the Syria-Turkey border to prevent further clashes between Turks and Syrians.

A convoy of armored vehicles with US flags was spotted on a rural road in the village of Darbasiyah, a few hundred meters from the Turkish border in Syria’s northeastern Hasakah province, Kurdish activists said Friday.

Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis also confirmed the report.

“We continue to urge all the parties involved to focus on the common enemy which is ISIS (Daesh),” he told reporters later on Friday.

Ilham Ahmad, another senior Kurdish official, told the Associated Press that the US troops began their patrols along the border on Thursday and had already conducted reconnaissance flights in the area.

“The US role has now become more like a buffer force between us and the Turks on all front lines,” Mustafa Bali, a Kurdish activist in the area, said.

The move comes after Turkish airstrikes in Iraq and Syria killed 20 members of the US-backed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and injured 18 more on Tuesday and Wednesday. The YPG is the main Syrian Kurdish militia group fighting Daesh (ISIL).

Sharvan Kobani, a YPG commander, told Reuters on Friday that the US troops would only report to their high-ranking commanders and were yet to begin their monitoring mission.

Ankara says the attacks were part of its military campaign against “terrorist havens” in Syria and Iraq and sought to prevent a potential spillover of the conflict into Turkey.

The US and Turkey have been at odds over Ankara’s military action in Syria, which Washington says is mainly aimed at countering the rising influence of Kurdish fighters in the country.

Screen capture from the video posted by Press TV

Last month, nearly 200 US Marines armed with a battery of 155mm Howitzers were sent to northern Syria.

The deployment marks a significant move for conventional US forces in Syria, which have been limited to about 500 Special Operations forces on the ground.

In August 2016, Turkey began a major military intervention in Syria, sending tanks and warplanes across the border.

In late March, Ankara announced the end of its military operations in Syria but did not rule out the possibility of yet another military intervention in war-torn Syria.

US armored vehicles arrived in Northern Syria with US convoy stationed near Darbasiyah Village.

 

Anne Gearan reports in the Washington Post:

All 100 U.S. senators signed a letter Thursday asking U.N. Secretary General António Guterres to address what the lawmakers call entrenched bias against Israel at the world body.

The unanimous message notes that the United States is the largest contributor to the United Nations but does not threaten the withholding of U.S. dues. Still, it uses strong language to insist that the United Nations rectify what the senators said is unequal treatment of Israel on human rights and other grounds.

“Through words and actions, we urge you to ensure that Israel is treated neither better nor worse than any other U.N. member in good standing,” the letter said.

The letter, which will be released publicly Friday, was obtained by The Washington Post.

“As both the U.N.’s principal founding member and its largest contributor, the United States should insist on reform,” the letter read. “We are deeply committed to international leadership and to advancing respect for human rights. But continued targeting of Israel by the U.N. Human Rights Council and other U.N. entities is unacceptable.”

The senators asked Guterres, who assumed leadership of the world body in January, to seek such institutional changes as the removal of a standing agenda item for U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees sessions that has been used as a forum to denounce Israel. The senators also want a change to the rules for membership on the human rights panel to broaden participation beyond what U.S. officials have said is often a narrow and self-interested group of countries.

The unusual unanimity expands on the fierce denunciation of U.N. treatment of Israel mounted by Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, this year. The letter praises Haley for that effort, which she has said is intended to show that the United States will not “put up with” the bashing of its close ally.

The United States has long been Israel’s chief defender at the United Nations, including regularly vetoing measures at the Security Council that were critical of Israel.

In December, the lame duck Obama administration chose to abstain on such a resolution, allowing it to pass. The measure addressed Jewish home building in the occupied West Bank, and the U.S. action was a sign of President Barack Obama’s deep frustration with what he saw as Israeli action that threatened an eventual peace deal.

The Trump administration opposes the measure and has been highly critical of the previous administration’s action. It cannot be quickly reversed, however.

The Senate letter reflects what the letter’s authors, Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.), said are encouraging signs that Guterres may be willing to change some U.N. procedures that Israel and the United States say amount to discrimination.

Guterres yanked and disavowed a U.N. report last month likening Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to apartheid. His spokesman said the report had been published without Guterres’s permission.

“If you continue to build on your recent action, we stand ready to work with you to eliminate the organization’s anti-Israel bias, and to fight anti-Semitism in all its forms,” the senators wrote.

On Sunday, Guterres told a pro-Israel audience that he cannot police all anti-Israel bias at the United Nations, but he said Israel should not be singled out for special scrutiny.

“A modern form of anti-Semitism is the denial of the right of the state of Israel to exist,” the news service JTA quoted Guterres as saying at a meeting of the World Jewish Congress. “As secretary general of the United Nations, I can say that the state of Israel needs to be treated as any other state, with exactly the same rules.”

“We’re glad every single senator decided to sign onto this letter,” Rubio spokesman Matt Wolking said. “That doesn’t happen often.”

The letter comes ahead of the first meeting between President Trump and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who will visit the White House next week.

“Since it is rare for all 100 senators to agree on an issue, this letter sends a powerful bipartisan message to the U.N. that its anti-Israel bias must end,” said Marshall Wittmann, spokesman for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

There is a great deal of propaganda and deliberate misinformation about North Korea, which the public should know.

While neocons, a cheering corporate media, and Deep State, rush to war with North Korea, information is the ultimate weapon.

For example, did you know that North Korea, China, and India, are the only three nations who have committed to a “no nuclear first” policy? They have pledged never to use nuclear weapons “first”, but of course reserve the right to use them if attacked.

How many times has the US threatened to use nuclear weapons against North Korea?

Do you know that North Korea has repeatedly asked the US to engage in bilateral talks, to cool off the ever-escalating tension?  The offer was flatly rejected by both Obama and Trump.

Can you resolve differences within your family without dialog? No dialogue, no peace. Why won’t the US talk to North Korea??

The neocons, Deep State, and media argument, insist Kim Jong-un is irrational, and therefore you cannot negotiate with him.

A look back at recent history illustrates the US and its complicit media demonize anyone we do not like, and the demonizing usually ends up with a war. Manuel Noriega in Panama, Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, and Syria’s Assad, serve as recent examples.

But the demonizing of Kim Jong-un continues as we move towards another war, and once again the public buys into the myth.

Some might suggest we have a very irrational leader in this country. This attitude of demonizing is akin to the Taliban’s offer to turn over Osama Bin Laden so many years ago, and the US, then under Bush, flatly rejected the Taliban offer saying we don’t talk to such people.

Sixteen years later we are still at war in Afghanistan. War is the result of failed diplomacy, or the absence of diplomacy. Perhaps we did not want diplomacy, perhaps we don’t want diplomacy now.

Do you know North Korea has agreed to suspend its nuclear tests if the US agrees to end the annual war games along the border of North Korea?

You may not know the US conducts war games that simulate the overthrow of the North Korean government, and this year there were almost 400,000 soldiers participating. Did you know that??

Did you know, this year the games were given the name “Operation Decapitation” and were directed against North Korea, and were designed to simulate the attack and overthrow of North Korea?

Source: The Star. UK

Do you know the Korean War has never officially ended because there was no formal truce signed? This is one of North Korea’s demands.

A final treaty to end the Korean War was never signed, because if there was a treaty, the US would have no legal basis for the occupation of South Korea with our many military bases.

Do you know in 1993 the US announced it was re-targeting hydrogen bombs from the old USSR to North Korea?

Do you know George Bush called the leader of North Korea a “pygmy”, and said he wanted to “topple his regime”?

Do you know Bush also prepared a policy of “preemptive” attack, and referred to North Korea as a member of the “axis of evil”? It was shortly thereafter that North Korea left the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and threw out of the country all inspectors.

Neocons, Deep State, and the corporate media, argue North Korea is a threat to the US, and just days ago Trump said they were a “threat to the world”? That is asinine, as Trump’s modest increase of 54 billion in defense expenditure is 11 times greater than the entire North Korean military budget.

To suggest North Korea is a “threat to the US” or the “world” is either sheer stupidity, or an outright lie, and yet a CNN poll shows 37% of the US public believes North Korea is a threat to the US.

Who says propaganda isn’t effective? Do you know the recent leader of South Korea was impeached for corruption, and there is a pending election to decide on new leadership?

The opposition party wants the US out of South Korea, and also wants the THAAD missile system recently installed by the US dismantled.

Theresa May, in Great Britain, shocked many recently, when she announced she would be willing to use nuclear weapons in a “first strike”. Why have we not declared war on Britain, as Theresa May is apparently a bit “irrational”?

Experts suggest North Korea has perhaps 8 nuclear weapons, but has no effective delivery system. The US has 7,000, of which a large number are deployed against North Korea. .

North Korea has not invaded or attacked any nation since the end of the Korean War, while the US has bombed over 30 countries.

How many countries is the US currently bombing?? Can’t answer?

Who is the aggressor here? Who has refused to “talk” to North Korea?

Who has threatened to use nuclear weapons repeatedly against North Korea?

Why can’t the US simply sit down and agree to bilateral talks?

Is there a logical reason why this cannot be done? What is there to lose by such talks?

This whole policy of antagonizing, instead of talking, is insane!

We know its insanity; we don’t know if it is an intentional rejection of diplomacy.

While the recent raft of Sino-Saudi trade agreements benefited Chinese soft power in protecting Xinjiang, and the Saudis by diversifying their economy, China’s slow intertwining with Saudi Arabia complements the Sino-Russian alliance. Primarily, its benefits could lead to a realistic threat to the petrodollar.

The Persian rival who showed the way

In 2012/2013, the US Treasury Department, under the Obama administration, initiated a raft of sanctions in an amateurish fashion against the Central Bank of Iran. As we were told, it was done to tire and bleed Iranian economic and social life enough to draw Tehran into negotiations concerning its nuclear programme. The argument of were they/weren’t they pursuing a weaponized nuclear program isn’t important; how the Iranians circumvented these sanctions is.

The sanctions were meant to be stifling, but the Iranians loosened this problematic liquidity noose by using all their banks that weren’t sanctioned, and sold rich Iranian oil to India. Of course, the Indians couldn’t pay Tehran directly. Neither could they pay bilaterally in rupees due to sanctions and infrastructure needed to trade in a bilateral currency. Instead, Iran requested that India pay in gold so India paid Turkey, the Middle East’s gold market, and Turkey gave Turkish gold to Iranian banks, which then swapped with the Central Bank of Iran.

Turkey, for its part, may soon be the gold payment intermediator across Asia, and is already nationalizing the sector with a demand for private confiscation occurring to support the Turkish economy, but this has scarcely been reported.

This clever evasion was known as the Iran-India-Turkey triangle. Iran was escaping the dominance of the US dollar and trading in real money, not a hegemonic fiat currency that was being printed hot-off-the-press all day. They were dealing in gold; not something that could be strangled through SWIFT and electrons traded on a screen easily. A simple intermediator and precious metals could break Obama’s heralded “crippling” sanctions.

Iran ideologically, as well as practically, wants nothing to do with the US dollar but rather it wants to be free of monetary pressures by the US on its domestic policies. The effectiveness of this evasion was a preview to what countries like China, Russia, and to a lesser extent India and South Korea, have all been trying to do: increase their independence from the US dollar. The Iranian gold triangle showed successful independence from US dollar reliance.

The Chinese usurpers and their yellow metal

Fast forward to March 2017; the Russian Central Bank opened its first overseas office in Beijing as an early step in phasing in a gold-backed standard of trade. This would be done by finalizing the issuance of the first federal loan bonds denominated in Chinese yuan and to allow gold imports from Russia.

The Chinese government wishes to internationalize the yuan, and conduct trade in yuan as it has been doing, and is beginning to increase trade with Russia. They’ve been taking these steps with bilateral trading, native trading systems and so on. However, when Russia and China agreed on their bilateral US$400 billion pipeline deal, China wished to, and did, pay for the pipeline with yuan treasury bonds, and then later for Russian oil in yuan.

This evasion of, and unprecedented breakaway from, the reign of the US dollar monetary system is taking many forms, but one of the most threatening is the Russians trading Chinese yuan for gold. The Russians are already taking Chinese yuan, made from the sales of their oil to China, back to the Shanghai Gold Exchange to then buy gold with yuan-denominated gold futures contracts – basically a barter system or trade.

The Chinese are hoping that by starting to assimilate the yuan futures contract for oil, facilitating the payment of oil in yuan, the hedging of which will be done in Shanghai, it will allow the yuan to be perceived as a primary currency for trading oil. The world’s top importer (China) and exporter (Russia) are taking steps to convert payments into gold. This is known. So, who would be the greatest asset to lure into trading oil for yuan? The Saudis, of course.

All the Chinese need is for the Saudis to sell China oil in exchange for yuan. If the House of Saud decides to pursue that exchange, the Gulf petro-monarchies will follow suit, and then Nigeria, and so on. This will fundamentally threaten the petrodollar.

Now the argument is that if China does this it will put a slam on Chinese exports, but China is undergoing an intentional metamorphosis from a producer and exporter to a service and consumer economy of internal products. Look to China’s technology sector, e-commerce sector, and other domestic sectors that will provide a large market for sustainable service and growth.

A second argument against this train of thought is that maybe China doesn’t want the yuan to be a world reserve currency but just have a strong currency; a gold-backed yuan currency. Having a gold trade note may not hurt Chinese exports as it transforms its economy and its future exports.

Beijing may also have thought that if Saudi Arabia is persuaded to trade in yuan or gold-backed yuan, etc, South Korea and Japan may follow suit, as both have been looking to detach from the US dollar.

China and Iran were the first to initiate bypassing the dollar, followed by Russia circumventing the SWIFT system and then India beginning to move away from the US dollar and starting bilateral trade deals. China and Japan made moves to trade directly, as did Japan with India, bypassing the dollar.

The use of alternative payment systems like gold, yuan, rupees, rubles and other monies, fiat and not, to evade the potential of sanctions and seizures of the US dollar, or its decline, are seen as favorable.

What decline?

Well, we can look at the historic East-West cycle, the baby-boom demographic in the West, the growing inequality in the wealth distribution cycle, the ratio of household debt as a percentage of disposable income, and for you history buffs, the Kondratiev wave are all peaking and are descending into a deflationary wave.

Wait, what?

Okay, all of those mentioned cycles are economic swings of wealth. Everything is pointing towards a declining West and a rising East. But we can equally blame central bankers’ quantitative easing policies of printing to prosperity. The idea is a falsity that also has only benefited the wealthier classes, and can’t beat back cyclical pressure. A shift in world monetary systems is occurring.

The Chinese economy has begun an economic restructuring and focus on domestic production and services. The Trump administration thinks weakening the US dollar will help American exports and likewise respectfully grow the US economy (or “grow” within the confines of the current monetary system). However, the overvalued dollar has subsidized the cherished “American standard of living,” and any weakening will now have detrimental effects.

The US needs to also restructure its economy to one that is based on production. It can no longer continue to run a debt-serviced economy that imports all goods it doesn’t produce. It’s unsustainable, and the continuous mistake of many. The wealth of the world is shifting eastwards.

The petrodollar is the last vestige of that “American standard of living” middle America cherishes, and if the gold trade bonds fly and yuan changes hands as the oil flows, the US is going to get a shock when Saudi Arabia likes the look of red paper as much as green, or worse yet, yellow metal, a lot of which is moving east.

Andrew Brennan is a dual Irish/American citizen who was educated in Ireland. He holds two Master of Arts degrees from the National University of Ireland, Galway. Andrew has previous experience in radio, research, and domestic television, and also currently contributes to Forbes and The Global Times.

While the recent raft of Sino-Saudi trade agreements benefited Chinese soft power in protecting Xinjiang, and the Saudis by diversifying their economy, China’s slow intertwining with Saudi Arabia complements the Sino-Russian alliance. Primarily, its benefits could lead to a realistic threat to the petrodollar.

The Persian rival who showed the way

In 2012/2013, the US Treasury Department, under the Obama administration, initiated a raft of sanctions in an amateurish fashion against the Central Bank of Iran. As we were told, it was done to tire and bleed Iranian economic and social life enough to draw Tehran into negotiations concerning its nuclear programme. The argument of were they/weren’t they pursuing a weaponized nuclear program isn’t important; how the Iranians circumvented these sanctions is.

The sanctions were meant to be stifling, but the Iranians loosened this problematic liquidity noose by using all their banks that weren’t sanctioned, and sold rich Iranian oil to India. Of course, the Indians couldn’t pay Tehran directly. Neither could they pay bilaterally in rupees due to sanctions and infrastructure needed to trade in a bilateral currency. Instead, Iran requested that India pay in gold so India paid Turkey, the Middle East’s gold market, and Turkey gave Turkish gold to Iranian banks, which then swapped with the Central Bank of Iran.

Turkey, for its part, may soon be the gold payment intermediator across Asia, and is already nationalizing the sector with a demand for private confiscation occurring to support the Turkish economy, but this has scarcely been reported.

This clever evasion was known as the Iran-India-Turkey triangle. Iran was escaping the dominance of the US dollar and trading in real money, not a hegemonic fiat currency that was being printed hot-off-the-press all day. They were dealing in gold; not something that could be strangled through SWIFT and electrons traded on a screen easily. A simple intermediator and precious metals could break Obama’s heralded “crippling” sanctions.

Iran ideologically, as well as practically, wants nothing to do with the US dollar but rather it wants to be free of monetary pressures by the US on its domestic policies. The effectiveness of this evasion was a preview to what countries like China, Russia, and to a lesser extent India and South Korea, have all been trying to do: increase their independence from the US dollar. The Iranian gold triangle showed successful independence from US dollar reliance.

The Chinese usurpers and their yellow metal

Fast forward to March 2017; the Russian Central Bank opened its first overseas office in Beijing as an early step in phasing in a gold-backed standard of trade. This would be done by finalizing the issuance of the first federal loan bonds denominated in Chinese yuan and to allow gold imports from Russia.

The Chinese government wishes to internationalize the yuan, and conduct trade in yuan as it has been doing, and is beginning to increase trade with Russia. They’ve been taking these steps with bilateral trading, native trading systems and so on. However, when Russia and China agreed on their bilateral US$400 billion pipeline deal, China wished to, and did, pay for the pipeline with yuan treasury bonds, and then later for Russian oil in yuan.

This evasion of, and unprecedented breakaway from, the reign of the US dollar monetary system is taking many forms, but one of the most threatening is the Russians trading Chinese yuan for gold. The Russians are already taking Chinese yuan, made from the sales of their oil to China, back to the Shanghai Gold Exchange to then buy gold with yuan-denominated gold futures contracts – basically a barter system or trade.

The Chinese are hoping that by starting to assimilate the yuan futures contract for oil, facilitating the payment of oil in yuan, the hedging of which will be done in Shanghai, it will allow the yuan to be perceived as a primary currency for trading oil. The world’s top importer (China) and exporter (Russia) are taking steps to convert payments into gold. This is known. So, who would be the greatest asset to lure into trading oil for yuan? The Saudis, of course.

All the Chinese need is for the Saudis to sell China oil in exchange for yuan. If the House of Saud decides to pursue that exchange, the Gulf petro-monarchies will follow suit, and then Nigeria, and so on. This will fundamentally threaten the petrodollar.

Now the argument is that if China does this it will put a slam on Chinese exports, but China is undergoing an intentional metamorphosis from a producer and exporter to a service and consumer economy of internal products. Look to China’s technology sector, e-commerce sector, and other domestic sectors that will provide a large market for sustainable service and growth.

A second argument against this train of thought is that maybe China doesn’t want the yuan to be a world reserve currency but just have a strong currency; a gold-backed yuan currency. Having a gold trade note may not hurt Chinese exports as it transforms its economy and its future exports.

Beijing may also have thought that if Saudi Arabia is persuaded to trade in yuan or gold-backed yuan, etc, South Korea and Japan may follow suit, as both have been looking to detach from the US dollar.

China and Iran were the first to initiate bypassing the dollar, followed by Russia circumventing the SWIFT system and then India beginning to move away from the US dollar and starting bilateral trade deals. China and Japan made moves to trade directly, as did Japan with India, bypassing the dollar.

The use of alternative payment systems like gold, yuan, rupees, rubles and other monies, fiat and not, to evade the potential of sanctions and seizures of the US dollar, or its decline, are seen as favorable.

What decline?

Well, we can look at the historic East-West cycle, the baby-boom demographic in the West, the growing inequality in the wealth distribution cycle, the ratio of household debt as a percentage of disposable income, and for you history buffs, the Kondratiev wave are all peaking and are descending into a deflationary wave.

Wait, what?

Okay, all of those mentioned cycles are economic swings of wealth. Everything is pointing towards a declining West and a rising East. But we can equally blame central bankers’ quantitative easing policies of printing to prosperity. The idea is a falsity that also has only benefited the wealthier classes, and can’t beat back cyclical pressure. A shift in world monetary systems is occurring.

The Chinese economy has begun an economic restructuring and focus on domestic production and services. The Trump administration thinks weakening the US dollar will help American exports and likewise respectfully grow the US economy (or “grow” within the confines of the current monetary system). However, the overvalued dollar has subsidized the cherished “American standard of living,” and any weakening will now have detrimental effects.

The US needs to also restructure its economy to one that is based on production. It can no longer continue to run a debt-serviced economy that imports all goods it doesn’t produce. It’s unsustainable, and the continuous mistake of many. The wealth of the world is shifting eastwards.

The petrodollar is the last vestige of that “American standard of living” middle America cherishes, and if the gold trade bonds fly and yuan changes hands as the oil flows, the US is going to get a shock when Saudi Arabia likes the look of red paper as much as green, or worse yet, yellow metal, a lot of which is moving east.

Andrew Brennan is a dual Irish/American citizen who was educated in Ireland. He holds two Master of Arts degrees from the National University of Ireland, Galway. Andrew has previous experience in radio, research, and domestic television, and also currently contributes to Forbes and The Global Times.

In the end, there was hardly a reset; rather a sort of tentative pause on Cold War 2.0. Interminable days of sound and fury were trudging along when President Trump finally decided NATO is “no longer obsolete”; still, he wants to “get along” with Russia.

Just ahead of meeting US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin had stressed on Russian TV that trust (between Russia and the US) is “at a workable level, especially in the military dimension, but it hasn’t improved. On the contrary, it has degraded.” Emphasis on a pedestrian “workable,” but most of all “degraded” – as in the National Security Council releasing a report essentially accusing Moscow of spreading fake news.

At the apex of the Russia-gate hysteria, even before the extremely the controversial chemical incident in Syria and the subsequent Tomahawk show – arguably a cinematographic show-off — a Trump-conducted reset on Russia was already D.O.A., tomahawked by the Pentagon, Capitol Hill and media-misguided public opinion.

Yet only armchair Dr. Strangeloves would argue it’s in the US national interest to risk a direct hot war against Russia — and Iran — in Syria. Russia has all but won the war in Syria on its own terms; preventing the emergence of an Emirate of Takfiristan.

The notion that Tillerson would be able to issue an ultimatum to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov – you’re either with us or with Damascus and Tehran – is laughable. Moscow simply is not going to yield its hard-earned sphere of influence in Southwest Asia to the Trump administration or the US deep state. What Moscow really wanted to know is who’s making Russia policy in Washington. Now they’ve got their answer.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

And then, there’s the Big Picture. The Iran-Russia strategic partnership is one of the three key nodes, along with China, in the big story of the young 21st century; Eurasia integration, with Russia and Iran closing the energy equation and China as the investment locomotive.

That leads us to the real heart of the matter: the War Party’s fear of Eurasia integration, which inevitably manifests itself as acute Russophobia.

Russophobia is not monolithic or monochord though. There’s room for some informed dissidence – and even civilized inflections.

Enter Dr. K

Exhibit A is Henry Kissinger, who as a Lifetime Trustee recently spoke at the annual meeting of the Trilateral Commission in Washington.

The Trilateral Commission, created by the late David Rockefeller in 1974, had its members meticulously selected by Dr. Zbigniew “Grand Chessboard” Brzezinski – whose whole career has been a slight variation on the overarching theme that the US should always prevent the emergence of a “peer competitor” in Eurasia – or, worse still, as today, a Eurasian alliance.

Kissinger is the only geopolitical practitioner that manages to get President Trump’s undivided attention. He had been, so far, the top facilitator of a dialogue — and possible reset — between Washington and Moscow. I have argued this is part of his remixed balance of power, Divide and Rule strategy – which consists in prying away Russia from China with the ultimate aim of derailing Eurasia integration.

Kissinger felt compelled to tell his supposedly well-informed audience that Putin is not a Hitler replica, does not harbor imperial desires, and to describe him as a global super-evil is an “error of perspective and substance.”

So Kissinger favors dialogue – even as he insists Moscow cannot defeat Washington militarily. His conditions: Ukraine must remain independent, without entering NATO; Crimea is negotiable. The key problem is Syria: Kissinger is adamant Russia cannot be allowed to become a major player in the Middle East (yet with Moscow backing up Damascus militarily and conducting the Astana peace negotiations, it already is). Implicit in all that is the difficulty of negotiating an overall “package” for Russia.

Now compare Kissinger with Lavrov who, while quoting Dr. K, recently issued a diagnostic that would make him cringe:

“The formation of a polycentric international order is an objective process. It is in our common interest to make it more stable and predictable.”

Once again, it’s all about Eurasia integration.

Putin was already outlining it, in detail, five years ago, even before the Chinese fully fleshed out the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) concept in 2013. OBOR can certainly be interpreted as an even more ambitious variation of Putin’s idea:

“Russia is an inalienable and organic part of Greater Europe and European civilization… That’s why Russia proposes moving towards the creation of a common economic space from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, a community referred to by Russian experts as ‘the Union of Europe’ which will strengthen Russia’s potential in its economic pivot toward the ‘new Asia.'”

The West – or, to be more precise, NATO – vetoed Russia. And that, in a flash, precipitated the Russia-China strategic partnership and its myriad subsequent declinations. It’s this symbiosis that led the recent report by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission to admit China and Russia are experiencing what is arguably their “highest period of bilateral [military] co-operation.”

The War Party never sleeps

Exhibit B, on a par with Kissinger stressing that Putin is no Hitler, reveals the theoretically preeminent professional journal of American diplomacy compelled to publish a quite remarkable essay by Robert English from the University of Southern California, and a Ph.D. in politics at Princeton.

Under careful examination, the inevitable conclusion is that Prof. English did something very simple, but unheard of: with “careful scholarship,” he challenged “the prevailing groupthink” and “thrashed the positions” of virtually the whole US foreign policy establishment addicted to Russophobia.

The Russia-China strategic partnership – uniting the Pentagon’s avowed top two threats to America — does not come with a formal treaty signed with pomp and circumstance. There’s no way to know the deeper terms Beijing and Moscow have agreed upon behind those innumerable Xi-Putin meetings.

It’s quite possible, as diplomats have let it slip, off the record, there may have been a secret message delivered to NATO to the effect that if one of the strategic members is seriously harassed — be it in Ukraine or in the South China Sea – NATO will have to deal with both. As for the Tomahawk show, it may have been a one-off; the Pentagon did give Moscow a heads up and Tillerson, in Moscow, guaranteed the Trump administration wants to keep all communication channels open.

The War Party though never sleeps. Notoriously disgraced neocons, re-energized by Trump’s Tomahawk-with-chocolates show, are salivating over the “opportunity” of an Iraq Shock and Awe remix on Syria.

The War Party’s cause célèbre is still a war on Iran, and that now conflates with the neoliberalcon’s Russophobia – deployed via the currently “disappeared” but certainly not extinct Russia-gate. Yet Russia-gate’s real dark story, for all the hysterics, is actually about the Orwellian surveillance powers of the US deep state, as stressed by former CIA analyst Ray McGovern and whistleblower Bill Binney.

Whatever the practical outcome, in the long run, of the turbulent, two-hour, trilateral Putin-Lavrov-Tillerson meeting, ultimately Russophobia – and its sidekick, Iranophobia – won’t vanish from the US-NATO geopolitical spectrum. Especially now that Trump may have finally shown his real face, a “housebroken dog to neocon dogma.”

The masks, at least, have fallen — and these relentless intimations of Cold War 2.0 should be seen for what they are: the War Party’s primal fear of Eurasia integration.

“In our society those who have best knowledge of what is happening are also those who are furthest from seeing the world as it is. In general, the greater the understanding, the greater the delusion: the more intelligent, the less sane.” – George Orwell, 1984

“This has inspired me to new heights, to wage war against these forces [‘the unfruitful ocean’] and subdue them.”  Faust from Goethe’s Faust

The recent marches on April 22^nd to promote science and to celebrate Earth Day were perhaps well-intentioned, but they were delusional and conducted without any sense of irony. They served power and its propaganda. Obviously science has benefited us in certain ways, but it has become untethered from any sense of moral limits in its embrace of instrumental rationality and its unending efforts to sabotage faith in human freedom by rationally “proving” its illogical deterministic credo. And in doing so it has created and sustained a nightmarish world on the brink of destruction and undermined people’s will to resist this death march. Ostensibly rational, it has engendered a spiritual alienation that goes to the roots of the world crisis.

“In short,” says Dostoyevsky’s underground man,

“one may say anything about the history of the world – anything that might enter the most disordered imagination.  The only thing one can’t say is that it’s rational.”

For two of the major problems the world faces – world destruction with nuclear weapons and the poisoning of the earth’s ecology and atmosphere – are the result of the marriage of science and technique that has given birth to the technological “babies” (Little Boy and Fat Man) that were used by the U.S. to massacre hundreds of thousands of Japanese and now threaten to incinerate everyone, and the chemical and toxic inventions that have despoiled the earth, air, and water and continue to kill people worldwide through America’s endless war-making and industrial applications.

The Save-the-Earth-Science marchers failed, for self-serving reasons or ignorance, to see the obvious.  But their failure goes even deeper than omitting the links between science, war, and pollution.

In our technopoly, logical thinking has become illogical; cause and effect, means and ends have been inverted.  The causes of our problems are touted as the means to end them. These “solutions” are always offered with a straight face, as if they made perfect sense.  This is how societies operate when in the grip of myths.  In this case, the myths of science, progress, and history.  Such myths render the obvious invisible as they create a hopeless inevitability in people who can imagine no alternative and have been convinced that science is the secret to salvation and the means to the things they have learned to desire, including longevity and perhaps “immortality.”And these things have become the means to additional means in an endless loop from which, by definition, ends are absent.  As a result, the search for truth, celebrated as a goal of science, is slyly eliminated.

In this comforting yet absurd myth, science is viewed as the “miraculous knight of reason.”  John Saul Ralston elaborates:

Science led the way in the battle against the forces of darkness. Discoveries were celebrated as if new territories were won on the road to a place of eternal light where knowledge would reign. And yet these very real advances in the uncovering of nature’s secrets seemed increasingly to create a world which escaped the control of society. New knowledge and new positive powers in the hands of man seemed inevitably to be matched with new inaccessible elites and a new sophistication in the arts of violence and destruction….As for the scientists, the vast majority of whom continue to believe in the inviolability of progress, they still do so with the driven purity of terrorists.

Comforted and paradoxically terrorized by our creations, yet immobilized by our myths, we seem to lack the imaginations to conceive a different approach.  So we applaud what seems so “sensible”: marching for science to save the planet.  Meaning well becomes a substitute for missing the meaning of our contradictory thinking and the myth that sustains it.

Delude ourselves as we might, the probability of making all possibility impossible is very real.  Poised on the edge of nuclear conflagration and environmental collapse, we tell ourselves that reasonable minds will prevail, knowing, if we choose to think at all, that the central experiences of the past century – the mass slaughter of human beings with progressively more “advanced” weapons and ecological destruction as a result of scientific/technological “advances” (we are always advancing in the myth) – were not prevented by such “reasonableness.” In fact, instrumental reason and its perverted logic of efficiency – our Gods – caused them.

We inhabit a nightmare, and reason is insufficient to awaken us.

“The madman,” wrote G. K. Chesterton, “is the man who has lost everything except his reason.”

This is true even when the reasoning is faulty.

This scientific/technological nightmare is a world where everything has become a means and the ends no longer exist.  We are travelling at breakneck speed to nowhere, but as long as long as we keep moving in our “usefulness,” no one seems to notice that we are travelling in circles and getting nowhere.

He’s a real nowhere man
Sitting in his nowhere land
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody

Doesn’t have a point of view
Knows not where he’s going to
Isn’t he a bit like you and me?

 I’d say the boys – the Beatles – have a point, wouldn’t you?  But what do artists know?

We can’t conceive of our ends since they conjure up nothing, having been swallowed by the means, while the purpose of our lives is reduced to staying alive as long as possible.  The Faustian goal has always been immortality, and we have been infected with the fear that death, and therefore life, may be meaningless.  The quest for scientific “immortality” is a means to a means without end.  It is a symptom of the profound spiritual crisis of the age.

Writing about our twisted logic that has banished anything “useless” or “gratuitous,” – including art, people, and nature – the great French sociologist Jacques Ellul says this about modern science:

Once, knowledge of truth was what mattered, but then after the philosophers came the scientists.  They developed their theories, which were then applied, first in order to prove the truth of these theories, and then because of their usefulness. From that point on, science was lost!  Technical means gradually came to dominate the search for truth.  Science became more and more about the effectiveness of technical means. Science today takes its meaning from technique; it is completely oriented to application.  It is in the service of means.  It has become a means of perfecting the means.  The ab- straction ‘science,’ to which we still pay lip service, has replaced the search for truth.

Yes, marching for science is marching for science, but not in the way the demonstrators think.  It is marching for a means to a means.  Wedded to government support and instantaneously applied to technical applications, science serves no ultimate end but its own existence. Holding signs supporting science as a cure for the planet’s ills that science has created is like taking psychotropic drugs for depression because you were told the “cause” of your depression is a brain abnormality for which no causal scientific evidence exists since there are no definitive empirical lab tests. In the former case the cause becomes the solution; in the latter, the imagined cause is remedied by an imagined solution. In both cases, delusional thinking prevails.

Such inverted logic about cause and effect is the way the myth of science works today. No evidence required. The cause is the solution. The means justifies the means.

It is the same “logic” used to support the materialistic, murderous, and imperialistic American empire. Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, etc. – bomb, invade, kill, destroy – and when those means don’t work, double down on them.

Paul Virilio, the great scholar of dromology (the study of speed), asks:  “Has the prohibition to prohibit – the basic law of scientific progress – become the only law of a lawless globalism?”  His answer: Yes.  This prohibition to prohibit informs our science, war-making, rapacious globalization, and capitalist death trip – everything – as we accelerate toward global suicide.

It was Dostoevsky who long ago warned us of the path we were on and the spiritual nihilism that lay at its heart:

That is not all; then, you say, science itself will teach man (though to my mind it’s a superfluous luxury) that he never has really had any caprice or will of his own, and that he himself is something of the nature of a piano-key or the stop of an organ, and that there are, besides, things called the laws of nature; so that everything he does is not done by his willing it, but is done of itself, by the laws of nature.  Consequently, we have only to discover these laws of nature, and man will no longer have to answer for his actions and life will become exceedingly easy for him.

But “easy” turned out to be hard, as an uneasiness of profound proportions wed to the spiritual crisis of free will created by science has been dismissed as the rantings of religious fanatics who want to return us to the dark ages.  Blinded by the myth of science, we fail to see that the loss of our belief in our own freedom is connected to the instrumental rationality that threatens all life.

Nature and all living creatures, including ourselves, have become our enemies and are rejected as ends in themselves. Everything and everyone is a means. We must bomb, bulldoze, manipulate, drug, control, poison, etc.– all in the service of a diabolical willfulness that brooks no resistance.

American society is nihilistic and the ruling political and intellectual elites are of course the leading nihilists. But this nihilism is widespread because it works at the mythic level. Unable to grasp the circular and repetitive nature of instrumental reason and its propaganda that have resulted in a spiritual/existential crisis that is leading to world destruction, average people fall into a deeper malaise that leads to widespread despair, unhappiness, and hopelessness. Everything becomes a means to a means in a kaleidoscopic death trap.

The question is: how can we break out of this mystification of experience that has resulted in a double-bind that has trapped us?

I thing Goethe hints at a solution in a “warning” that the devil, Mephistopheles, gives to a student in Faust, and which Faust failed to heed:

Who would study and describe the living, starts

By driving the spirits out of the parts:

In the palm of his hand he holds all the sections,

Lacks nothing, except the spirit’s connection.

But are we capable of taking such a hint? Or have we passed a point of no return?

I will take up this hint in a sequel to this article, and explore the possibility of a path out of the seeming impossibility of escaping the cul-de-sac of our spiritually disinherited current condition.

Edward Curtin is a writer whose work has appeared widely.  He teaches sociology at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. His website is http://edwardcurtin.com/

“Some have called Afghanistan ‘the graveyard of empires,’ and it probably is the graveyard of empires.” James G. Stavridis

Indeed, many great empires over the centuries came to crash against the stubborn will of Afghanistan, only to drive this one people to think their land an extension of their national identity – the very air in their lungs. A warning against imperialism, we may soon learn to look upon Afghanistan as the one cautionary tale our modern-day neocons should have paid attention to, if not to lose their shirts in endeavour they could not possibly have succeeded in carrying out.

Assuming that any one particular country will fall to the will of those deemed greater and mightier does not always make it so. History has taught us too many times that numbers matter little in the face of victory for any of us to entertain the idea that might is in fact always right.

I would personally argue that might carries very little in the face of stealthy determination.

Resistance as it were, is a far greater power than that of military superiority. A minority can defeat the majority when that minority is animated by conviction – whatever the impetus behind it. Maybe here western powers should have brushed up on their study of the Scriptures and remember that once upon a time David stood before Goliath but a boy with a slingshot … and yet it is the giant who fell, and his reign of terror with him.

Geopolitics and historical references aside, Afghanistan ought to be seen as the perfect anti-neocolonial storm. I will venture as far as saying that Afghanistan was the harbinger of a grand trans-national resistance movement against covert imperialism and western military interventionism.

The first country to have fallen to the American-made deity that is US national security, Afghanistan has not been alone in suffering the wrath of western hunger … from the shores of Libya, to Syria, Iraq and of course Yemen, a litany of independent and sovereign nations have been exploded so that western capitals could carve out zones of influence while arguing democracy building.

And yet before a deluge of lead, political manipulations and grand media deception campaigns Resistance came rising – made stronger for every new attempt to lay waste people’s right to political self-determination.

Let us not be fooled by the rhetoric of tyrants when they posit humanitarian intervention against sovereign nations so that they could sell wars to increase control. The Greater Middle East region was turned into a violent and bloody cesspit to incept a covert geopolitical realignment that aimed to empower the elite.

If you so much as bother to look beneath the “accepted” narrative you would see that whether in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq or Yemen, it is control … control over demographic, control over natural resources, control over financial access, control over political ambitions that has really motivated nations to wage wars.

Forget the War on Terror – learn to see instead a rabid form of globalism versus the people. But for all the military violence that was thrown at those independent nations earmarked for destruction, Resistance came to rise together a shield and a weapon.

And though Resistance is still looked on as an aberration that cannot possibly be sustained against this new order many world nations are architecting, Resistance is nevertheless sweeping the region, inspiring people to find resolve beyond reason. Resistance is what has animated, inspired and forced Yemen to move beyond the intolerable cruelty of war to find national dignity in the rejection of imperialism.

If Afghanistan was the first domino to drop, Yemen might be the one war theatre to bury imperialism altogether. For all the great many efforts exerted by Saudi Arabia, Yemen’s very own Resistance Movement has yet to lose its traction.

Amid absolute devastation, looming famine and the threat of a Wahhabist takeover courtesy of the Black Flag Army, Yemen is fighting tooth and nail to affirm its right to political self-determination and anchor its territorial sovereignty independently from foreign diktat.

At this particular juncture in time – in the third year of this war the kingdom unilaterally declared so that its will would manifest, Yemen sits on top. How and why?

Quite simply because Yemen has nothing to lose. There is no ground today that has not been ravaged, no crime that was not perpetrated against the innocent … when a people is left with no room to retreat it is often that resistance becomes it.

Yemen now lives in a state of perpetual resistance, and THERE lies Yemen’s victory. Let us not be as arrogant as to believe that the will of a people matters not before the will of tyrants.

No government, system or complex can survive without some degree of popular legitimacy – whether born in coercion or in allegiance, compliance is required for any one power to be sustained and its hold asserted.

Yemen’s Resistance Movement most definitely rigged Saudi Arabia’s imperial power grab.

So much so in fact that Riyadh is actively looking for a way out. It now remains to be seen whether Riyadh’s pursuit of political and military salvation will manifest. Do not confuse Saudi Arabia’s ferociousness vis a vis Yemen as proof the kingdom has the upper hand.

For all its billions, powerful friendships and media access, the kingdom is losing its footing in Yemen … to the point where Yemen could in fact bring the powerful House of Saud to its very knees.

By enacting Resistance Yemen laid bare Saudi Arabia’s very own faultlines. By refusing to bow Yemen inspired others to speak a different political tune, reviving the concept of national sovereignty as an inherent right.

Behind closed doors Riyadh has already admitted defeat.

Sources in Yemen have confirmed that secret negotiations have taken place in between the Resistance Movement – headed by Ansarallah, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the United States and Saudi Arabia to establish a workable truce and a way forward politically.

The head of Monitoring and Information in former President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s office, Ali El-Shabani confirmed that under the proposed agreement power would be transferred from twice-resigned-runaway President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi to Sheikh Mohammed Abulohoom who would sit as vice-president for the duration of his mandate.

One of Yemen’s political heavy-weight Sheikh Abulohoom, who heads the Justice and Building Party could indeed act a powerbroker in between Yemen’s many factions while ensuring a degree cohesion.

El-Shabani said that under the terms of the agreement, Ansarallah, aka Yemen Resistance Movement will form half the government which will be headed by former Foreign Minister Abdullah Al-Saidi or former Prime Minister Khaled Bahah.

Should it comes to be implemented this agreement would anchor Resistance in Yemen’s political and institutional landscape and essentially mark the end of imperialism as a form of governance.

April 29 marks the 100th day in office of Donald Trump – a man who, unlike many of his predecessors in recent decades, lacks any practical experience serving in the government’s executive or legislative branches, or even in the military.

This 45th US president – whose bid for office was supported by military officials and lobbyists for the military-industrial complex who are focused on shoring up “American supremacy” over all other countries – has managed during this short period to either resolve or demonstrate the readiness to resolve the following military and political challenges.

Both the bold platitude of “Peace Through Strength” as well as the strategy of building up the might of the military-industrial complex have been endorsed.  That second component would allow the US military to “successfully fight two-and-a-half wars at the same time,” even if those were against two major nuclear powers (in this context, Russia and China), plus one regional war (as in Iraq or Afghanistan) anywhere else on the globe.

Donald Trump has promised to increase the military budget, spending more on nuclear missiles in particular.  And he will increase that budget.  Updates to the classical, strategic nuclear triad as well as to tactical nuclear weapons continue, some of which are positioned very close to the borders of Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, and a number of other states.

The key concepts underlying America’s nuclear doctrine will remain unchanged: its “offensive, unconditional nuclear deterrence strategy” will be preserved as a core element, as will the country’s readiness to inflict a first nuclear strike.  An important related component will also be maintained – the strategy of “extended nuclear deterrence,” premised on the unfurling of the American “nuclear umbrella” over the 27 US NATO allies and four of their non-NATO allies (Australia, Israel, South Korea, and Japan).  There will be no changes to the programs that dispatch American strategic aircraft on patrols though the airspaces of various countries or those that send missile-carrying nuclear submarines and attack submarines – as well as submarines equipped with long-range cruise missiles – prowling through the Pacific Ocean.

There is no doubt that the Pentagon will retain and soon replace America’s tactical nuclear weapons that are currently stashed in four countries on the European continent (Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, and Germany), as well as in the Asian portion of Turkey, by upgrading to more up-to-date models – like the variable-yield B61-12 nuclear bomb.

Nor will there be an end to the Baltic Air Policing patrols that have been flown over the skies of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia 24/7, year-round since March 2004 by the air forces of fifteen NATO member countries, using “dual-capable” aircraft that can carry either conventional or nuclear weapons.  The air forces of all three Western nuclear powers have taken part in this operation.

The recent sharp deterioration in the political and military relations between Washington and Pyongyang has made the current US administration more anxious to fortify its missile-defense shield on Korean peninsular, not yet completed when the new president took office on Jan. 20.  The program to deploy this anti-missile defense system on a global scale will continue beyond the year 2022, as per the Obama administration’s adjusted time frame, and even beyond the years 2041-2042, i.e., after one-third of the US fleet (as many as 90 cruisers and destroyers) have been equipped with the Aegis command-and-control weapons system.

In violation of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the new Republican administration continues its construction of an American missile-defense complex in the town of Redzikowo, in northern Poland.  Launch installations will be based there, for not only defensive interceptor missiles but also offensive strike weapons, i.e., high-precision, land-based, extended-range cruise missiles.  It should also be kept in mind that under the terms of the US-Polish agreement governing the establishment of such a base of operations, the “launch” button will be kept solely in the hands of American military commanders.  As we know, Barack Obama placed a similar complex on alert at the Romanian air base in Deveselu last May.

The Pentagon also continues to violate the provisions of the 1987 treaty when testing interceptor missiles by using those missiles as targets.

Donald Trump has in no way curtailed the program to deploy American offensive weapons in outer space, and the nature of that program would even preclude the Pentagon from working in tandem with its closest NATO allies.

The new White House boss intends to beef up the US military’s general purpose forces, which are tasked with operating far outside that country’s borders, in “forward-deployed” zones.  The main issues center around: the preservation of carrier strike groups; the continuation of the program to boost the potential capacity for transcontinental, strategic redeployments of armed forces and weapons with the help of the air force and navy; the increase in the number of amphibious assault ships and “green-water” ships; and the ramped up anti-submarine and anti-mine activity in remote, plausible theaters of combat, such as in Europe and its adjacent offshore zones, in the Middle East, in the northwestern Indian Ocean and around the Persian Gulf, in the Asia-Pacific region, and also in the Arctic.

This may mean that Donald Trump has no intention whatsoever of limiting himself to his country’s domestic political issues and, contrary to his promises during his marathon campaign, will not forgo attempts to “meddle in the affairs of other states.”  On the contrary, under his political and military leadership, American armed forces will continue to strengthen their hand in various parts of the globe and “demonstrate the might of US military power.”  Washington is about to preserve the extensive logistics infrastructure and footprint of its military in every strategically significant region of the world.

Earlier this month the US Navy launched a Tomahawk strike from the eastern Mediterranean against a military airfield in Syria without the sanction of either the Syrian leadership, the UN Security Council, or even its own Congress.  Besides the recently announced plan to make the newly deployed THAAD systems “operational within days”, the US navy has concentrated three aircraft carrier groups in the waters just off North Korea – clearly an excessive number.  Moreover, the Pentagon dropped a massive bomb on Afghanistan just this month.  These are all clear signs of the willingness of the White House’s new administration to flex its military might outside the American continent.

These actions revealed character traits within Donald Trump such as his resolve to act despite the constraints placed upon him by circumstances, his inconsistent decision-making that often veers away from previously stated positions, and also his unwavering narcissism.  His undue faith in the “America First” adage and in “American exceptionalism” when it comes to military matters could prove detrimental to the US.

The new president has backed down from his earlier criticisms and negative assessments of NATO.  Intent on unearthing the sizable chunk of cash he’ll need in order to update the nation’s strategic nuclear-missile forces (as much as $400 billion in the next decade), he has set his sights on reducing the US share of the transatlantic military pact’s consolidated military budget – according to Donald Trump the US shoulders as much as 80% – and he has also emphatically demanded that other NATO members lift the ceiling on their contributions to meet the target of 2% of their GDP.

The alliance’s next summit, which Donald Trump is scheduled to attend in late May in Brussels, will reaffirm NATO’s readiness to use military force at Washington’s urging, “anywhere and everywhere” outside the borders of the alliance’s member states.  The planned forum will retain its commitment to the decisions made at the bloc’s three previous summits regarding the existence and preservation of the “Chicago triad” – a quick strike force that includes nuclear, anti-ballistic, and conventional weapons, many of which will remain “forward deployed” against Russia and China.  The resulting documents from this upcoming top-level meeting, where the 45th US president will be calling the tune, will once again contain a skewed assessment of the current military and political picture, both throughout the world and regionally, and will include propaganda and defamatory clichés and multidimensional anti-Russian and anti-Chinese rhetoric.

In the three months since his inauguration, President Donald Trump has unfortunately not been able to articulate a single, coherent description of his ideas – or even a rudimentary outline of them – about how to address the vast, multifaceted problem of arms control, an issue that previous US administrations have stymied many efforts to resolve.  The new president has not evinced any clear and unambiguous interest in applying the principle of equality and equivalent security to the resolution of global problems related to the surfeit of weaponry and wide-scale military activities.  He has thus far been unable to draft a more constructive version of the Nuclear Posture Review or the Nuclear Weapons Employment Strategy – America’s key strategic military directives governing nuclear missiles.  He has thus far not even roughed out any approximation of a plan to effectively maintain global stability, nor a way to cut short the second phase of the Cold War that was artificially triggered by NATO’s leading members and spearheaded by the United States even before Donald Trump took office.  Hints made by his official and unofficial representatives in regard to the selective resolution of arms-control issues – in isolation from solutions to other problems that directly affect the world’s strategic stability – cannot be viewed as practical or constructive approaches.

Aggravating these facts of life is the deep degree of mistrust between Washington and Moscow, which the Americans spawned and have continued to nurse.  A vicious circle has emerged in the interrelationship between weapons and trust, which was described by another Republican president named Ronald Reagan: “Nations do not distrust each other because they are armed.  They arm themselves because they distrust each other.”

Clearly such an irrational phenomenon cannot go on indefinitely.

Prof. Vladimir Kozin is a member of the Russian Academy of the Military Science.

Will the U.S. leave Syria if doing so prevents a Russian fleet in Yemen? 

The question seems weird but if Russia succeeds with its negotiations in Yemen it will soon have to be asked.

A U.S. neoconservative outlet recently published an interesting but mostly unsourced bit about Yemen:

Russia is mediating negotiations for a political solution to the Yemen conflict outside of UN channels as a means to secure naval bases in Yemen. Russia is pursuing political negotiations with the UAE and former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh by beginning to discuss the future consensus Yemeni government. Saleh’s support for the Houthis is critical for the al Houthi-Saleh bloc to retain its influence across northern and central Yemen. The UAE may see this settlement as a way to halt the expansion of Iran’s influence in Yemen and to limit bearing further costs associated with the Yemeni war. Saleh previously expressed willingness to grant Russia military basing rights in Yemen. This basing would allow Russia to project power into one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes in the Red Sea and the Bab al Mandab strait, a global maritime chokepoint.

Back in August 2016 the former Yemeni president Saleh had indeed made an offer to Russia:

“In the fight against terrorism we reach out and offer all facilities. Our airports, our ports… We are ready to provide this to the Russian Federation,” Saleh said in an interview in Sanaa.

No one (but Russia?) took Saleh serious at that time. He was not, and is not, in a position to achieve control over Aden in southern Yemen nor any other relevant Yemeni port.

I also doubted the recent report. Yes, until the early 1990s the Soviet Union had bases in southern Yemen and thousands of military advisers and trainers worked in the country. But Russia currently does not have the naval resources, nor the immediate interest, to open a new base in the area. Or so I thought.

But a well-informed source in Yemen dispelled my doubts. It confirmed the report. Russia is negotiating with the UAE, the Houthi/Saleh alliance and the various southern groups in Yemen over a peace deal and has been doing so for the last six month. The deal would include Russian naval basing rights in Aden.

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The red lights must be flashing at CENTCOM, the Pentagon and the National Security Council. For the last twenty-five years the Arab Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea were largely U.S. controlled waters. That China recently opened an “anti-piracy” base in Djibouti has already led to concerns. Now the Russians are coming!!!

The Saudi war on Yemen, actively supported by the U.S., is going nowhere. The Saudis are daily losing soldiers to Yemeni incursions (vid) into south Saudi Arabia. There is no chance that Saudi supported forces will take the Houthi/Saleh controlled northern Yemen and the capital Sanaa. The United Arab Emirates has supported the Saudi war with capable forces. But the UAE only wants Aden port and its nearby oil-loading facilities for its DP World port management business. The Saudis want the ports as outlets for their oil exports away from their Persian Gulf ports that Iran could easily disable. But they also want to control all of Yemen.

The Saudis hired Al-Qaeda in Yemen to fight as their proxy force. But neither the U.S. nor the UAE agree to that ploy. UAE forces in Yemen were attacked by AQ. The U.S. fears AQ in Yemen as a potential source of international attacks. Since the beginning of the year the U.S. and UAE special forces have raided or bombed a number of Al-Qaeda concentration in Yemen. The Saudis were surprised but could hardly protest. Al-Qaeda was their last ace in the game. They have lost it.

The Saudis are pulling back from their planned invasion on Yemen’s Red Sea coast in Hodeidah. The port is currently the only one through which food aid is shipped to the besieged and starving northern areas. The UN had protested against an attack on it and the U.S. has held back support for the operation. The Houthis and Saleh will likely agree to some UN control over the port. While the Saudis allege that the port is for smuggling arms from Iran, the Houthi know well that this has not been the case.

The Saudi fear of an Iranian stronghold in Yemen is baseless. The alleged Iranian support for the Houthis never materialized. During more than two years of war no Iranian was killed, captured or even seen in Yemen. The ballistic missiles the Houthis are using against Saudi Arabia are old Soviet types including locally modified SA-2/S-75 air defense missiles. The Yemeni army had purchased and stashed many of those while Iran had never owned that type. The military supplies the Houthis use is not of Iranian origin but taken from Saudi deliveries to its proxy fighters in Yemen. The Houthi simply capture or buy from them whatever they need.

There were recent protests in Aden against the U.S./Saudi puppet president of Yemen, Hadi. He had resided there for a few weeks but had to flee back to his luxury hotel suite in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. While Hadi is officially in control and responsible for Aden no government wages have been paid, utilities are out and various gangs control and fight each other over parts of the city. Party headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood aligned Islah party, which supports Hadi, have been burned down.

The UAE has had enough of it:

The Emiratis are beginning to tire of their bickering wards. Officials who hoped that Aden would be a model for the rest of Yemen now fear that leaving the south on autopilot might only condemn the country to instability. And that might engulf the whole Arabian peninsula. Thousands of fighters they have trained have gone AWOL (after collecting their pay). Motivating recruits to push north is an uphill task even with the payment of bonuses. Those who were happy to fight for their own homes seem unenthused about fighting for somebody else’s.

If the Saleh/Houthi alliance can make peace with the southern movements that so far supported Hadi, the war can be ended within a few month. Russia can moderate the negotiations and provide, to some degree, guarantees. Unlike the U.S. it is seen as neutral and sober by all sides of the conflict. The UAE and the Saudis will have to pay up for the carnage they caused. The UAE would probably get commercial Aden port rights for its DP World business. The Saudis would only get some peace within their borders. But by now the Saudis are likely to agree to such a deal – if only to keep face while ending that calamitous adventure in Yemen.

As for the naval port and Russian basing rights – these are excellent bargains in negotiations with the U.S. over Syria. If the U.S. insists on controlling eastern Syria the Russians can send some submarines, a destroyer and other combatants to Aden and install some very capable air and sea defenses to keep their ships and the harbor safe.

If the U.S. agrees to leave Syria alone then a small rusty Russian corvette in Aden, without air defenses, would probably do. The Pentagon and the White House would have a choice to make: keep primacy in the seas of the area or have the constant menace of a nearby Russian “fleet in being” on their back. Is a troublesome occupation of east-Syria really worth that hassle?

«L’Italia partecipa a testa alta all’Alleanza Atlantica, nella quale è il quinto maggiore contributore, e conferma l’obiettivo di raggiungere il 2 per cento del Pil nelle spese militari»: lo ha dichiarato il presidente del consiglio Gentiloni, ricevendo il 27 aprile a Roma il segretario generale della Nato Stoltenberg. Ha così ripetuto quanto già detto al presidente Usa Trump, ossia di essere «fiero del contributo finanziario dell’Italia alla sicurezza dell’Alleanza», garantendo che, «nonostante certi limiti di bilancio, l’Italia rispetterà l’impegno assunto».

I dati sulla spesa militare mondiale, appena pubblicati dal Sipri, confermano che Gentiloni ha ragione ad andare fiero e a testa alta: la spesa militare dell’Italia, all’11° posto mondiale, è salita a 27,9 miliardi di dollari nel 2016. Calcolata in euro, corrisponde a una spesa media giornaliera di circa 70 milioni (cui si aggiungono altre voci, tra cui le missioni militari all’estero, extra budget della Difesa).

Sotto pressione Usa, la Nato vuole però che l’Italia arrivi a spendere per il militare il 2% del Pil, ossia circa 100 miloni di euro al giorno. Su questo, Trump è stato duramente esplicito: ricevendo Gentiloni alla Casa Bianca, riferisce lui stesso in una intervista alla Associated Press, gli ha detto «Andiamo, devi pagare, devi pagare…». E, nell’intervista, Trump si dice sicuro: «Pagherà». Non è però Gentiloni a pagare, ma la stragrande maggioranza degli italiani, direttamente e indirettamente attraverso il taglio delle spese sociali.

C’è però, evidentemente, chi ci guadagna. Nel 2016,  l’export italiano di armamenti è aumentato di oltre l’85% rispetto al 2015, salendo a 14,6 miliardi di euro. Un vero e proprio boom, dovuto in particolare alla vendita di 28 cacciabombardieri Eurofighter al Kuwait, che diviene primo importatore di armi italiane. Un maxi-contrattto da 8 miliardi di euro, merito della ministra Pinotti, efficiente piazzista di armi (v. il manifesto, 23 febbraio 2016). La più grande commessa mai ottenuta da Finmeccanica, nelle cui casse entra la metà degli 8 miliardi. Garantita con un finanziamento di 4 miliardi da un pool di banche, tra cui UniCredit e Intesa Sanpaolo, e dalla Sace del gruppo Cassa depositi e prestiti.

Si accelera così la riconversione armata di Finmeccanica, con risultati esaltanti per i grossi azionisti: nella classifica delle 100 maggiori industrie belliche mondiali, redatta dal Sipri, Finmeccanica si colloca nel 2015 al 9° posto mondiale con una vendita di armi del valore di 9,3 miliardi di dollari, equivalente ai due terzi del suo fatturato complessivo.

L’azienda accresce fatturato e profitti puntando su industrie come la Oto Melara, produttrice di sistemi d’arma terrestri e navali (tra cui il veicolo blindato Centauro, con potenza di fuoco di un carrarmato, e cannoni con munizioni guidate Vulcano venduti a più di 55 marine nel mondo); la Wass, leader mondiale nella produzione di siluri (tra cui il Black Shark a lunga gittata); la Mbda, leader mondiale nella produzione di missili (tra cui quello anti-nave Marte e quello aria-aria Meteor); l’Alenia Aermacchi che, oltre a produrre aerei da guerra (come il caccia da addestramento avanzato M-346 fornito a Israele), gestisce l’impianto Faco di Cameri scelto dal Pentagono quale polo dei caccia F-35 schierati in Europa.

Poco importa che Finmeccanica – in barba al «Trattato sul commercio di armamenti» che proibisce di fornire armi utilizzabili contro civili  – fornisca armi a paesi come il Kuwait e l’Arabia Saudita, che stanno facendo strage di civili nello Yemen. Come stabilisce il «Libro Bianco per la sicurezza internazionale e la difesa» a firma della ministra Pinotti, convertito in disegno di legge, è essenziale che l’industria militare sia «pilastro del Sistema Paese», poiché «contribuisce, attraverso le esportazioni, al riequilibrio della bilancia commerciale e alla promozione di prodotti dell’industria nazionale in settori ad alta remunerazione», creando «posti di lavoro qualificati».

Poco importa che si spendano per il militare, con denaro pubblico, oltre 70 milioni di euro al giorno, in continuo aumento. Essenziale, stabilisce il «Libro Bianco», è che l’Italia sia militarmente in grado di tutelare, ovunque sia necessario, «gli interessi vitali del Paese». Più precisamente, gli interessi vitali di chi si arricchisce con la guerra.

Manlio Dinucci

On Friday, Trump called his first 100 days “the most successful in our country’s history.” Arguably, they’re the worst.

Truth-telling isn’t his long suit. He’s best known for bluster, bombast, demagoguery, and turning truth on its head, along with breaking every positive promise made.

His first 100 days suggest more of the same. He sold out to Wall Street, war-profiteers, Big Oil, Big Pharma, insurance giants, and other corporate favorites at the expense of serving ordinary Americans equitably. He’s part of the swamp he pledged to drain.

He reneged on combating terrorism, curtailing support for NATO, curbing reckless interventionism, waging peace instead of war, improving ties with Russia, and making trade deals worker-friendly.

His Secretary of State promised forever sanctions on Moscow unless it sacrifices its sovereign Crimean territory and ceases aggression it’s not committing.

He recklessly threatened North Korea and Iran, risking nuclear war in the East Pacific and Middle East. He one-sidedly supports Israeli ruthlessness, ignores fundamental Palestinian rights, and wants America’s embassy illegally moved to Jerusalem – an international city no other country recognizes as Israel’s capital.

He supports nuclear madness – “greatly strengthen(ing) and expand(ing) (America’s) nuclear capability” at a time its only enemies are ones it invents.

He rejects the 2010 New START Treaty with Russia, capping deployed nuclear warheads by both countries, calling it “a bad deal for the United States.”

The only way to prevent almost certain eventual nuclear war is by eliminating these devastating weapons entirely.

Since Bush/Cheney’s 2001 Nuclear Posture Review, Washington asserted the preemptive right to unilaterally declare and wage future wars, using first strike nuclear weapons – including against non-nuclear states, madness if launched.

Trump opposes a woman’s right to choose, supports repealing and replacing Obamacare with something much worse, yet to be agreed on by Republican lawmakers – while wanting tens of billions more dollars for militarism and warmaking, along with a tax cut bonanza giveaway for privileged monied interests.

He wants America’s southern border walled in from Latino immigrants, as well as unwanted Muslims from designated countries kept out.

He believes anything government can do, business does better so let it, facilitating it with deregulatory madness for maximum profit-making.

With Senate rules changed to prohibit a Democrat filibuster, invoking the so-called “nuclear option,” he got right-wing extremist Neil Gorsuch confirmed as the High Court’s newest justice.

He wants federal funding ended for sanctuary cities, protecting undocumented immigrants from mass arrests, detentions and deportations.

He continues waging war on whistleblowers exposing government wrongdoing, including wanting WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange arrested for exercising his right of free expression.

It’s unclear if he’ll impose sweeping taxes on imports from designated countries to help fund tax cuts for the rich and his Mexico border wall.

He appointed a rogue’s gallery of anti-consumer, anti-peace, anti-equity and justice administration officials – notably hawkish generals, billionaires and Wall Street figures, filling the swamp more deeply he pledged to drain.

He signed executive orders enforcing police state harshness. He imposed new illegal sanctions on Iran and Syria for fabricated reasons.

He held White House and Mar-a-Lago meetings with notorious despots. He betrayed the public trust in his first 100 days.

FDR’s comparable period was polar opposite. His New Deal didn’t end the Great Depression, but gave people most in need hope.

Landmark laws were enacted, including the Bank Act of 1933 – Glass-Steagall, insuring deposits up to $5,000 and separating commercial from investment banks and insurance companies, among other provisions to curb speculation.

The Homeowners Refinancing Act stopped most foreclosures, preventing the loss of over a million homes.

The Emergency Conservation Work Act put unemployed people to work building roads, bridges, dams, state parks and various other projects. It was Roosevelt’s favorite initiative, unaddressed today at a time of rampant unemployment, suppressed by phony government reports.

The Civil Works Administration, Works Progress Administration and Public Works Administration created millions of full and part-time jobs.

Roosevelt called the National Recovery Administration “the most important and far-reaching (measure) ever” established in America – an initiative to revive economic growth, encourage collective bargaining, set maximum work hours, minimum wages, at times prices, and forbid child labor in industry.

The Tennessee Valley Authority provided navigation, flood control, electricity generation, economic development, and promoted agriculture in the depression-impacted Tennessee Valley area, covering most of Tennessee as well as parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia.

The Agricultural Adjustment Act restricted production by paying farmers to reduce or destroy crops and livestock – a plan to raise prices at the worst time, when people were impoverished and hungry.

The Farm Credit Act let farmers refinance mortgages over an extended period at below-market rates. The Emergency Farm Mortgage Act provided refinancing for farmers facing foreclosure.

Despite its flaws and failures, New Deal measures helped millions of desperate Americans in need. Post-100 days included the Wagner Act, letting labor bargain collectively on equal terms with management for the first time.

The Social Security Act to this day remains the most important federal program helping retirees and other eligible recipients financially.

Other social legislation throughout the decade helped millions of Americans in need – polar opposite bipartisan anti-populist policies today.

Militarism, corporate favoritism and the greatest ever wealth transfer from most people to its privileged few reflects how America is now run.

Trump continues dirty business as usual, serving wealth, power and privilege exclusively at the expense of most others – while waging endless war on humanity at home and abroad.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected].

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

President Bashar al-Assad affirmed that the objective of the American and western allegations about chemical weapons is to support terrorists in Syria.

President al-Assad added in an interview given to Venezuelan Telesur TV that the solution in Syria should be through stopping outside support to the terrorists and reconciliation among the Syrians.

Following is the full text of the interview.

Journalist: Mr. President, thank you for receiving us.

President Assad: I welcome you and teleSUR TV in Syria. You are welcome.

Question 1: Let’s start directly with the latest developments. Russia has warned that there might be other alleged chemical attacks. What are the precautionary measures that Syria has taken in order to prevent that?

President Assad: First of all, terrorists have used chemical materials more than once in the past several years and in more than one region throughout Syria. We have asked the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to send specialized missions to investigate what happened. And every time, the United States obstructed these investigations or prevented sending such missions in order to carry out such investigations. This is what happened last week when we called for investigations over the alleged use of chemical weapons in the town of Khan Sheikhoun. The United States and its allies prevented OPCW from taking that decision. As far as we are concerned, we still insist on an investigation, and we and our Russian and Iranian allies are trying to persuade OPCW to send a team to investigate what happened, because if it doesn’t, the United States might repeat the same charade by fabricating the use of false chemical weapons in another place in Syria in order to justify military intervention in support of the terrorists. On the other hand, we continue to fight the terrorists, because we know that the objective of all these American and Western allegations concerning chemical weapons is to support terrorists in Syria. That’s why we will continue to fight these terrorists.

Question 2: But the Pentagon says that Syria has chemical weapons. Is it true that Syria has kept one percent of the weapons it has committed itself to hand over and destroy four years ago?

President Assad: You and I remember well what happened in 2003, when Colin Powell showed the world in the United Nations what he claimed to be the evidence which proves that President Saddam Hussein possessed chemical, nuclear, and other weapons. However, when the American forces invaded Iraq, it was proven that all he said was a lie. Powell himself admitted that the American intelligence agencies deceived him with that false evidence. That wasn’t the first nor will it be the last time. This means that if you want to be a politician in the United States, you have to be a genuine liar. This is what characterizes American politicians: they lie on a daily basis, and say something and do something different. That’s why we shouldn’t believe what the Pentagon, or any other American institution says,  because they say things which serve their policies, not things which reflect reality and the facts on the ground.

Question 3: What is the objective behind Syria’s desire to acquire the latest generation of anti-missile systems from Russia?

President Assad: We are already in a state of war with Israel; and Israel has been committing aggressions on the Arab states surrounding it since its creation in 1948. So, it’s natural that we should have such systems. However, the terrorists, acting on Israeli, American, Turkish, Qatari, and Saudi instructions have destroyed some of these systems. And it is natural for us to negotiate with the Russians now with a view to strengthening these systems, whether to face any Israeli threats from the air or the threats of American missiles. That has become a real possibility after the recent American aggression on al-Shairat airbase in Syria.

Question 4: What is the role that Israel, in particular, has played in this war against Syria? We know that Israeli attacks against the positions of the Syrian Arab Army have continued in recent weeks.

President Assad: It is playing this role in different forms; first, by direct aggression, particularly by using warplanes, artillery, or missiles against Syrian Army positions. Second, it is supporting terrorists in two ways: first by providing direct support in the form of weapons, and second by providing logistic support, i.e. allowing them to conduct military exercises in the areas it controls. It also provides them with medical assistance in its hospitals. These are not mere claims or assumptions. They are facts, verified and published on the internet which you can easily access as proven evidence of the Israeli role in support of the terrorists in Syria.

Question 5: How do you assess the current policy of Donald Trump in the world, and in Syria in particular?

President Assad: The American President has no policies. There are policies drawn by the American institutions which control the American regime which are the intelligence agencies, the Pentagon, the big arms and oil companies, and financial institutions, in addition to some other lobbies which influence American decision-making. The American President merely implements these policies, and the evidence is that when Trump tried to move on a different track, during and after his election campaign, he couldn’t. He came under a ferocious attack. As we have seen in the past few week, he changed his rhetoric completely and subjected himself to the terms of the deep American state, or the deep American regime. That’s why it is unrealistic and a complete waste of time to make an assessment of the American President’s foreign policy, for he might say something; but he ultimately does what these institutions dictate to him. This is not new. This has been ongoing American policy for decades.

Question 6: The American administration has opened a new front now with North Korea. Is it possible that this will affect the current American approach towards Syria?

President Assad: No, the United States always seeks to control all the states of the world without exception. It does not accept allies, regardless of whether they are developed states as those in the Western bloc, or other states of the world. Every state should be an American satellite. That is why what is happening to Syria, to Korea, to Iran, to Russia, and maybe to Venezuela now, aims at re-imposing American hegemony on the world, because they believe that this hegemony is under threat now, which consequently threatens the interests of American economic and political elites.

Question 7: Russia’s role in the Syrian conflict is very clear; but what is the role of China, this other great global power?

President Assad: There is great cooperation with Russia and China in terms of political action or political positions. Viewpoints are similar, and there is cooperation in the Security Council. As you know, the United States and its allies have tried several times to use the Security Council in order to legitimize the role of the terrorists in Syria and to legitimize their role in the illegitimate and aggressive intervention in Syria. That’s why Russia and China stood together, and China’s role, with the Russian role, was essential in this regard.

Moreover, some of the terrorists are Chinese nationals who came to Syria through Turkey. They pose a threat to us in Syria, but they pose an equal threat to China. China is aware of the fact that terrorism in any place in the world moves to any other place; and consequently, whether these terrorists are of Chinese or any other nationality, they might return to China and strike there as they have done in Europe, in Russia, and in Syria. We are now cooperating with China on security issues.

Question 8: Western and American media talk now about moderate terrorists and extremist terrorists. In reality, is there a difference between the two groups?

President Assad: For them, a moderate terrorist is that who carries out acts of beheading and slaughter but without carrying al-Qaeda flag, or without saying “Allah Akbar,” while an extremist terrorist is that who carries the flag and says Allah Akbar when carrying out acts of beheading and slaughter. This is the only difference. For the United States, all those who serve its political agenda against other states are classified as moderate opposition and not as extremist and terrorist, even if they commit the worst acts of terrorism. They are freedom fighters and not fighters in the cause of destruction and sabotage.

Question 9: There have been six years of war in Syria. What is Syria’s position now, particularly in the absence of statistics about human losses?

President Assad: The most painful loss in any war is human loss, the suffering which is inflicted any family when it loses one of its members; for the whole family is scarred for life. This is the natural feeling in a region like ours, where family ties are very strong. Nothing compensates that loss, and nothing exceeds the pain it causes. There are of course huge economic and infrastructure losses, but this infrastructure has been built for a little over 50 years by Syrian hands, not foreign hands. And we have the capacity to rebuild this infrastructure. The same goes for the economy, for the Syrian economy is based on Syrian capabilities first and foremost; and our economic ties with the West have always been limited. When the war is over, it will all be rebuilt. We do not have a problem with that. It is true that it takes time, but it is not impossible. So, the greatest and most painful loss for Syria is the human loss.

Question 10: Of the 86 states constituting the alliance waging war on Syria, are there any that would take part in the process of reconstruction?

President Assad: No, of course not. First of all, they do not want to rebuild Syria, but some companies in those countries, if they see that the wheel of the economy and rebuilding has started to turn, and since they are opportunists, they are certainly prepared to come and have a share of rebuilding Syria in order to make money. The Syrian people will certainly not accept this. All the states which stood against the Syrian people and took part in the destruction and sabotage will never take part in rebuilding Syria. That is final.

Question 11: But how was life during these past six years in this besieged country?

President Assad: Life has certainly been tough to every Syrian citizen. The terrorists have destroyed the infrastructure. In certain areas, electricity is on for one or two hours, and there are areas in which there’s no electricity at all. There are areas in which electricity has been cut off for more than two or three years. People don’t know television, children do not go to school, there are no medical clinics or hospitals, and nobody treats the ill. They live a prehistoric existence thanks to the terrorists. There are areas which did not have water for years, like what happened in Aleppo, which did not have water for many long years. Sometimes, they use polluted water for drinking, washing up, and other purposes. Life has been very tough.

Question 12: One of the main targets during these years has been the person of Bashar al-Assad. Have you ever felt fear during these years?

President Assad: When you are in the middle of the war, you do not feel fear. I believe this is something common to all people. But you have a general concern for the homeland; for what is the value of being safe, as an individual, as a citizen, while the country is under threat? You cannot feel safe. I believe that the feeling we have in Syria in general is concern for the future of Syria rather than personal fear. The evidence is that mortar shells fall anywhere, on any house; nevertheless, you see that life continues in Syria. The will to life is much stronger than personal fear. As a President, I take strength from the feelings of the general public, not from my personal feelings. I do not live in isolation from the others.

Question 13: Western media have been waging a media campaign against you. Am I sitting now with this devil portrayed by the media?

President Assad: Yes, from a Western perspective, you are now sitting with the devil. This is how they market it in the West. But this is always the case when a state, a government, or an individual do not subjugate themselves to their interests, and do not work for their interests against the interests of their people. These have been the Western colonial demands throughout history. They say that this evil person is killing the good people. Okay, if he is killing the good people, who have been supporting him for the past six years? Neither Russia, nor Iran, nor any friendly state can support an individual at the expense of the people. This is impossible. If he is killing the people, how come the people support him? This is the contradictory Western narrative; and that’s why we shouldn’t waste our time on Western narratives because they have been full of lies throughout history, and not something new.

Question 14: What can Syria, too, do in order to put an end to this war ahead of the sixth round of Geneva talks?

President Assad: We said that there are two axes: the first is fighting the terrorists; and this is not subject to any discussion, and we don’t have any other choice in dealing with the terrorists except fighting them. The other axis, the political one, includes two points: first, dialogue with the different political forces over the future of Syria; and second: local reconciliations, in the sense that we negotiate with the terrorists in a certain village or city, depending on each case separately. The objective of this reconciliation is for them to lay down their weapons and receive an amnesty from the state, and consequently return to their normal life. This approach has been implemented during the past three or four years, has succeeded, and is ongoing now. These are the axes which we can work on in order to find a solution to the Syrian crisis.

Question 15: From the perspective of a country in a state of war, how do you see the situation in Latin America, particularly in Venezuela, where a number of acts very similar to those which caused the conflict in Syria have emerged?

President Assad: Of course, they should be similar, because the party planning and implementing these acts is the same. It is the United States as a maestro and the Western states constituting the choir. Latin America in general, and Venezuela in particular, used to be the backyard of the United States for decades. Through that backyard, Western states, particularly North America, or the United States, used to secure their economic interests through the influence of the big companies in your countries. Military or political coups in Latin America during the 1960s and the 1970s aimed at perpetuating American hegemony over the interests of your people. But Latin America freed itself during the past twenty years and gained its independent decision-making. Governments started defending the interests of their peoples, which is unacceptable to the United States. That’s why they are exploiting what’s happening in the world, starting with the orange revolution in Ukraine up to the recent coup there a few years ago, and what is taking place in the Arab countries, in Libya, Syria, Yemen and others, in order to implement it in Latin America. They started in Venezuela with the objective of overthrowing the national government, and it will spread over to other Latin American countries.

Question 16: Some people, particularly ordinary citizens in Latin America, think that a scenario similar to what’s happening in Syria could be repeated in Latin America. What do you think?

President Assad: This is true. That’s why I say since the party planning and implementing is the same, it’s natural that the scenario is not only similar, but identical. Some local elements might be different. In Syria, they said in the beginning that there were peaceful demonstrations, but in fact, when these peaceful demonstrations did not spread wide enough, they implanted individuals who fired on both sides, on the police and the demonstrations, and there were casualties. They started to say that the state is killing the people, and this scenario is being repeated everywhere. The same scenario will be repeated in Venezuela. That’s why the Venezuelan people have to be very careful. There is a difference between opposing the government and being against the homeland, a huge difference. On the other hand, no foreign state can be more concerned about Venezuela’s interests than the Venezuelan people themselves. Do not believe the West, for it’s not concerned either about human rights or about the interests of states. It is only concerned about the interests of part of the governing elites in its countries. And these governing elites are not necessarily politicians, they are economic companies too.

Question 17: I’m talking about Latin America, Venezuela, the Bolivarian Revolution which was your strong ally. How do you remember the late Hugo Chavez?

President Assad: President Chavez was a world-class distinguished personality. When we talk about Latin America, we immediately remember the late President Chavez and the late leader Fidel Castro, the leader of the Cuban Revolution. They are distinguished personalities who changed the face of Latin America. But of course the leader I knew personally and whom I met more than once and had a personal relationship with was President Chavez, when he visited us in Syria and I visited him in Venezuela. He visited us twice. When you meet him, you can tell that he is the son of the people. You do not feel that you are meeting a president or a politician, but a person who lived the suffering of his people. Everything he said, and every minute of his time, was about the details related to the people of his country. And when he talked with a head of another state, or an official from another state, he always thought of how to create common interests which reflect positively on his people. He was a real and strongly charismatic leader. And he was an extremely genuine person.

Question 18: They demonized Chavez before; and it is clear that it is Nicolas Maduro’s turn now.

President Assad: Of course, as long as President Maduro is walking the same patriotic line, the line of Venezuela’s independence, and acting in the best interest of his country’s people, it is natural that he should be the first target of the United States. This is self-evident.

Question 19: How does Bashar al-Assad envision the end of the war?

President Assad: Today, foreign intervention in Syria aside, the problem is not complicated, for the majority of the Syrians are tired of the war and want a solution. They want to return to safety and stability. There is a dialogue between us as Syrians, there are meetings, and people live with each other, i.e. there is no real barrier. The problem now is that with every step we make towards a solution and regaining stability, the terrorist gangs receive more money and weapons in order to blow the situation up. That’s why I can say that the solution should be stopping outside support to the terrorists. As far as we are concerned in Syria, reconciliation among all Syrians, and forgetting and forgiving all that happened in the past throughout this war, is the way to restore safety to Syria. Rest assured that Syria will be then much stronger than it was before the war.

Question 20: Are you prepared to have reconciliation with those who carried arms against the Syrian people?

President Assad: Of course, and this has actually happened in many and different places, and some of them have fought side by side with the Syrian Army, some fell martyrs, and some returned to their cities and live in the part under government control. We don’t have a problem. Tolerance is essential to end any war. And we are proceeding on that track.

Question 21: Mr. President, what is your message to Latin America and the world?

President Assad: Keep your independence. We, in the Arab region, are celebrating independence in more than one country. But this independence used to mean, in a number of countries in the region, the mere evacuation of occupying forces. But real independence happens when you are in possession of your national decision-making. For us, Latin America was a model of independence, in the sense that occupiers were evacuated, in case there were foreign forces, but at the same time there was national decision-making, openness, and democracy. You provided the world with an important model. So, keep it, because if the countries of the third and developing world wanted to develop, they should follow the model implemented in Latin America.

Journalist: Mr. President, thank you for giving teleSUR this interview, and thank you for your precious time and all the information that you have provided.

President Assad: Thank you for coming, and once again I welcome you in Damascus.

America favors bullying over responsible diplomatic outreach. 

Addressing Security Council members on Friday, Secretary of State Tillerson turned truth on its head, claiming years of US “well-intentioned diplomatic efforts to halt (North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile) programs have failed.” 

“It is only by first dismantling them that there can be peace, stability, and economic prosperity for all of Northeast Asia.”

“With each successive detonation and missile test, North Korea pushes Northeast Asia and the world closer to instability and broader conflict.”

“The threat of a North Korean nuclear attack on Seoul, or Tokyo, is real. And it is likely only a matter of time before North Korea develops the capability to strike the US mainland.”

Fact: Washington never negotiated in good faith with North Korea since the Truman era.

Fact: America’s rage for dominance through endless wars and color revolutions threatens all sovereign independent countries.

Fact: North Korea sought nuclear and ballistic missile deterrence capabilities for defense to protect against possible US aggression.

Fact: No preemptive DPRK threat exists against any country – not America or any regional ones. Tillerson lied claiming otherwise.

Tillerson:

“(F)or years,” Pyongyang “defie(d) multiple UN Security Council resolutions…(T)here is no reason to think (it) will change its behavior…”

Fact: “For years,” Washington rebuffed North Korea’s diplomatic outreach. Instead of extending recognition and welcoming it into the world community of nations, reckless US hostility persists.

Tillerson: “

For too long, the international community has been reactive in addressing North Korea. Those days must come to an end.”

“Failing to act now on the most pressing security issue in the world may bring catastrophic consequences.”

‘We have said this before and it bears repeating: the policy of strategic patience is over. Additional patience will only mean acceptance of a nuclear North Korea.”

Fact: America’s rage for wars and dominance is “the most pressing security issue in the world,” threatening “catastrophic consequences.”

Fact: North Korea wants nukes for defense, not offense.

Tillerson:

“(T)he time has come for all of us to put pressure on North Korea to abandon its dangerous path.”

Fact: It’s time for the world community to renounce America’s war on humanity, threatening its survival.

Tillerson urged increased diplomatic and economic pressure on Pyongyang over responsible outreach.

Claiming America’s goal “is not regime change” is a bald-faced lie. So is saying US policy isn’t to “threaten North Korean people or destabilize the Asia Pacific region.

Millions of casualties, vast destruction, chaos and human misery attest to US ruthlessness. Its imperial madness threatens everyone.

As long as it exists, North Korea and other independent nations would be foolhardy to abandon whatever military deterrent they’re able to develop for self-defense. Otherwise they’re vulnerable to rape and destruction.

Tillerson’s solution is polar opposite what’s needed, wanting North Korea punished more than already – including political, economic and financial isolation, tougher sanctions, and other counterproductive measures.

He threatened war, saying “all options for responding to future provocations must remain on the table.”

Bullying won’t get Pyongyang to bend to Washington’s will. As long as it continues, catastrophic US-instigated nuclear war is possible.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected]. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

“All options for responding to future provocation must remain on the table.  Diplomatic and financial levers of power will be backed up by a willingness to counteract North Korean aggression if necessary.” –Rex Tillerson, Apr 28, 2017

The theatre unfolding in various international forums regarding North Korea is garnering top prices for front seats. The press corps await the next announcement by the Trump administration on what it will do to the regime in Pyongyang.

Prompt, merciless incineration?

Tactical strike applied with a surgeon’s precision?

All options, we are told with weekly and increasing urgency, are on the table.

The game being played by the DPRK’s Kim Jong-un is one of luring the unpredictable beast out of his lair, notably given the recent statements by US Vice President Mike Pence that the era of “strategic patience” was over.

The individual who is behaving erratically here is less the cruel plump man in a boiler suit than US President Donald Trump, who is forging a fictional time line of good conduct his North Korean counterpart has no interest in following. A good argument can be made that the ploy by the DPRK is an effort to bring stability of sorts to the international system, rendering the unpredictable more evenly predictable.

The confusion here has become a constant feature of the Trump administration, and also risks pushing the DPRK into a corner of crumbling desperation. To Reuters, Trump was playing up the delightfully dangerous prospect of war with the regime.

“There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict in North Korea. Absolutely.” All prime time television stuff.

On April 28, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged members of the UN Security Council to inflict “painful” measures on Pyongyang.

“Failing to act now on the most pressing security issue in the world may bring catastrophic consequences.”

Tillerson gives the impression that existential annihilation is around the corner if nothing is done, begging the question about who is the agent behind initiating that move. Given the US record on regime change and regional destabilisation, that question is already well and truly answered, though the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was attempting to pour oil on the waters with suggestions that the crisis was no single entity’s fault.

“The more we bide our time,” warned a sombre Tillerson in tones of biblical concern, “the sooner we will run out of it.”[1]

The smoke signals from the White House remain confused, a mixture of belligerence and doom, coupled with a desire to have talks about the North Korean nuclear program, with Pyongyang, if necessary. This entire orientation is proving confusing to other members of the UN Security Council trying to pin down the agenda.

To that end, Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, makes an important point:

“If Trump and his team insist on a North Korean commitment to ‘de-nuclearization’ before talks can begin, other members of [the] council will see the US call for ‘engagement’ as unserious and will not support new… sanctions.”[2]

Time is going nowhere, nor is Pyongyang’s surge towards security in the face of a country that refuses to reassure it. As this takes place, countries with nuclear arsenals persist in modernising, rather than eliminating them. Other theatres of potential nuclear conflict – India and Pakistan, for instance – pose potentially a graver threat with the lowering of threshold deployments by the latter.

North Korea, by way of contrast, is treated as a supreme villain with powers of global reach, however contingent these might be. It is treated, as Robert Wood, US ambassador to the UN Committee on Disarmament does, as the single greatest threat to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, when numerous other candidates might well step up to that plate. Take, for instance, India, Pakistan and Israel, all states with nuclear arsenals, none of whom cared to join the NPT party.

The recent test failings in the ballistic missile program are treated as confirmations that the DPRK is getting closer to its aim. In the words of US Pacific Commander Admiral Harry Harris,

“Just as Thomas Edison is believed to have failed 1,000 times before successfully inventing the light bulb, so, too, Kim Jong-un will keep trying.”[3] (Bullies always like boosting the fighting credentials of their victims.)

Yet again, the empire warns of dangers unseen, uncalculated, and unknown, hoping that a pretext for attack might be made out. It is the same empire that deploys, along with Russia, more than 1,500 strategic warheads capable of being delivered on bombers and missiles across the globe.

Most of all, the various ballistic missile tests are timed to aggravating perfection, raising The Donald’s hair while driving Tillerson to distraction. But the true, playground bully here remains as it has always been: the United States, self-appointed global policeman and misguided guardian.

Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge.  He lectures at RMITUniversity, Melbourne.  Email: [email protected]

Since early Friday morning, more than 35 million people in Brazil have been taking part in one of biggest general strikes in the country’s history against President Michel Temer’s neoliberal economic reforms, bringing the country to a standstill. 

The strike was largely organized by Unified Workers Central, or CUT, the largest union federation in Latin America, and the Workers Party of Brazil, former President Dilma Rousseff’s political party.

Below we bring you a sum up in pictures of the mobilizations in Brazil against President Temer (Courtesy of the New Dawn).

 

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All the Photos belong to Brasil de Fato and TeleSur, except when specified.

Amid record levels of unemployment and a terribly unpopular government, unions and citizens from all walks of life are taking part in one of Brazil’s biggest ever strikes. 

What are the events that led to the first direct military attack against the Syrian govenrment by the USA? We are told that “on the morning of the 4th of April, in the Khan Shaykhun region, the Syrian airforce bombarded civilians with chemical weapons.”

Video montage 

This was the accusation put forward by the jihadists who control the region. They presented a video, a product of malicious editing, with somebody presented as a volunteer doctor, who was later identified as a criminal known to the British justice for his involvement in terrorism and abductions.

In the video that appeared on the Internet (where else?), there appear tens of victims of the supposed attack with chemical weapons. The main protagonists were little children, even babies, supposedly the main victims of this attack by the Assad regime. There has been no other confirmation of this incident or of these accusations whatsoever.

Nevertheless, the western media of mass misinformation went wild against Assad to a degree that they really exceeded all extremes. A characteristic example is the front page of the next day (5th of April) of the French Libération, where they presented a collage with dead underage children as victims of Assad. When the obvious question was put to the director of this leftist and supposedly progressive newspaper as to how she knew that it was really Assad who murdered these children, and by using chemicals, she replied that she considered this fact to be more or less a given and that, consequently, the objective of the front page was to enrage people, and to turn them against the regime that stubbornly denies having committed such an atrocious crime.

Of course if newspapers like Libération worked in a civilised state that respected its citizens, justice would immediately have intervened, at least for deliberate instigation of hate and provocation of war. But even today, France is under a modern Dark Age dictatorship, where Big Brother slogans dominate:  Truth is lies. War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength!

The decision for the attack

The next day, the 6th of April, Reuters broadcasted that the results of an autopsy confirmed that chemical weapons were actually used at the attack. Where did the autopsy take place? In Turkey. What’s more, the results of the autopsy showed that chemical weapons were used in the attack – that killed at least seventy people in the region of Idlib in Syria – according to announcements of the Turkish Minister of Justice, Bekir Bozdağ. Thirty two victims of the Tuesday attack were supposed to have been transported to Turkey, where the autopsy also took place.

But even if there really was an autopsy proving that the dead were victims of a chemical attack, how is it inferred (or deduced) that the Syrian Airforce is responsible for this attack? Certainly not due to the autopsy of the victims. In order to find those accountable for the attack with chemicals, an autopsy of the spot where the attack took place is required, and this has not happened so far. But this is just small letters and useless details for the stupid journalists and their bosses. These announcements (through the video) were sufficient for the president of the USA, Donald Trump, to directly accuse the government of Syria and Bashar al-Assad personally, of crossing the ‘red line’ with the poison gas attack against non-combatants, and he announced that his handling of the case of Syria and Assad had changed. Since then, the road has been wide open for the first military strike against the official government of Syria.

Using 59 tomahawks…

The next day, 7th of April, at 3:40 early in the morning (local time), the attack against Syria began, with fifty nine Tomahawk missiles, launched from the guided missile cruiser USS Ross (DDG 71) and USS Porter (DDG 78), class Arleigh Burke, that were located in the Mediterranean. The target was the Shayrat airbase of the Syrian air force, which was according to the USA announcements, the one that launched the attack with the chemical weapons. Once more there no evidence was presented.

At this airbase, which was not in the first line of the military operations of the Syrian airforce and the Russians, targets were hit, including mainly the two runways as well as the hangars housing airplanes of the Syrian air force that had been grounded for a long period. According to the Syrian government, there were fourteen dead, half of them civilians.

However, the damage to the airport was not significant, since twelve hours later it was again ready to operate. Videos taken the day after show that the runways were operational. Even the images that the Pentagon released of the attack on Sheyrat airport do not show extensive damage, which would be expected after an attack with fifty nine Tomahawks.

The Pentagon insists that all the Tomahawk missiles found their target. However, this is refuted not only by the images that the Pentagon itself released, but also by the announcements of the Russian Ministry of Defence that only twenty three Tomahawks found their target. What happened to the rest? They certainly did not hit other targets: neither the Pentagon claims such a thing, and nor have the Syrian authorities shown any craters created by Tomahawks, apart from those at the airport.

The GS Guterres expresses his concern…

The same day on which the USA launched the attack against Syria, the UN Security Council delayed a vote for a resolution regarding the incident with chemicals in Syria. Three competing plans for a resolution were submitted to the Security Council. The joint resolution put forward by the United Kingdom, the USA and France asked the Syrian authorities to provide the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) with all the information regarding the flights of their military air force that took place on the day of the incident, and to allow free access to their military establishments around the specific region where the attack took place.

It is worth noticing that the plan of the three does not mention any specific military establishment, despite the fact that the USA announced that they have some precise information that the attack with chemicals was launched from the Shayrat airport, the one that they hit with their Tomahawks. And of course it does not ask for the obvious: to extend the investigation in order to confirm the incident in the area that was hit with the chemicals. Why is that?

The plan that Russia proposed asks exactly for this extension. It asked for a complete investigation into the incident to be conducted by UN and OPCW specialists, first and foremost in the area that is claimed to have been hit by chemicals, and it asks for all the participants in the conflict to cooperate. The third plan was proposed by the non-permanent members of the UN Security Council in an attempt to reach a compromise between the differences of the two other plans.

Unprecedented unilateral action by the USA 

In this way, Trump made a unilateral decision to hit Syria without any trace of evidence that the Assad government was responsible for the supposed attack with chemical weapons in the Idlib region. Even more, he took this decision without any kind of international justification from the UN Security Council, not even a resolution with misleading terms, as in the case of Gaddafi’s Libya.

Trump invoked as an excuse for the missile attack on Syria the “vital national security and foreign policy interests of the USA,” as he characteristically mentioned in the letter he sent to inform the Congress on the 8th of April. And in order to present himself as legitimate he invoked the authority to start military action based on a common resolution of the Congress and the War Powers Resolution (Public Law 93-148 of 1973), even though this resolution only authorises the president of USA to start military action after an official declaration of war, or in the case of a direct military threat against the integrity of the USA.

It is the first time since George Bush – and his ‘coalition of the willing’ – who declared the Third World War, that a president of the USA goes ahead with a military action against a sovereign state in such a shameless manner and lacking any shred of even a pretext of legality, even invoking the ‘vital interests’ of his country, when there is not even a virtual threat against the USA. This has not been officially heard on the international scene since the Hitler era, who entered into the Second World War in order to defend the ‘vital interests’ of his country.

Mrs. Hina Shamsi, director of the powerful and quite regime-oriented American Civil Liberties Union, wrote regarding the legality of the attack on Syria:

Nobody questions that the use of chemical weapons by Bashar al-Assad against Syrian citizens is illegal, immoral and unacceptable. But Assad’s lawfulness is not an excuse for an unlawful reply. By ignoring not only the constitutional law disapproving of using violence without the congress’s approval but also the international law which does not allow the unilateral use of violence except in case of self defence, president Trump has started a unilateral attack against a state that did not attack us, and without any congressional permission. This violates some of the most significant legal restrictions on the use of violence. (Speak Freely, American Civil Liberties Union, April 9, 2017).

The first target of the attack

Well, that’s the first real target of the missile attack in Syria; to enable the president of the USA to get rid of every strict legal restriction deriving from both the Constitution and international law, in terms of provoking and conducting war according to how he himself estimates the vital interests of his country. And this is unprecedented, even for an American president.

Before Trump, nobody else had dared to do so. They always looked for a legal pretext of a supposed ‘national emergency’ for the USA, or at least some kind of international backing from the Security Council. No need for alibis and feelings of shame any more.

Whoever is arbitrarily considered by the president as a threat to the ‘vital interests’ of the USA may be hit by a military attack. Without even needing to apply the typical procedures that are required by the USA constitution, nor even more the procedures required by international law. This is about the imperial right to declare and conduct war, solely on the emperor’s judgement. And this makes the world more dangerous than ever.

In other eras there would be many people rising and demanding the resignation of the president, because he had committed what no post-war president dared to commit. There would be organisations of civil and political rights, judges, senators and members of parliament rising up. But now they are all dead silent. But there are none of the famous system of checks and balances of the so called American democracy, supposed to exist in order to limit this kind of presidential behaviour.

No measures have been taken against a president whom, not long ago, almost everybody had risen against and of whom they were demanding that he step down for forbidding the entrance to the USA of citizens from certain states. The most arbitrary bombardment of a state was needed in order for everybody to calm down, make peace with Trump and recognise his imperial right to make war. And in this way they prepare the ground in order to prove that Trump is the most dangerous president of the USA for international peace.

The second target of the attack

The second real target was Syria itself. In Syria the Assad armed forces, with the contribution of Russia, Iran and Hezbollah but also the Kurds, have in essence predominated against the mercenaries of the ‘armed opposition’ and the jihadists. And this predominating was the first big defeat of the policy of involvement against sovereign states and breaking them up, that Washington and Brussels have followed since the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early Nineties.

This fact put the legitimate Assad government and the coalition of the political forces that support it, back as the leading factor of the future developments in post war Syria. Assad’s predominance was such, that the return of refugees from neighbouring countries was already on its way.

It is characteristic that the financial market sharks, masking themselves as capital donors, had already started discussions with the Assad government for the fast rebuilding of Syria. Only two days before Trump’s attack on Syria, it became known that donors from all around the world had promised 5.5 billion euros in financial aid for Syria, with Germany declaring that Europe should be ashamed that it does not do more, given the efforts by the Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey (EUObserver, April 5, 2017).

The vultures smelled the burned flesh, an unprecedented destruction amounting to close on 70% of Syrian infrastructure, and in addition 13.5 million refugees, according to the UN, who have to return to their homeland. This is the time of incredible profits for the building industry.

But this cannot happen with Assad at the steering wheel, and with a sovereign, intact and undivided Syria. This is what neither the USA nor Europe are able to accept. Syria must be broken up by whatever means, and Assad can at most remain ruler only of Damascus and its surroundings. But the breaking up operation could any more materialise with the mercenary jihadists from the USA, Europe and Turkey. The USA military forces had to take action. On Syrian soil.

The military intervention of the USA in Syria

The pretext is there. It is the war against Al-Qaeda and the Caliphate. Using the war for the retaking of Mosul as a pretext, about two months ago the Pentagon released military vehicle units outside Raqqa, supposedly for the occupation of the Caliphate capital inside Syria.

Raqqa is of strategic importance for the break-up of Syria. It is the epicenter of the biggest surface and subterranean water deposits of Syria. At the same time it is close to the M4 highway, which makes easy access from Turkey and Iraq, and the the road that passes from Raqqa itself in essence divides Syria in two.

Therefore, both for the Syrian military forces and the Americans – for entirely different reasons – Raqqa is of top strategic importance. But the Americans are unable to operate in the region without the help of the Kurds. For this reason Washington has already had an agreement with Kurdish chiefs for the creation of a Kurdish state with parts of Syria and Iraq.

Great Kurdistan…

According to documents revealed by the Inside Syria Media Center on the 24th of March the authorities of the USA and Kurds of Syria reached an agreement last week regarding the borders of the Kurdish autonomous region on Syrian soil, that the Americans guarantee to the Kurds, provided that the Kurds help them to occupy Raqqa and Al-Tabqah (thirty four miles west of Raqqa). In addition, Washington has already defined the borders of the new state of Great Kurdistan on Syrian and Iraqi soil, which must be created after the defeat of the Caliphate and the final collapse of the Syrian Arab Republic.

But contrary to the American plans, the forces of Assad, with the help of Russia, Hezbollah and Iran, are now much closer to capturing Raqqa as well as Al-Tampa. In that case, even the Kurdish chiefs will be forced to negotiate with Assad. And the USA is already in a very difficult position.

How could this possibility be overturned?  In two ways: the first possibility would be to reinforce the USA military presence on Syrian soil; however, the transfer of powerful ground forces without air cover and protection is not possible. The second possibility would be to push the Kurds against Assad. However, this would leave the Kurds exposed to Erdogan, who does not want in any way to be left out of the division of Syrian and Iraqi territory. And the Kurds know this better than anybody. What is left? The immediate reinforcement of the American army on Syrian soil. The Americans already have a motorised brigade ready to operate in the Raqqa-Tampa region, using Iraq as a base. But this is not enough. They urgently need additional forces as well as air cover.

The Russian A2/AD system

But how is it possible to send more military forces, ignoring the Russians, the Iranians and most importantly the Anti-Access/Area Denial system A2/AD that the Russians have installed in Syria? The system A2/AD is a weapon used in order to prevent an opponent from capturing or passing through a ground, sea or air region.

This specific method that is used is not necessary to be absolutely effective on preventing the passage of enemy forces. It is sufficient to delay drastically, retard or put in danger the enemy. The fear of great losses is keeping the enemy away from the ground, sea and air that is protected by A2/AD.

The Russians have the most advanced A2/AD systems in the world. They are so advanced, that the USA and NATO do not have a satisfactory countermeasure, at least for the present.

Russia developed these systems in response to the supreme ability of NATO to operate air strikes on a massive scale. Therefore, Russia has created large Anti-Access/Area Denial zones or ‘bubbles’ around the countries of the Baltic, the Black sea, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Arctic. These ‘bubbles’ allow Moscow to deny the use of airspace, ground and sea in these regions and to limit drastically the transit of airplanes, ships and ground forces in case of a crisis.

At the official announcement after the Warsaw Summit at 8-9 July 2016, NATO expressed its concern at these developments, declaring that it will not accept limitations on the free transit of alliance forces from Anti-Access/Area Denial zones. And the reason is simple. This way NATO loses its advantage of massive surprise air strikes from big distance as a preparation for ground operations.

Tomahawks have tried the system A2/AD

This was therefore the basic USA military target: to test the capabilities of the A2/AD system that has been installed in Syria; and to check what will be the percentage of losses and to evaluate operationally how they can penetrate the system’s net, without prohibitive losses.

This way Trump did what Obama did not dare to do in 2013, using as a pretext a similar attack with chemical weapons at the eastern Ghouta region in August of the same year. Several countries, including France, the UK and USA examined the possibility of intervening militarily against the Syrian government forces. On the 6th September 2013, the US Senate adopted a resolution for the use of military force against the Syrian army as a response to the Ghouta attack. On the 10th of September 2013, the military intervention was prevented when the Assad government accepted the USA-Russia side agreement to give up all its stock of chemical weapons for destruction, and declared its willingness to enter the Chemical Weapons Convention.

This is the convention that the Syrian army supposedly violated with the attack on the 4th of April. Despite the various controlled voices that wanted then to blame the Assad government in order to legitimise a direct strike, finally the investigation proved that the jihadists were responsible for the attack with chemical weapons in Ghouta. On January 2014 a team of specialists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) published its results. The essay, by Richard Loyd, an ex-UN armaments inspector, and Theodor Postol, an MIT professor, was entitled ‘Possible Implications of Faulty US Technical Intelligence’). It examined the missile’s design and calculated all possible orbits based on its useful load.

The authors concluded that it would be impossible to launch the gas sarin from territory under the control of the forces of the Assad government.

You cannot fail to notice the similarity of the two incidents regarding their management and propaganda. And despite the fact that today we know exactly who and why of the ‘armed opposition’ mercenaries set up the provocation using chemical weapons in order to create a pretext for military intervention by the USA and NATO against Syria, the stupid journalists and the mass media continue to attribute to Assad this attack with chemical weapons.

What stopped the military intervention at the time, especially since Obama had ensured the Congress’s agreement. The main reason was the A2/AD that Syria already had, with Russia’s help. At that time Obama wanted to send the British and French air forces first, in order to test the effectiveness of the ‘bubble’. But the two US allies did not oblige.

The political cost of a failed military operation forced Obama to rethink and forget for the moment a military attack against Syria; and what Obama did not dare to do, Trump arbitrarily dared to do.

Backed by Crete

What was the result? Only twenty three of the fifty nine Tomahawks found their target. The rest fell in the sea due to the A2/AD system. This is 39% accuracy, or better expressed 61% losses. For an accurate weapon such as the Tomahawk these percentages are utterly unacceptable and may well depress the Pentagon and NATO headquarters.

Suppose that the USA were trying to hit its target with an airplane raid. Out of one hundred aircraft, at least sixty one would not return to base; and in fact it would be even worse, as the A2/AD system is much more effective against aircraft than against Cruise and Tomahawk missiles. Imagine the cost of such an operation for the USA and its allies.

The Tomahawk missiles were launched two thousand kilometres away from their target in Syria. The USA cruisers involved were in the sea region of Crete, so in the case of a Russian counterattack they could be protected by the Souda American Military Base in Crete.

In Crete the most powerful radar exists. It is currently being upgraded by the Israeli army, and is out of Russian range. Of course, the reinforcement of the Russian fleet near Cyprus with frigates and cruisers from the Black Sea fleet gives Russia the ability to extend the denial zone up to Crete in order to hit targets even at its proximity. All this in case Trump carries out his threats to continue with his attacks.

From a military point of view, the operation was a complete failure for the USA, not only because they were unable to penetrate the ‘bubble’ of A2/AD with reasonable losses, but because they were also unable to provide efficient air cover for a possible ground operation of their own in Syria. Neither it is easy, due again to the ‘bubble,’ to remove sufficient ground forces of tanks, artillery and helicopters from Iraq to Syria inland. They can only do that with the agreement of the Russians and Assad.

All this of course does not mean that Trump will just sit waiting. His aggressiveness will increase. The hits next time will have greater dispersion and will be from air, sea and ground. Israel is already preparing to contribute. With them also the Greek air force, which is an easy target for the Russians,  is trying to find a way of penetrating the A2/AD system.

This is why Greece has regular joint air force exercises with Israel and the USA. Even above Athens’ air region, for the first time ever. And we have the suitable political system for this to take place. Crete has already been surrendered in order to become an unsinkable aircraft carrier for Israel and USA, as the Greek Defence Minister, Mr. Kammenos, has already announced.

And all of us are waiting for the inevitable fate, even having stupid journalists in our country as well as various analysts (not named here but known to all) preparing the next step of the military attack on Syria from Greek ground, air and sea territory, trying at the same time to reassure the idle and naïve with stupidities regarding the ‘failure’ of the Russian and Syrian air defence.

They are obviously aiming to persuade fools of their kind, who believe that the Americans will protect us and the Russians will leave us alone, to send the hawks from Greek territory to infiltrate their own A2/AD security zones. You see, stupidity is contagious.

Dimitris Kazakis is General Secretary of EPAM.

Stephen Gowans’s book, Washington’s Long War on Syria, which is just out, is essential to understand this war and to face the growing threat of a major war.

When Donald Trump launched 59 Tomahawk missiles against a Syrian air base on April 6, he was only following the policy of Barack Obama who demanded formally in the summer of 2011 that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad step down. This was not the first time Washington had sought regime change in Damascus. The United States has waged a long war against Syria from the very moment the country’s fiercely independent Arab nationalist movement came to power in 1963. Assad and his father Hafez al-Assad were committed to that movement. For Washington, the end justifies the means: bombing, alliance with the worst forms of Islamist terrorism and with royal dictatorships of Saudi Arabia and Qatar and more.

Macron ganhou com 23.75% dos votos, enquanto Le Pen atingiu apenas 21.53%, de acordo com os resultados oficiais. O republicano François Fillon e o candidato da esquerda independente, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, alcançaram 19,91% e 19,64%, respectivamente,  enquanto o ex-candidato do Partido Socialista, Benoit Hamon ficou-se apenas pelos 6,35% dos votos. Os restantes 8,82% dos votos foram partilhados pelos restantes 6 candidatos à Presidência francesa.

O colapso do bipartidismo tradicional

O que mostram estes resultados? Em primeiro lugar, um colapso impressionante do bipartidismo tradicional, dos dois partidos alternantes que dominaram o poder presidencial durante muitas décadas. Por um lado, o partido de centro-direita, que se originou da antiga direita de Gaulle, e que em 2002 deu origem, sob a então liderança do presidente Jacques Chirac, à UMP (União para um movimento popular). Após a derrota imposta por Hollande a Sarkozy nas eleições presidenciais de 2012 e a turbulência em que entrou o centro-direita graças a este petit Napoléon – como Sarkozy gostava de ser chamado pelos média e pelos amigos, sem talvez saber quem era Louis Bonaparte que costumava ser referido pelo mesmo apelido por aqueles que o ridicularizaram quando se autoproclamou imperador Napoleão III em 1852 -, a UMP mudou o nome para Les Républicains (os republicanos), para ver se salvava. Mas em vão. Pela primeira vez, desde a época de De Gaulle, o partido do centro-direita nem sequer conseguiu chegar à segunda volta das eleições presidenciais.

Por outro lado, o Partido Socialista, que – não nos esqueçamos – trouxe esta figura grotesca, François Hollande, para a Presidência francesa em 2012, com 28,63% dos votos na primeira volta. Nestas eleições presidenciais, o seu candidato, Hamon, conseguiu recolher apenas 6,35% dos votos. Menos do que Mélenchon, que em 2012 também se quedou pelo quarto lugar com 11,10% dos votos.

Se este colapso do bipartidarismo tradicional ocorrer também nas eleições parlamentares, que também serão em duas voltas, a 11 e a 18 de Junho, ficará claro que a França entrou numa situação política completamente nova e altamente volátil. E, como em todas as transições, veremos novas correlações de poder a sucederem-se, tanto na política como na sociedade. As linhas divisórias serão reposicionadas e redefinidas.

A UE nomeou diretamente o seu próprio candidato.

Nestas eleições presidenciais, Macron venceu à primeira volta. Quem é Macron? Um candidato independente vindo do nada. Sem um partido estruturado, ou partidos que o apoiem. E isso é algo que nunca tinha acontecido na política francesa do pós-guerra.

Mas, na verdade, Macron era o candidato menos independente de todos os que se apresentaram às eleições. Não foi apoiado por nenhum partido, porque foi nomeado diretamente e apoiado por toda a máquina da União Europeia, pelos bancos, e pelos mercados financeiros, que controlam a maior parte do sistema de comunicação social na França. É a primeira vez, num país europeu avançado, que um candidato ao cargo mais alto foi nomeado pelo cartel que governa a União Europeia. É um vislumbre de, como no futuro, se fará política nos países que estiverem sob o jugo da UE.

Dezenas de milhares de milhões de euros foram gastos pelo cartel bancário e pela União Europeia para que o seu candidato independente entrasse em casa de cada francês. E Macron não escondeu que ele é o candidato celebrado pela União Europeia. Também não escondeu que tem o apoio de Berlim. Além disso, ele deixou isso claro quando escolheu visitar a chanceler Merkel, em meados da campanha pré-eleitoral.

A máquina da UE e de Berlim chegaram ao ponto de atacar diretamente os candidatos que poderiam ter ameaçado o seu protegido. Foi o caso do escândalo de Fillon e do escândalo de Le Pen, em pleno período pré-eleitoral.

O cartel da UE ordenou literalmente que as autoridades judiciais e policiais francesas interviessem contra os dois candidatos. Isto foi feito publicamente contra Fillon pelas autoridades, investigando algo que poderia certamente ser investigado sem ser publicitado, pelo menos até que houvesse provas que justificassem uma acusação criminal. A qual, por estranho que pareça, ainda ninguém viu. Até porque, o que consta estar em causa, é um delito menor, a saber a sinecura da mulher por ele nomeada para um cargo público.

O mesmo aconteceu com Le Pen, onde, para além das acusações lançadas pelas autoridades da UE, vimos ataques policiais aos seus escritórios. Por quê? Porque, como acusou Bruxelas, ela usou o dinheiro da UE para financiar as políticas internas de seu partido. Algo que, literalmente, todos os partidos que estão representados no Parlamento Europeu fazem. Sem exceção. É até prática da própria Comissão Europeia financiar qualquer evento partidário dos partidos com presença no Parlamento Europeu, sem considerar se se trata ou não de questões europeias. Uma declaração oficial do partido é suficiente para a CE e é aceite sem qualquer hesitação ou confirmação adicional.

Se não tivesse havido intervenção da UE e sem a atmosfera de escândalo contra Fillon e Le Pen, promovida pelos média controlados, teria sido altamente improvável que Macron chegasse à segunda volta. Isto prova o elevado grau de penetração da UE-Berlim na situação em França.

Por outro lado, Le Pen decidiu encontrar-se com Putin no Kremlin – como reação ao encontro de Macron com Merkel -, a fim de obter sua unção oficial. Os média da UE criaram uma enorme campanha, dizendo que Putin se estava a envolver nos assuntos internos da França e da UE ao reunir-se com Le Pen.

Relatórios para todos os gostos preenchiam todos os tabloides e os jornais mais importantes dos média mainstream, reportando o envolvimento direto da Rússia através de hackers e de financiamento a favor de Le Pen. Tudo isto criou uma atmosfera mórbida com objetivos muito obscuros. É o clima político adequado para que o cartel oficial do governo possa acusar oficialmente qualquer um que os média mainstream apontem como sendo um peão de Putin. Desta forma, o cartel pode mesmo anular – se julgar necessário -, uma eleição desfavorável a Bruxelas e Berlim. A desculpa oficial já existe. O envolvimento ativo de uma potência estrangeira (Rússia) nos assuntos internos da França.

Obviamente, que a mesma lógica não é aplicada à Sra. Merkel, que tão proeminentemente apoiou Macron por todos os meios necessários. O Estado francês reconhece oficialmente que a Sra. Merkel e a Alemanha têm todo o direito de ter voz e de se envolver nos assuntos políticos do país. Em nome da integração europeia. E isto é inédito e nunca aconteceu, pelo menos esta amplitude em França, desde o regime de Vichy.

O Estado-nação emergiu como uma questão dominante

Mas, o mais importante, é que as eleições presidenciais em França elucidaram claramente a questão política predominante do nosso tempo e do futuro próximo. Defender o Estado-nação, ou destruí-lo em favor de uma Europa supranacional, em favor de um governo global. Nunca esta questão foi apresentada de maneira tão direta e profunda desde os tempos da Nova Ordem dos nazis.

E, desta vez, a preservação ou o fracasso do Estado-nação diz respeito a todos os sistemas políticos. Vimos isso acontecer no Reino Unido com o Brexit e, definitivamente, vamos ver o tema a dominar as próximas eleições parlamentares. Vimo-lo também a dominar as últimas eleições presidenciais nos EUA. Donald Trump convenceu uma grande parte do público americano de que é ele o campeão e o defensor do Estado-nação contra a globalização. Foi isso que o levou à Casa Branca. E agora, três meses depois de assumir o cargo, ele tem a menor popularidade que algum Presidente dos Estados Unidos já teve, desde 1945.

De acordo com uma pesquisa do Washington Post-ABC News, o presidente Donald Trump viu a sua popularidade, após os primeiros 100 dias na Casa Branca, ter uma queda recorde de 42%. Doze de seus predecessores tiveram uma média de 61% durante o mesmo período de tempo na Casa Branca. Tal deve ser interpretado, não como tendo sido causado pelas políticas que Trump preconizou no período pré-eleitoral, mas, pelo contrário, porque se está a provar que ele sempre esteve identificado com o tipo de políticas que denunciou anteriormente. O único aumento da popularidade de Trump regista-se apenas nos média mainstream que, de seus inimigos jurados, se transformaram em seus entusiásticos admiradores. Especialmente depois do ataque contra a Síria e Rússia.

As eleições presidenciais em França são as primeiras a demarcar tão claramente a linha divisória entre os inimigos jurados do Estado-nação e aqueles que defendem a necessidade de que ele exista, a fim de poder existir uma democracia para o povo. Especialmente para a França, a questão-chave é a seguinte: um novo regime de Vichy com vista à assimilação da França pela EU, ou não? Esta questão básica será, a partir de agora, a questão central de todos os acontecimentos sociais e políticos em França. E isso não só devastará o sistema político em França, mas literalmente esmagará todos os partidos ou forças políticas que se recusem a responder, aberta e claramente, a essa questão básica.

Deste modo, a França fecha definitivamente o círculo histórico da chamada Quinta República, que nasceu através de um golpe de Estado parlamentar realizado por Charles de Gaulle com a publicação da Constituição francesa de 4 de Outubro de 1958. E, assim, o país inteiro volta atrás. Volta às questões fundamentais que não resolveu, nem respondeu após o colapso do antigo regime de Vichy e a sua libertação do nazismo.

A União Europeia contra a nação francesa

O deslizar oficial da França, em primeiro lugar para uma política de conciliação com o fascismo e o nazismo e, em seguida, para uma cooperação com a Alemanha nazi foi baseado na procura de uma Europa unida. A política de conciliação foi expressa principalmente pelo plano de Aristide Briand para a construção de uma Federação Europeia, que foi apresentado, pela primeira vez, num discurso proferido em 5 de setembro de 1929, durante a décima Assembleia Geral da Sociedade das Nações, em Genebra.

O povo francês, e especialmente os trabalhadores franceses, bem como os camponeses pobres, responderam com massivas mobilizações, greves e ocupações de fábricas, para reivindicar a unidade não da Europa, mas da Nação Francesa, com base numa social-democracia segundo as reivindicações revolucionárias de 1789, 1848 e 1871. Queriam livrar-se, de uma vez por todas, da Terceira República, que se erguera sobre as ruínas da Comuna de Paris e sobre os cadáveres de dezenas de milhares de Comuneiros executados em 1871.

Joseph Barthélemy, jurista e político proeminente, escreveu em 1924 que:

“A Constituição democrática de 1875 foi o produto de uma Assembleia Monárquica”, que criou um sistema político com todas as características do absolutismo, onde as eleições eram meramente um meio de legitimar a arbitrariedade do poder. Enquanto o “povo não tinha nada a ver” com o governo, com a formulação e revisão da Lei e da Constituição.

O soberano não era o povo, mas o executivo e os dois órgãos legislativos, pois, mesmo quando violavam a Constituição com leis e decisões, tudo o que um cidadão podia fazer era obedecer totalmente. A Lei acima de tudo, mesmo que ela contradiga completamente a Constituição existente. (Ver Joseph Barthélemy, O Governo da França, Londres: George Allen & Unwin, 1924, pp. 17-24)

O próprio Joseph Barthélemy justificou plenamente a filosofia política da Terceira República quando se sentiu obrigado a servir como ministro da Justiça no regime de Vichy. Em nome da continuidade do Estado francês de facto e, naturalmente, da preservação da Lei e da Ordem!

A Terceira República sufocou literalmente as massas populares. As pessoas foram consideradas como sujeitos e não propriamente como cidadãos. A Nação era representada pelas instituições do poder, pelo Estado e pelas suas Leis. Assim, quando o governo enviou as pessoas para o matadouro da Primeira Guerra Mundial para lutar, e depois da guerra condenou os trabalhadores, camponeses e pequenos e médios empresários a uma situação de incrível pobreza e dívida, as massas disseram basta. Não queremos mais tal República.

Os ventos da grande Revolução Francesa começaram a soprar de novo. A Nação não é o Presidente e o governo. Nem a legislatura nem as instituições do poder. A Nação somos nós, o povo. E consequentemente, o Estado e as suas instituições deveriam servir ao povo e não o contrário. A Terceira República estava a enfrentar um colapso total. O Plano Briand para uma Federação Europeia foi a resposta dada pelas classes dominantes da Terceira República, a esta terrível perspetiva. Resposta dada ao regresso do período revolucionário à nação francesa.

Em 1936, um slogan abalava os locais de trabalho e as províncias rurais pobres: “Viva a união da nação francesa – contra as 200 famílias que saquearam a França” (Daily Worker, 27 de abril de 1936). Este slogan tornou-se o grito de guerra da Frente Popular (Front Populaire, uma cooperação política de comunistas, socialistas e radicais) que acabou por ser governo.

Desde a sua fundação, em 1806, que o Banco de França (Banque de France) estava sob o controle de um conselho eleito pelos seus 200 maiores acionistas privados. Esses acionistas, dominados pela renomada família dos irmãos Rothschild e quejandos, foram corretamente identificados pelos pobres, como sendo os responsáveis ​​pelas desgraças que os atingiam. Assim, criou-se o slogan popular das “200 famílias que controlam a França”. Já que os pobres, à época, sabiam por experiência o que muitos líderes partidários, mormente à esquerda, ainda hoje se recusam a compreender. Quem, na prática, possui o banco central e emite a moeda, objetivamente controla toda a economia. E assim as “200 famílias” personificaram, para as pessoas simples, toda a praga de problemas que sobre elas tinham caído, como as dívidas esmagadoras e a recessão de longo prazo.

A vitória da Frente Popular nas eleições de 3 de maio de 1936, com 64% dos votos, privou as “200 famílias”, as instituições que as apoiaram e a extrema-direita nacionalista, do direito de falar em nome da Nação Francesa. A razão de Estado deixou de ser com as “200 famílias”, mas passou a ser com os operários, com os camponeses pobres e com os pequenos empresários, que sofriam sob o jugo da oligarquia financeira e o estado arbitrário da Terceira República. A Nação exigia democracia, cancelamento da dívida, pão, paz e trabalho.

Mas, como a Frente Popular era uma coligação de líderes, sem uma organização independente que surgisse do seio do próprio povo, ela dependia quase inteiramente de compromissos ao nível do topo. As grandes greves, as ocupações das fábricas, a mobilização das aldeias, desencadeadas pelo surgimento da Frente Popular, não só aterrorizaram a classe dominante, mas também as lideranças dos partidos integrantes da própria Frente. Eles não tinham confiança na iniciativa e na dinâmica das massas populares, de modo que se limitaram a uma política de conciliação entre as massas – que, instintivamente, sabiam muito bem que, se não se livrassem das “200 famílias”, nada no essencial iria mudar -, e a classe dominante. Deste modo, o governo da Frente permitiu à oligarquia manter as posições-chave que mantinha no sistema de poder.

As “200 famílias” não perderam o controlo do Banco da França, de modo que afogaram o governo de Bloom, o governo da Frente Popular, em dívidas, dinheiro gerador de inflação. A oligarquia sabia que, mantendo nas mãos a criação de dívidas e dinheiro, mesmo que todos os meios de produção fossem nacionalizados ou socializados – como preferiam os socialistas radicais – isso não teria consequências práticas. O verdadeiro poder ainda estaria nas suas mãos. Assim, os aumentos salariais, os direitos dos trabalhadores e outras intervenções do governo Bloom em favor do operariado foram varridos muito rapidamente.

A União Europeia contra os povos

Apesar do fracasso final e do colapso da Frente Popular, os sentimentos de pavor da classe dominante permaneceram. Em 1936, sob a ameaça da Frente Popular, numa reunião de um grupo de reflexão francês, com grande influência nos círculos burgueses da França, a Ligue dos Direitos Humanos, um dos participantes descrevia o seguinte cenário:

Imaginemos o pior, de uma forma simplista, até mesmo improvável, de que uma só nação conquista todas as outras. Imaginemos a Europa conquistada pela Alemanha. Bem, sugiro que uma Alemanha desse modo alargada a toda a Europa deixaria de ser a Alemanha que conhecemos…seria a Europa sob um nome diferente: uma Europa unificada. Ou melhor, não seria nem a Europa de hoje, nem a Alemanha de hoje, mas outra coisa; A confederação europeia do futuro. (Citado por M.L. Smith, Introduction: European Unity and the Second World War, M.L. Smith and Peter MR Stirk, eds., Making the New Europe: European Unity and the Second World War, (London and New York: Pinter Publishers, 1990), p. 16).

Foi esta a perspetiva que passou a dominar a ordem oficial da Terceira República, a perspetiva de uma Europa unida – mesmo sob o poder militar do hitlerismo – e que criou o fundamento sobre o qual foi construída a colaboração com o fascismo e o nazismo.

Assim, a colaboração da França com o Eixo, entre 1938 e 1945, centrou-se na conceção da unidade europeia. As ideologias dos que colaboraram com o Eixo, bem como as suas visões europeias, variaram – da esquerda radical à extrema-direita nacionalista, podendo ser agrupadas em três grandes categorias: europeísta, nacionalista e fascista pura.

Os europeístas, defensores da colaboração com o Eixo, como Marcel Deat, Jean Luchaire e Raymond De Becker, eram geralmente ex-federalistas europeus de inspiração socialista que achavam que Hitler criaria uma Nova Ordem Europeia transnacional que incorporaria muitos dos ideais pré socialistas. O facto de o Eixo erradicar a demarcação nacional entre os Estados-nação na Europa – mesmo que de forma bárbara -, para o benefício de uma Europa transnacional, constituía para os europeístas, especialmente para os de esquerda, um objetivo a prosseguir. E, por conseguinte, os europeístas, mesmo sendo de extrema-esquerda, tinham que trabalhar em conjunto para assegurar a transformação no socialismo de amanhã do novo ordenamento transnacional da Europa.

Colaboradores nacionalistas, como o Marechal Pétain, Alexander Gkalopin e Robert Poulet, consideraram que a cooperação com a Alemanha nazi era do interesse nacional da França, a fim de evitar o risco de a ordem estabelecida ser perturbada, com a plebe exigindo uma democracia onde o cidadão anónimo e as pessoas de todas as classes sociais desempenhariam um papel dominante. Para os nacionalistas, a Nova Ordem era apenas a União Europeia que asseguraria conjuntamente, em cada país, a Lei e o Estado, as instituições, os únicos traços que representam a Nação. Por vezes, contra as pessoas quando estas se mostrassem indisciplinadas, ou fossem fonte de agitação.

Os colaboracionistas fascistas, como Jacques Doriot e Leon Degrelle, assumiram a unidade europeia em termos de solidariedade racial entre os estados fascistas e nazis.

Estas três tendências, tendo em comum a imposição de uma União Europeia supranacional, abriram o caminho para a derrota ignominiosa da França, em face do ataque relâmpago da Alemanha nazi, lançado em 10 de maio de 1940. Em 22 de junho, o segundo armistício foi assinado em Compiègne entre a França e a Alemanha, o que levou à divisão da França. A Alemanha ocupava o Norte e o Oeste, a Itália ficou com o controle de uma pequena zona de ocupação no sudeste da França. Enquanto no sul, foi criada uma zona livre, que passou a ser controlada por um governo oficialmente neutro, em Vichy, liderado pelo Marechal Philippe Pétain.

Henry de Montherlant, proeminente figura da intelectualidade do regime da Terceira República, e poeta bastante popular nos círculos oficiais antes e durante o período de Vichy, descreveu a guerra nazi para a imposição de uma Europa unida como uma “luta heroica da nova civilização europeia contra os europeus de baixa estirpe” e celebrou a conquista da França pela Alemanha no seu livro Le solstice de Juin. O solstício de junho foi a capitulação da França perante os alemães nazis, em junho de 1940. (Ver Philippe Burrin, France Under the Germans: Collaboration and Compromise, (New York: New Press, 1996), pp. 344-346.)

As características da aliança entre europeístas, nacionalistas da extrema-direita e fascistas incondicionais, com o objetivo comum de criar uma Europa unida, ficaram bem retratadas em caricaturas.

Esta caricatura foi publicada em 20 de dezembro de 1941 na capa da revista colaboracionista francesa Je suis partout. A caricatura mostra a França pronta para juntar-se à família europeia, guardada pela Itália fascista e pela Alemanha nazi e cercada por uma série de outros países europeus sob ocupação.

A França queria juntar-se à família europeia, mas três mãos escuras e robustas ainda a agarravam pelo braço. Os judeus, com a emblemática estrela de David. Os maçons, com os seus compassos opostos, e os franceses livres que lutavam contra os nazis e contra o regime de Vichy com a cruz característica da Resistência nacional francesa.

O produto mais fecundo desta aliança para uma Europa unida foi o euronazismo, uma tendência que ajudou os nazis a formar as divisões da Waffen SS recorrendo a recrutamentos forçados em toda a França e em toda a Europa ocupada. O seu principal grito de guerra era a luta por uma Europa unida. E, leal a este lema, a divisão francesa da Waffen SS, Charlemagne, lutou até ao último homem para defender o Reichstag e o bunker de Hitler contra o Exército Vermelho. Isto, no momento em que até a Wehrmacht já tinha deposto as armas.

Se estivéssemos em condições semelhantes às vividas durante o Terceiro Reich, tenha o leitor a certeza de que, nas frentes de batalha da divisão Waffen SS da França, encontraria facilmente gente como Macron. Além disso, só graças aos comunicadores profissionais fornecidos pelos chefes da UE para a campanha Macron, foram vistas nos seus comícios bandeiras francesas ao lado de bandeiras da União Europeia. Macron, ele próprio, gostaria muito de ter usado apenas as bandeiras da UE, mas o eleitor francês médio ainda não está preparado para aceitar isso. Assim, foi com relutância que ele repetiu na noite da vitória, Vive la France!  Exatamente com a mesma pronúncia com que outros como ele, e antes dele, gritaram o mesmo slogan para reconhecer o regime colaboracionista de Vichy. Eles queriam dizer o que Macron quer dizer hoje. A França pertence inteiramente ao cartel da UE.

O regime de Vichy reina e conquista em França

Os franceses, lutando com bravura, e a luta da Resistência aniquilaram os planos da Europa unida. O legado mais imediato e duradouro da Resistência para a França do pós-guerra foi o programa de reforma social e económica, subscrito pelo Conselho Nacional de Resistência (CNR) em março de 1944. Foi a manifestação explícita da Nação francesa real, contra a Nação colaboracionista.

Este programa, que ficou conhecido como o “Mapa da Resistência” tinha o propósito imediato de intensificar a luta pela independência nacional e um objetivo de longo prazo de manter a independência nacional da França após a guerra. Aos planos de uma Europa unida, o CNR e a totalidade dos grupos de resistência, partidos políticos e sindicatos que se uniram à sua volta, responderam com a independência nacional e soberania da nação francesa, o que, à época, era consensual para todos, e estava de acordo com a vontade do povo francês.

A independência nacional era determinada, não apenas em termos de política externa convencional, mas também em termos de políticas económicas e sociais internas. Daí que o próprio Estado tivesse que ser libertado dos monopólios económicos e políticos, que dominavam a Terceira República. Para tal, deveriam ser nacionalizados os monopólios naturais, como a energia e os combustíveis, e as principais instituições de crédito e seguros. A começar pelo Banco de França.

Tal iria facilitar a expansão da produção interna, que resultaria de um plano elaborado através da consulta a todos os envolvidos no processo de produção. Da mesma forma, as mulheres deveriam deixar de ser escravas face ao trabalho, à sociedade e à política, pelo que o direito de voto lhes foi atribuído pela primeira vez. As reformas sociais incluíam o direito garantido ao trabalho e ao tempo livre, um padrão de vida mínimo garantido e a restauração das liberdades sindicais que tinham sido suprimidas pelo governo de Vichy. Tudo isto, ancorado naturalmente num sistema de segurança social abrangente.

Os trabalhadores da agricultura deveriam ter os mesmos direitos e condições de trabalho que os trabalhadores da indústria. Tal seria alcançado principalmente por meio de uma política de preços baseada na Agência Nacional do Trigo, criada pelo governo da Frente Popular em 1936.

Finalmente, todos esses direitos políticos, económicos e sociais, não só deveriam ser implantados na França metropolitana, mas em todos os países e territórios do antigo Império Francês. O facto de todas forças políticas, exceto os de Vichy, terem assinado este programa fez do mapa da CNR um documento único na história francesa. Inigualável até hoje.

O único problema é que ele nunca se destinou a ser aplicado. Ficou para lembrar a visão das forças de unidade democráticas da nação francesa, surgindo como o resultado da guerra e da resistência nacional, não só contra o nazismo, mas também contra os planos para uma Europa unida.

Charles de Gaulle, com seu predomínio na cena política francesa, não só “esqueceu” toda a Carta da Resistência, que assinara, mas também fez todos os esforços para preservar o espírito e o significado do regime de Vichy. Ele assumiu o nacionalismo do Marechal Pétain como a ideologia dominante de seu próprio governo. A única diferença em relação ao nacionalismo de Pétain era a vocação imperial do próprio Charles de Gaulle. Ele acreditava que, estando a sua França entre os vencedores da guerra, era mais fácil para ele dominar a evolução futura do percurso para uma Europa unida. Uma Europa unida que, não só poderia expandir a esfera de influência colonial e política de De Gaulle, mas também expandir o âmbito do prestígio imperial do seu regime entre os europeus. Em vez de se arrastar atrás da Alemanha, como Vichy fizera durante a guerra.

Em consequência, o colaboracionismo europeísta do regime de Vichy sobreviveu nos planos de Monnet e Schumann para uma Europa unida. A verdadeira causa da Segunda Guerra Mundial para os nazis – a criação de uma União Europeia contra os Estados-nação da Europa -, tornou-se o álibi para os novos planos para a construção da União Europeia. E, em primeiro lugar, para o surgimento do novo eixo franco-alemão.

Especialmente depois da imposição da Constituição de 4 de outubro de 1958, em que o Presidente francês, como instituição, passou a acumular tantos poderes nas suas mãos, como aqueles que permitiram que o Presidente eleito da República, Louis Bonaparte, se proclamasse Imperador em 1852, dissolvendo o parlamento. Desta forma, o Presidente declarou ser o espírito da nação e, portanto, todas as manifestações de absolutismo e arbitrariedade da sua parte seriam devidas à preservação do próprio espírito nacional. Elas decorreriam da própria existência da nação, nação que mais uma vez passou a estar divorciada do povo francês.

O novo regime de Vichy pode ser derrubado?

Hoje, a mentira em que a Quinta República se fundou chegou ao fim. As máscaras caíram. O europeísmo já não tenta mais manter o espírito de Vichy na clandestinidade, espírito esse sempre omnipresente no próprio tecido do regime presidencial, quer sob o disfarce do gaullismo ou – o seu alter-ego -, o Mitterandismo. Hoje em dia, o europeísmo está, às claras, a tentar reviver o próprio regime de Vichy em França. Com um consenso bipartidário semelhante entre a direita e a esquerda tradicional. Primeiro, e principalmente, através dos candidatos propostos como Macron que, se eleito presidente, devido ao consenso europeísta bipartidário, porá à prova ao máximo a coerência da nação francesa. De uma forma nunca antes vista na sua história.

E pode Le Pen ser um antídoto contra o novo regime de Vichy? Nem de perto nem de longe. E não é só pelo facto de ela apenas estar a tentar voltar à era de Gaulle. A Quinta República, que produziu a França contemporânea, está já morta e enterrada. Ninguém pode ressuscitá-la. A não ser como farsa ou como tragédia deplorável para a nação francesa. Hoje, os resquícios institucionais e políticos que ainda sobrevivem da Quinta República, só ajudam a obscurecer os verdadeiros problemas e são usados pelas forças que querem ver a nação francesa desaparecer no crisol europeu, à custa de um mortal processo reacionário. Como o que foi planeado pelos nazis.

A França oficial já capitulou perante o cartel bancário e a oligarquia financeira do país depende totalmente nos seus negócios, lucros e existência da União Europeia. A prova disso é a análise da posição líquida do investimento internacional da França. Em comparação com a Alemanha e com o Reino Unido.

A França está irrevogavelmente transformada numa anfitriã do capital estrangeiro. Especialmente depois de entrar na zona do euro. E essa entrada líquida de capitais depende em larga medida da Alemanha, que se tornou numa das principais economias exportadoras de capital. Graças principalmente à criação da zona euro.

A França não tem sequer os atributos dos britânicos para reverter essa tendência. O Reino Unido tem um dos principais mercados financeiros globais. Além do próprio peso da Grã-Bretanha na economia global por causa da Commonwealth e das suas relações próximas com os EUA. É por isso que, a partir de 2014, assistimos a uma reversão radical de tendência no Reino Unido. E, de uma economia importadora líquida de capitais, o Reino Unido, em 2016, converteu-se num país exportador líquido de capitais. Algo que não foi irrelevante, no fortalecimento da posição entre a elite britânica, da decisão de deixar a UE.

Ora, tal não pode ocorrer em França, sem uma reconstrução radical do Estado e da economia. A conversão da França num país importador líquido de capitais, com a Alemanha à cabeça, favoreceu uma terrível hiperinflação da dívida, principalmente privada. O rácio dívida privada / PIB em França aumentou de 225,5% para 228,9% entre 2014 e 2015. O rácio dívida privada / PIB em França situou-se no valor médio de 193,1% no período entre 1995 e 2015, atingindo um valor recorde em 2015, quando em 1995 era apenas de 162,8%, o valor recorde em termos de limite mínimo.

Isto significa que a economia privada francesa não pode funcionar sem acumular enormes dívidas. E isso, por sua vez, leva a que o sistema financeiro em França tenha uma dimensão desmesurada. De acordo com os dados mais recentes da Federação Bancária Europeia (EBF), o sector bancário em França é o maior da UE, sem contar com o Reino Unido. Em 2016, o total dos ativos bancários em França ascendeu a mais de 8,1 triliões de euros. O PIB da França, no mesmo ano, ascendeu a preços correntes a um pouco mais de 2,1 triliões de euros.

Dito de outro modo, o setor bancário em França é quatro vezes maior do que o produto agregado anual de toda a economia francesa. Isto significa que a principal “indústria” da economia francesa é a usura bancária. Para manter esta hiperinflação bancária não é suficiente aumentar a dívida pública e privada. A França é obrigada a manter-se como país anfitrião dos fundos da Alemanha e da UE, logo como economia da área do euro. A UEM é absolutamente necessária para uma economia parasitária baseada principalmente na usura. Porque nunca a França pode dar-se ao luxo de resgatar sozinha esta monstruosa expansão do sistema bancário.

É por isso que a França não pode deixar a zona euro sem deixar os grandes bancos irem à falência, sem qualquer compensação para os investidores e para os banqueiros. A França não pode deixar a zona euro sem um haircut nas dívidas públicas e privadas. E qual é a proposta de Le Pen? Nenhuma. Fecho-ecler. Nem uma palavra. Em vez disso, ela diz que a transição da França para o franco permitirá fortalecer os bancos e pagar dívidas com a nova moeda nacional. Algo que não pode ser feito sem a França se expor à mórbida extorsão dos investidores e dos banqueiros.

A proposta de Le Pen, que consiste em pagar as dívidas e pagar aos bancos com o novo franco, indicia àqueles que conhecem a economia política do problema, que a FN não é séria quando propõe que a França deixe o euro e a UE. Está a usar o slogan de “deixar euro” como um bicho-papão para assustar Bruxelas e Berlim. Está a fazer como De Gaulle, que se lembrava da soberania da nação francesa sempre que tinha um momento difícil no percurso da integração europeia. Le Pen acredita que, agitando o slogan do bicho-papão, pode trazer o cartel do euro para a mesa, a fim de renegociar uma relação especial com a zona do euro e com UE, em benefício da França imperial. Algo que, aparentemente, os sobreviventes do velho regime e do estado gaullista desejam atingir. O problema é que, hoje, tal não é realizável.

Em suma, qual é o significado de tudo isto? Algo extremamente simples. A própria sobrevivência da França, especialmente da nação francesa e do próprio povo, depende do regresso à Carta da Resistência. Dentro do labirinto de problemas resultantes do processo de assimilação de um Estado soberano como a França pela União Europeia, apenas novas forças políticas que tenham como ponto de partida a Carta da Resistência podem ter futuro. Poderão, uma vez unidas, trabalhar essencialmente entre os trabalhadores e os intelectuais, para tentar impor à oligarquia financeira os termos da independência nacional e da democracia de acordo com as tradições revolucionárias da nação francesa. Esta é a única saída para o povo simples, para o povo trabalhador.

 Dimitris Kazakis

 

Artigo original : 

What Exactly Did the French Vote for? The European Union against the French Nation, Global Research, 27 de Abril de 2017.

Tradução : Júlio Gomes (Docente na Faculdade de Economia da Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal, atualmente reformado.) 

 Dimitris Kazakis é secretário-geral da Frente de Unidade Popular da Grécia, EPAM.

A Little Background: The U.S. Has Tried to Carry Out Regime Change Since Syria Became An Independent County …

The U.S. government has been trying to replace the Syrian government with folks who will be subservient to America since 1949 … 3 years after Syria became an independent nation.

The CIA succeeded in carrying out a coup in Syria 1949.

In 1957, the American president and British prime minister agreed to launch regime change again in Syria using a false flag. (False flags are not only historically documented, but presidents, prime ministers, congressmen, generals, spooks, soldiers and police have ADMITTED to planning and carrying out false flat attacks).

In 1983, 1986, 1991, 2001, 2009 and 2012, American officials again schemed about regime change in Syria.

The 2013 Syrian Weapons Attack Was Carried Out By …

The 2013 sarin attack in Ghouta, Syria, was blamed by the U.S. on the Syrian government.

However, the United Nations’ report on the attack did NOT blame the government, and the U.N.’s human rights investigator accused the rebels – rather than the Syrian government – of carrying out the attack.

Moreover, high-level American and Turkish officials say that Turkey supplied Sarin gas to Syrian rebels in 2013 in order to frame the Syrian government … to provide an excuse for regime change.

Pulitzer-prize winning investigative reporter Seymour Hersh – who uncovered the Iraq prison torture scandal and the Mai Lai massacre in Vietnam – previously reported that high-level American sources tell him that the Turkish government carried out the chemical weapons attacks blamed on the Syrian government.

As Hersh noted:

‘We knew there were some in the Turkish government,’ a former senior US intelligence official, who has access to current intelligence, told me, ‘who believed they could get Assad’s nuts in a vice by dabbling with a sarin attack inside Syria – and forcing Obama to make good on his red line threat.’

Indeed, it’s long been known that sarin was coming through Turkey.

And a tape recording of top Turkish officials planning a false flag attack to be blamed on Syria as a justification for war was leaked … and confirmed by Turkey as being authentic.

The 2017 Chemical Incident … Which “Justified” Trump’s Bombing Syria with 57 Cruise Missiles

The recent chemical incident was immediately blamed on the Syrian government. And the Trump administration immediately launched 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian air base based on the accusation.

But many of the American intelligence officials who warned that the claims about Iraq (which led to a disastrous war) were fake say that these claims are fake as well.

Indeed, former CIA officer Philip Giraldi says that American intelligence community insiders are furious that the Trump administration has twisted the intelligence so as to claim that the Syrian government carried out a chemical weapons attack. And see this.

Indeed, the lead UN investigator into Syrian chemical weapons attacks has debunked one of the main allegations attempting to pin the recent chemical incident on the Syrian government.

And a top U.S. rocket scientist has made Swiss cheese out of the government’s claims that the Syrian government was responsible. And see this.

But when the military-industrial folks want a war, do facts even matter?

Image: Mark Taliano’s book, click here to order directly from Global Research

Syrian politician Fares Shehabi correctly identified the terrorists as NATO/al Qaeda. He is correct. NATO’s al Qaeda/al Nusra Front terrorists are responsible.

All of the death and destruction in Syria is a direct result of the West’s criminal “regime change” military operation.  This has been amply proven.

The US and its allies including  Canada are responsible for the murder of the two girls pictured below, and many others.

Part of the West’s criminality involves war propaganda, a very lucrative industry, funded by Western citizens, to deceive Western, and world citizens.

Confusion-mongering is an important component of war propaganda, (sometimes referred to euphemistically, as “information warfare”).

The end-game of the West’s war is the destruction of Syria and its peoples, and various military strategies sometimes present overlapping agendas, and are seemingly at cross-purposes. Sometimes one strategy will subordinate another. All of this creates openings for “information warfare” but the underlying goal of destruction remains the same.

For example, balkanization of Syria will weaken and ultimately destroy the country. If this strategy is successful, it will complement the West’s longstanding support for all of the terrorists. If supporting Kurdish minority ambitions for federation means temporarily opposing ISIS, then the West’s alliance with ISIS will be (temporarily) subordinated to its support for polities attempting to fragment Syria.

Thus, the on-the-ground tactics lend themselves to confusion-mongering “information warfare”, much of which serves as a distraction, a “red herring”, from the broad-based aggressive warfare operations.

Overall, the West supports all of the terrorists in Syria, but the West also supports conflicting terror groups (ie both sides) if it serves to create more chaos, more death and destruction.

Professor Tim Anderson presents a timely reminder of the West’s criminality in the following graph:

In a private Facebook conversation, dated April 28, 2017, I asked Samy Eissa, a former teacher with the Syrian Ministry of Education, to comment on the fact that the West and its allies like to pretend that they are fighting (rather than supporting) ISIS.

He responded,

I believe from the beginning they support that terrorist group

they’ve been supporting extremist Muslims for many years.

They made al Qaeda, the mother of all those sh***, with the support of Gulf States, especially Saudi Arabia. They have used them as triggers and pretexts to launch many wars.

By the time they had invaded Iraq, these groups appeared in it.

How did they come from Afghanistan in such a hurry!

And the same had happened in Yemen, Libya, and now Syria.

These groups are very excellent proxies for the West

to fight instead of using West’ armies.

And these groups, and ISIS is one of them, are just paving the road for the Western powers and Israelto interfere easily to impose their vision and interests and all their targets in every country they caused war in it ….

Voices from Syria, unfiltered by corporate war propagandists, deserve a global audience. Their voices are aligned with the truth, solid evidence, and historical memory.

Despite protests around the world, the Cassini space probe—containing more deadly plutonium than had ever been used on a space device—was launched 20 years ago. And this past weekend—on Earth Day—the probe and its plutonium were sent crashing into Saturn.

The $3.27 billion mission constituted a huge risk. Cassini with its 72.3 pounds of Plutonium-238 fuel was launched on a Titan IV rocket on October 17, 1997 despite several Titan IV rockets having earlier blown up on launch.

At a demonstration two weeks before in front of the fence surrounding the pad at Cape Canaveral from which Cassini was to be launched, Dr. Michio Kaku, professor of theoretical physics at the City University of New York, warned of widespread regional damage if this Titan IV lofting Cassini exploded on launch. Winds could carry the plutonium

“into Disney World, University City, into the citrus industry and destroy the economy of central Florida,” he declared.

Four months before, at an earlier demonstration at the same site, Allan Kohn, a NASA career official from 1964 to 1994 who had been the emergency preparedness officer at the Kennedy Space Center, noted that

“we were told by NASA that the odds against the Cassini blowing up and releasing radiation [are] 1,500 to one. These are pretty poor odds. You bet the lottery and the odds against you are one in 14 million.”

As to NASA’s claim that the plutonium system was “indestructible,” he said it is

“indestructible just like the Titanic was unsinkable….It’s time to put a stop to their freedom to threaten the lives of people here on Earth.”

And, indeed, on an Earth “flyby” by Cassini , done on August 18, 1999, it wouldn’t have been a regional disaster but a global catastrophe if an accident happened.

Cassini didn’t have the propulsion power to get directly from Earth to its final destination of Saturn, so NASA figured on having it hurtle back to Earth in a “sling shot maneuver” or “flyby”—to use Earth’s gravity to increase its velocity so it could reach Saturn. The plutonium was only used to generate electricity—745 watts—to run the probe’s instruments. It had nothing to do with propulsion.

So NASA had Cassini come hurtling back at Earth at 42,300 miles per hour and skim over the Earth’s atmosphere at 727 miles high. If there were a rocket misfire or miscalculation and the probe made what NASA in its “Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Cassini Mission” called an “inadvertent reentry,” it could have fallen into Earth’s atmosphere, disintegrating, and releasing plutonium. Then, said NASA in its statement, “Approximately 7 to 8 billion world population at a time … could receive 99 percent or more of the radiation exposure.”

The worst accident involving space nuclear power occurred in 1964 when a satellite powered by a SNAP-9A plutonium system failed to achieve orbit and fell to Earth, breaking apart and releasing its 2.1 pounds of Plutonium-238 fuel, which dispersed all over the planet. According to the late Dr. John Gofman, professor of medical physics at the University of California at Berkeley, that accident contributed substantially to global lung cancer rates.

In her book, Nuclear Madness, Dr. Helen Caldicott, president emeritus of Physicians for Social Responsibility, writes about plutonium:

“Named after the god of the underworld, it is so toxic that less than one-millionth of a gram, an invisible particle, is a carcinogenic dose. One pound, if uniformly distributed, could hypothetically induce lung cancer in every person on Earth.”

Further, the Plutonium-238 used in space devices is 280 times more radioactive than the Plutonium-239 used in nuclear weapons.

Cassini finally reached Saturn and took excellent pictures and provided scientific information about Saturn, its rings, and moons including Enceladus and Titan.

NASA sent it crashing into Saturn on April 22, 2017

“to make sure Cassini is incinerated at the end of its journey to ensure that any of its earthborn microbes do not contaminate the biotic or prebiotic worlds out there,” wrote Dennis Overbye in his front-page story in The New York Times on April 22. (The article didn’t mention plutonium at all.)

“When I heard that NASA would be dive-bombing Cassini into Saturn with 72 pounds of deadly plutonium-238 on-board, I thought of the Army handing out smallpox laden blankets to Indians on the reservations,” comments Bruce Gagnon, coordinator of the Global Network against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, which has been in the lead in protesting NASA nuclear space missions. “NASA readily admits that ‘biotic or prebiotic’ life very possibly exists on Saturn—are they trying to kill it?”

Said Gagnon:

“We are told that NASA is out searching for the origins of life in the universe but they seem to have forgotten the prime directive from Captain Kirk on Star Trek to ‘do no harm.’”

Felton Davis, an activist with the Catholic Worker movement in New York City, who participated in anti-Cassini protests through the years, said NASA

“should face the environmental reality that other celestial bodies are not garbage dumps.”

After the 1964 accident involving the SNAP-9A plutonium system, NASA moved to develop solar photovoltaic panels to energize satellites, and now all are powered by solar panels—as is the International Space Station.

But NASA has insisted that it needs nuclear power for missions into space—claiming for years that it could not use anything but atomic energy beyond the orbit of Mars. However, that has been proven incorrect by NASA itself. On July 4^th, Independence Day, 2016, NASA’s solar-energized space probe Juno arrived at Jupiter. Launched from Cape Canaveral on August 5, 2011, it flew nearly two billion miles to reach Jupiter, and although sunlight at Jupiter is just four percent of what it is on Earth, Juno’s solar panels were able to harvest energy.

Juno spacecraft above the north pole of Jupiter
Photo from NASA

Nevertheless, the U.S. Department of Energy working with NASA has started up a new production facility at its Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee to produce Plutonium-238 for space use. Other DOE labs are also to participate.

Says Gagnon of the Maine-based Global Network (www.space4peace.org):

“Various DOE labs are rushing back into the plutonium processing business likely to make it possible for the nuclear industry to move their deadly product off-planet in order to ensure that the mining operations envisioned on asteroids, Mars, and the Moon will be fully nuclear-powered. Not only do the DOE labs have a long history of contaminating us on Earth but imagine a series of rocket launches with toxic plutonium on board that blow up from time to time at the Kennedy Space Center. They are playing with fire and the lives of us Earthlings. The space and the nuke guys are in bed together and that is a bad combination—surely terrible news for all of us.”

“The Global Network,” said Gagnon, “remains adamantly opposed to the use of nuclear power in space.”

Karl Grossman, professor of journalism at the State University of New York/College of New York, is the author of the book, The Wrong Stuff: The Space’s Program’s Nuclear Threat to Our Planet. Grossman is an associate of the media watch group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR). He is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion.

The residents of Seongju and Gimcheon were caught off guard when the United States Forces Korea and the South Korean Defense Ministry forced key parts of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system into the former Lotte Skyhill Golf Course in the early morning hours of April 26. Many of the THAAD parts, including the AN/TPY-2 radar, are believed to have been transported into the deployment site.

Below is video of Seongju residents showing outrage, shedding tears of anger and sadness, as riot police contain them and allow for military vehicles to pass through to the deployment site.

(Video source: Street Journalist)

The South Korean government deployed 8,000 riot cops to forcibly remove the residents and Won Buddhist ministers peacefully protesting on the road leading to the THAAD deployment site. On two occasions, the police were able to clear a path for military vehicles carrying THAAD parts and equipment. At 4:45 AM, eight U.S. military vehicles entered the deployment site, and 30 more vehicles made their way in at 6:40 AM.

Below is a minute-by-minute breakdown of what transpired in the early morning hours of April 26:

1:40 AM — 30 people, including members of the Won Buddhist Emergency Struggle Committee, joined by other religious clergy, began a prayer sit-in on the road in front of the village center of Soseong-ri. Village residents blocked the road to the deployment site with their cars.

1:54 AM — South Korean riot police began to arrive at the protest site and surround the prayer sit-in. The police also blocked the protesters from communicating with other residents. They used excessive force to subdue several residents demanding the officers stop containing them. Several police officers threatened arrest against residents for blocking the road with their cars.

3:20 AM — The police issued an order of dispersal to the protesting residents.

3:40 AM — Immediately after the order of dispersal, the officers began to to use excessive force to break up the crowd.

4:05 AM — 30 Won Buddhist ministers were forced to disperse by the police. During the process, several protesters collapsed and lost consciousness.

4:13 AM — All Won Buddhist ministers were forcibly removed from the streets, and the road to the THAAD deployment site was cleared for the entry of military vehicles.

4:18 AM — Three injured residents were escorted to the hospital in ambulances.

4:45 AM — Eight U.S. military vehicles carrying what appeared to be parts of the THAAD battery drove past the residents of Soseong-ri and headed to the deployment site.

A group of 60 people, including Seongju residents, Won Buddhist ministers and Catholic clergy members attempted to block the entry of the military vehicles. The police, however, forcibly removed them from the road.

5:10 AM — 60 residents continued to protest near the Soseong-ri village center demanding the police withdraw from the village and the USFK stop the forced deployment of the THAAD battery. Residents chanted, “U.S. cops back off” to mean the South Korean police officers serve the interests of the U.S. and not the South Korean people. The riot police continued to block the residents from occupying the streets and obstructing the entry of U.S. military vehicles.

6:40 AM — Additional components of the THAAD battery were transported into the deployment site. The riot police, again, suppressed the residents to allow 30 vehicles carrying additional THAAD parts to pass through Soseong-ri.

At least six residents and Won Buddhist ministers were transported in ambulances to the hospital due to injuries sustained as a result of excessive force used by the riot police.

7:40 AM — 200 protesters gathered in front of the Soseong-ri village center to condemn the Defense Ministry for ambushing the peaceful protesters to transport key THAAD parts and equipment in the middle of the night.

8:05 AM — All police units pulled out of the village of Soseong-ri.

9:00 AM — A group of 100 people including residents and religious leaders held a press conference condemning the U.S. for forcibly deploying the THAAD missile system. The residents emphasized the lack of transparency surrounding the THAAD deployment and noted that there was never an official agreement signed between the U.S. and South Korean governments on the deployment.

The environmental impact assessment has yet to be completed, they also noted, yet the key THAAD components have already been transported into the deployment site. The THAAD battery’s radar system — the AN/TPY-2 radar — was transported on April 26. From the start of their fight to oppose the THAAD deployment, Seongju and Gimcheon residents had expressed concerns about the electromagnetic waves emitted by the radar and their long-term impact on their health and agricultural crops.

A total of 12 protesters sustained injuries and were escorted to the hospital in ambulances.

The Defense Ministry reportedly told the South Korean media that it plans to transport the remainder of the THAAD components into the deployment site by the end of this year.

As US President Donald Trump prepares to mark 100 days in office, the administration’s foreign policy approach has become a painful disappointment to anyone with mildly optimistic expectations Washington would take a more realist approach to its role in the world.

The French government released a report blaming the Syrian government for this month’s chemical weapons incident.

The report states:

According  to  the  intelligence  obtained  by  the  French  services,  the  process  of  synthesizing  sarin,  developed  by  the  Scientific  Studies  and  Research  Centre  (SSRC)  and employed by the Syrian armed forces and security services, involves the use of hexamine as a stabilizer.

***

The  presence  of  the  same  chemical  compounds  in  the  environmental  samples collected  during  the  attacks  on  Khan  Sheikhoun  on  4 April 2017  and  on  Saraqib  on 29 April 2013  has  therefore  been  formally  confirmed  by  France.  The  sarin  present  in  the munitions used on 4 April was  produced using the same manufacturing process as that used during the sarin attack perpetrated by the Syrian regime in Saraqib. Moreover, the presence of  hexamine  indicates  that  this  manufacturing  process  is  that  developed  by  the  Scientific Studies and Research Centre for the Syrian regime.

Sounds convincing, right?

But the report falls apart upon closer scrutiny …

Specifically, the head of the United Nations’ team investigating the possible use of chemical warfare in Syria (Åke Sellström) wrote an email to MIT rocket scientist Ted Postol in 2014 stating:

Hexamine … is a product simple to get hold of and in no way conclusively points to the [Syrian] government.

In addition, hexamine found in samples may be derived from other sources for example, explosives.

(I blacked out Postol’s email address to protect his privacy; as I did with personal information in the email below.)

This week, Washington’s Blog wrote the following email to Dr. Sellström seeking confirmation:

The Washington Post quotes French officials as saying that analysis of sarin from Khan Sheikhoun shows the presence of hexamine, indicating that the sarin was produced by the Syrian government:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/samples-from-syrias-deadly-sarin-attack-bear-assadssignature-says-france/2017/04/26/af5d47e0-2a5d-11e7-86b7-5d31b5fdc114_story.html?utm_term=.dc5df76866af

However, my understanding is that it is easy to acquire hexamine, and so the presence of the substance does not indicate state-sponsored manufacture. I also understand that hexamine is a common byproduct from explosives.  s that right?

Dr. Sellström responded:

It is really a question of the meaning of the word indicating. The presence of hexamine could, indeed, indicate that the source is the government. Leaving out who actually used it.

But it could also indicate a lot of other things, like someone using the same recipe for example

In other words, the lead UN investigator is saying that the presence of hexamine could prove that:

(1) The Syrian government did use sarin

(2) The rebels got a hold of old stocks of government-produced sarin, and then used it themselves

(3) Someone reverse-engineered the sarin formula previously used by the government and created their own new sarin

(4) Something else altogether (e.g. that the hexamine came from every day explosives, was otherwise introduced from other sources, or perhaps the evidence was altogether fudged for political purposes)

The French report also claims:

France assesses that the theory of an attack by the armed [rebel] groups using a neurotoxic agent on 4 April is not credible. France has no information confirming the possession of sarin by these groups.

That’s downright silly, given that it was long ago shown that the rebels do possess chemical weapons such as sarin.

 Michael T. Bucci provides us with an insightful review and detailed timeline of Trump “accomplishments”.

One Hundred Days and Counting.

And there is more to come …  

 

.

January 20, 2017 (Friday):

– Trump signs first executive action canceling Obama’s FHA mortgage rate premium cuts

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/20/trumps-first-executive-action-cancel-obamas-mortgage-premium-cuts/96853446/

– Trump signs executive order to roll-back Obamacare hours after taking office

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/20/politics/trump-signs-executive-order-on-obamacare/

– Trump writes memo temporarily banning new federal government regulations.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/20/politics/reince-priebus-regulations-memo/

January 21, 2017 (Saturday)

– Massive Women’s march in U.S. and world.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/21/world/womens-march-pictures.html

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/21/politics/trump-women-march-on-washington/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/21/womens-march-aims-start-movement-trump-inauguration/96864158/

– U.S. Customs asks Canadians entering for D.C. if “pro-Trump” or “anti-Trump”. Some anti-Trump barred from entering.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/21/u-s-border-agents-turned-away-canadians-hoping-to-come-to-the-womens-march/

– Throughout weekend, Trump argues about size of his inaugural crowds compared to those who attended Women’s rally

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/315484-trump-defends-size-of-his-inaugural-crowd

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/21/us/politics/trump-white-house-briefing-inauguration-crowd-size.html

January 23, 2017 (Monday):

– Trump signs repeal of TPP.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/315654-trump-signs-orders-on-tpp-abortion-federal-hiring-freeze

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/23/us/politics/tpp-trump-trade-nafta.html

– Trump freezes federal hiring (except military).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/trump-freezes-hiring-of-federal-workers/2017/01/23/f14d8180-e190-11e6-ba11-63c4b4fb5a63_story.html

– Trump bans federal money to those who counsel on abortions (incl international groups).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/01/23/trump-reverses-abortion-related-policy-to-ban-funding-to-international-health-groups/

– Trump blames voter fraud for loss of popular vote.

http://elections.ap.org/content/trump-wrongly-blames-fraud-loss-popular-vote

January 24, 2017 (Tuesday)

– Executive Order to continue construction of Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/24/keystone-xl-dakota-access-pipelines-revived-trump-administration

– Trump orders EPA freeze and media blackout, banning press releases, blog updates or posts to the agency’s social media accounts. Also told Agricultural and Interior Depts, if not also DHS.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/01/23/trump-administration-tells-epa-to-freeze-all-grants-contracts/

January 25, 2017 (Wednesday)

– Trump sends directives to build a 2,000 mile wall at the US-Mexican border and curtail immigration.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/24/us/politics/wall-border-trump.html

– Trump vows to strip funding from cities shielding illegal immigrants.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/01/25/trump-slashes-federal-funding-sanctuary-cities/CEXMyIvNZXEgtDTOOoyn3N/story.html

– Trump to direct federal resources toward building a border wall.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/24/politics/donald-trump-immigration-refugees/

– DOW hits 20,000

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-immigration-idUSKBN1591HP

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2017/01/25/dow-20000-news-story/95367276/

January 26, 2017 (Thursday)

– Trump calls Chelsea Manning an “ungrateful traitor.”

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-manning-234207

– Trump tells Republicans meeting in PA, “now is the dawn of a new era.”

https://www.c-span.org/video/?422829-1/president-trump-tells-congressional-republicans-now-deliver

– Mexico cancels meeting with Trump citing disagreement over paying for wall.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/world/mexicos-president-cancels-meeting-with-trump-over-wall.html

– Trump calls for 20% tax on Mexican imports to pay for border wall.

http://www.businessinsider.com/sean-spicer-trump-considering-20-tax-on-mexican-imports-2017-1

– Scientists move Doomsday Clock ahead 30 seconds, closest to midnight in 63 years, due to threats such as nuclear weapons, climate change and Donald Trump’s election

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-science-doomsdayclock-idUSKBN15A2JJ

http://thebulletin.org/sites/default/files/Final%202017%20Clock%20Statement.pdf

– Bannon tells the NY Times the media is the “opposition party” of the new administration and should “keep its mouth shut.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/steve-bannon-donald-trump-war-media-transparency-liberal-elite-interview-new-york-times-a7548406.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/business/media/stephen-bannon-trump-news-media.html

– Trump signs first presidential proclamation declaring this week “National School Choice Week.”

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/president-trump-proclaims-national-school-195900813.html

– DHS has temporarily halted trips by staff to interview refugees abroad

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-refugees-idUSKBN15A2TD

– Trump pulls ad budget in the closing days of HealthCare.gov. Former Obama officials call it “sabotage”.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/27/news/economy/obamacare-ads-trump/

January 27, 2017 (Friday)

– U.S. U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley warned U.S. allies if they don’t support Washington, she is “taking names” and will respond.

– Trump signs executive order that will limit immigration and refugees from some Muslim-majority countries for six months; suspends the United States’ Syrian refugees program indefinitely.

– Trump signs executive action to begin military buildup

http://www.defensenews.com/articles/report-draft-executive-order-would-give-pentagon-short-term-funding-boost

– British PM Theresa May and Trump pledge allegiance to special relationship. White House misspelled Theresa “Teresa” three times. British press corp was locked outside the White House because their birthdates were submitted in UK format and Secret Service didn’t understand it.

– Melania Trump wins first round in libel lawsuit against MD blogger (Webster Tarpley) for citing she was in escort service. Tarpley asked for dismissal of suit and denied by judge.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/melania-trump-libel-suit-blogger-234263

– Trump tells Mexican president Peña Nieto, “You have a bunch of bad hombres down there. You aren’t doing enough to stop them. I think your military is scared. Our military isn’t, so I just might send them down to take care of it.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/no-gday-mate-on-call-with-australian-pm-trump-badgers-and-brags/2017/02/01/88a3bfb0-e8bf-11e6-80c2-30e57e57e05d_story.html

January 28, 2017 (Saturday)

– Trump’s immigration ban causes chaos and controversy

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/28/airports-us-immigration-ban-muslim-countries-trump

– Trump and Putin discuss ‘mutually beneficial’ trade, security

(Leaked later – Feb. 9 – and reported by Reuters, Putin raised possibility of extending START treaty. Trump asked his aides what it was and then told Putin the treaty was one of several bad deals negotiated by the Obama administration, saying that New START favored Russia. Trump also talked about his own popularity, the sources said.)

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-putin-idUSKBN15O2A5

– Trump signs executive order banning administration officials from ever lobbying the U.S. on behalf of a foreign government and imposing a separate five-year ban on other lobbying.

http://time.com/4652703/president-trump-lobbying-ban/

– Trump signs memorandum giving military leaders 30 days to construct and present a report outlining the U.S. strategy for defeating ISIS.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-executive-order-isis-defeat-30-days-a7551521.html

– Trump signs memorandum ordering a reorganization of the National Security Council, gives seat to Steve Bannon.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/28/lobbying-ban-trump-executive-order-isis-strategy

– Trump blasted Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over a refugee agreement and boasted about the magnitude of his electoral college win.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/no-gday-mate-on-call-with-australian-pm-trump-badgers-and-brags/2017/02/01/88a3bfb0-e8bf-11e6-80c2-30e57e57e05d_story.html

– The federal court for the Eastern District of New York issued an emergency stay halting President Donald Trump’s executive order banning entry to the US from seven majority-Muslim countries

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/refugees-detained-at-us-airports-challenge-trumps-executive-order/2017/01/28/e69501a2-e562-11e6-a547-5fb9411d332c_story.html

January 29, 2017 (Sunday)

– Trump travel ban continues to sow chaos at airports, outrage at protests.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/29/protest-trump-travel-ban-muslims-airports

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/29/nyregion/trump-travel-ban-protests-briefing.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-immigration-protests-idUSKBN15D15H

– Judges in Massachusetts, Virginia and Washington state block federal authorities from enforcing Trump’s executive order restricting immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/01/29/four-federal-judges-issue-orders-blocking-parts-of-trumps-executive-order-on-immigration/

– Global backlash:

German Chancellor Merkel: global fight against terrorism “does not justify putting people of a specific background or faith under general suspicion.”

British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson tweeted: “Divisive and wrong to stigmatise because of nationality.”

French President Hollande: defending democratic principles required compliance with “the principles on which it is founded, in particular the acceptance of refugees”.

UK PM Theresa May said she “did not agree” with the restrictions.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands said his country believes refugees “deserve a safe haven” … “we reject this travel ban.”

– Presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway said television networks should be “cleaning house” of “these people who said things that just weren’t true [about Donald Trump] … The election was three months ago. None of them have been let go.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/president-trump-seeks-to-quash-dissent-inside-the-government/2017/02/01/788bdefa-e7ed-11e6-b82f-687d6e6a3e7c_story.html

January 30, 2017 (Monday)

– Mass protests continue over Trump immigration ban.

– Trump denies chaos at airports from immigration ban but from computer glitch, demonstrators and “fake tears” of Charles Schumer.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-31/trump-denies-immigration-ban-to-blame-for-airport-chaos/8225196

– Trump signs an executive action aimed at cutting regulations for small businesses – a “one in, two out” plan, requiring government agencies requesting a new regulation to identify two others they will cut.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38800090

– Trump fires acting justice department head Sally Yates for refusing to enforce immigration ban.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/30/justice-department-trump-immigration-acting-attorney-general-sally-yates

– State Department officials circulated a draft memo criticizing Trump’s executive order on immigration.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-immigration-cables-idUSKBN15E21X

– Washington State sues Trump over immigration order.

http://www.businessinsider.com/washington-becomes-first-state-to-sue-trump-over-immigration-order-2017-1

– Trump replaces acting Immigration Enforcement head.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/317025-trump-boots-acting-ice-head-report

January 31, 2017 (Tuesday)

– Democrats stall confirmation hearings of Steven Mnuchin (Treasury) and Tom Price (DHHS).

– More State Dept protests on their dissent channel drawing 1,000 signatures.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/31/world/americas/state-dept-dissent-cable-trump-immigration-order.html

– New York, Massachusetts and Virginia join Washington state sue Trump over immigration ban.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/31/trump-travel-ban-state-lawsuits

– Trump nominates Neil Gorsuch to be associate justice of the Supreme Court.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-trump-idUSKBN15F1OW

– European Commission President Donald Tusk lists US administration as one of EU’s ‘external threats’.

http://www.dw.com/en/ec-president-tusk-lists-us-administration-as-one-of-eus-external-threats/a-37360291

February 1, 2017 (Wednesday)

– Senate Republicans suspend the rules to approve two Trump nominees, Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) for secretary of health and human services and Steve Mnuchin to lead the Treasury. Republicans also advanced the nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) for attorney general, and they finalized confirmation of former ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson for secretary of state by a vote of 56 to 43. Trump urged Senate Republican leaders Wednesday to be prepared to tear up the rules of the Senate and “go nuclear” if Democrats try to block Supreme Court nominee Gorsuch — that is, change long-standing Senate rules to permit the confirmation of a Supreme Court nominee with a simple majority vote.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/republicans-ram-through-committee-approval-of-trump-cabinet-nominees/2017/02/01/aa2b5458-e87f-11e6-b82f-687d6e6a3e7c_story.html

– Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn delivered a tight-lipped warning to Iran over its most recent ballistic missile test, “As of today, we are officially putting Iran on notice.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/with-flynn-putting-iran-on-notice-the-first-days-of-president-trumps-foreign-policy-set-a-combative-tone/2017/02/01/0645f248-e709-11e6-b82f-687d6e6a3e7c_story.html

– Trump reverses campaign pledge to let Medicare negotiate for lower prescription drug promises. After meeting with Big Pharma lobbyists, he would oppose apparent “price-fixing” by Medicare, rather than working to stymie the industry’s grip on drug prices.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-big-pharma-prescription-drug-prices-lobbyists-medicare-negotiations-a7557726.html

– Senate confirms Rex Tillerson as secretary of state, sworn in.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/01/us/politics/rex-tillerson-secretary-of-state-confirmed.html

February 2, 2017 (Thursday)

– The European parliament’s main political parties are making an unprecedented attempt to block Trump’s likely choice as ambassador to the European Union from EU buildings, describing Ted Malloch as hostile and malevolent.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/02/european-union-trump-ambassador-ted-malloch-parliament

– Defense Sec. Mattis warns North Korea of “effective and overwhelming” retaliation if country attacks U.S. ally.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-southkorea-usa-mattis-idUSKBN15I060

February 3, 2017 (Friday)

– Trump signed a pair of executive orders aimed at lightening the regulatory load on financial institutions, setting the stage for a broader push to scale back the Dodd-Frank financial reform law.

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/317799-trump-signs-executive-orders-to-loosen-wall-street-regs

– The Trump administration slapped new sanctions on Iran after the administration signaled it wanted to punish Tehran for its latest ballistic missile test. The Treasury Department announced that 13 people and 12 companies face new restrictions

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/iran-sanctions-234604

– A U.S. judge imposed a nationwide hold on Trump’s ban on travelers and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/02/03/report-federal-judge-refuses-block-trump-immigration-ban/97466178/

Trump Cries ‘Witch Hunt’ as Russia Questions Pile Up.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/trump-cries-witch-hunt-russia-questions-pile-n728611

February 4, 2017 (Saturday)

– Trump administration filed notice of appeal to suspension of immigration ban.

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/trump-administration-appeals-seattle-judges-halt-of-refugee-travel-ban/

– “So-called” judge in immigration hold decried by Trump.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/02/04/trump-lashes-out-at-federal-judge-who-temporarily-blocked-travel-ban/

– Tens of thousands join marches across UK against Trump’s travel ban.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/feb/04/tens-of-thousands-in-new-march-against-trumps-travel-ban

– Thousands swarm New York’s Stonewall Inn to protest Trump.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Hundreds-Push-Back-Against-Executive-Orders-at-Stonewall-Inn-LGBTQ-Rally-412783683.html

– Hundreds of anti-Trump protesters marched on Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla. Other protests at White House, Supreme Court and Paul Ryan’s hometown office.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/317942-hundreds-of-anti-trump-protesters-march-on-mar-a-lago-resort

– Trump stands by voter fraud claim in Fox News interview.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/317946-trump-defends-claims-of-widespread-voter-fraud

– Iran would use its missiles if its security is under threat after Trump imposed sanctions on entities linked to the Revolutionary Guards. Flynn said it put the country “on notice” after it test-fired ballistic missiles.

http://in.reuters.com/article/iran-usa-military-missiles-idINKBN15J0DX

February 5, 2017 (Sunday)

–  A federal appeals court denied an initial bid by the Trump administration to restore its controversial immigration order.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-trump-travel-ban-20170205-story.html

– Trump attacks judge and court system. Trump said Americans should blame U.S. District Judge James Robart and the court system if anything happened.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-immigration-idUSKBN15K0AF

– Trump said he would put Vice President Mike Pence in charge of a commission to probe what he believes was voter fraud in last November’s election.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-voterfraud-idUSKBN15K0TS

February 6, 2017 (Monday)

– Corporate titans among 100 companies joining brief against Trump travel ban. “The order inflicts significant harm on American business, innovation, and growth as a result. Immigrants or their children founded more than 200 of the companies on the Fortune 500 list.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/06/amicus-brief-trump-travel-ban

– Trump reaffirmed his support for NATO before military leaders and troops at U.S. Central Command, and laced his speech with references to homeland security.

http://www.voanews.com/a/trump-to-visit-centcom/3707656.html

– New York Assembly passes bill to make New York State a “sanctuary state” in response to Trump’s promised crackdown on sanctuary cities.

http://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2017/02/assembly-passes-sanctuary-state-bill-as-trump-response-109389

February 7, 2017 (Tuesday)

– Betsy DeVos is confirmed Education Secretary. Senate voted 50-50 with V.P. Pence casting decisive vote.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/02/07/betty-devos-education-secretary-confirmation/97589282/

– Author Webster Tarpley settles defamatory lawsuit filed by Melania Trump paying her a “substantial sum”. He had repeated rumors in his blog that Melania Trump had worked as a “high-end escort”. Her lawyers claimed she suffered “multiple millions of dollars” in economic damages because of the lost value to her brand.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/zoetillman/melania-trump-settles-her-defamation-lawsuit-against-a-blogg

– Sen. Elizabeth Warren was stopped by Republicans from reading a nine-page letter written by the late Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King’s widow. In the 1986 letter, addressed to Strom Thurmond, then the Senate Judiciary committee chairman, King expressed her opposition to Sessions, who had been nominated for a federal judgeship in Alabama. She was accused of ‘impugning’ Jeff Sessions.

http://time.com/4663497/coretta-scott-king-letter-warren-senate-sessions/

February 8, 2017 (Wednesday)

– Jeff Sessions confirmed as Attorney General.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/08/us/politics/jeff-sessions-attorney-general-confirmation.html

– Trump bashes Nordstrom after it drops Ivanka’s line.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/02/08/514203791/trump-slams-nordstrom-for-dropping-ivanka-s-clothing-line

– Supreme court nominee Neil Gorsuch calls Trump judge attacks ‘demoralizing’ and ‘disheartening.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/21/politics/neil-gorsuch-trump-criticism-disheartening/

– Trump went after a panel of federal judges weighing whether a court order blocking his travel ban should be lifted. Trump argued the law gives him broad powers to control who enters and leaves the U.S.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/318451-trump-attacks-judges-weighing-travel-ban

– ACLU vows to sue Sessions if he violates Constitution as AG.

http://www.businessinsider.com/aclu-warns-jeff-sessions-attorney-general-trump-civil-rights-2017-2

– New York Post reporter sues after being fired for critical Trump tweet. He Bart Hubbuch called Trump’s election a “national tragedy,” and compared his victory to the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/writer-sues-new-york-post-firing-anti-trump-tweet-article-1.2967303

February 9, 2017 (Thursday)

– British PM Theresa May says Trump’s travel ban is wrong and Britain does not plan to adopt a similar policy.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/02/01/british-leader-theresa-may-trumps-travel-ban-divisive-and-wrong/97330620/

– NY Times and Washington Post report Michael Flynn, National security adviser, discussed sanctions with Russian ambassador during the month before Trump took office, contrary to public assertions by Trump officials, current and former U.S. officials said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/national-security-adviser-flynn-discussed-sanctions-with-russian-ambassador-despite-denials-officials-say/2017/02/09/f85b29d6-ee11-11e6-b4ff-ac2cf509efe5_story.html

– Trump signs three executive orders to combat crime, further his “law and order” agenda, crack down on international crime and crimes against law enforcement.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/09/us/politics/trump-law-enforcement-drug-cartels-order.html

– In call with Putin, Trump denounced Obama-era nuclear arms treaty.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-putin-idUSKBN15O2A5

– Federal appeals court rules 3 to 0 against Trump on travel ban, a sweeping rebuke of the administration’s claim that the courts have no role as a check on the president.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/09/us/politics/appeals-court-trump-travel-ban.html

– Trump calls the appeals court ruling “a political decision.” “SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!” Trump wrote on Twitter.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/318838-trump-responds-to-ruling-see-you-in-court

– Trump promises Chinese president Xi Jinping he’ll honor ‘One China’ policy.

http://fortune.com/2017/02/09/trump-one-china-xi-jinping/

February 10, 2017 (Friday)

– Trump meets with Japan’s President Shinzo Abe but only takes questions from Murdoch owned media reporters from the New York Post and Fox Business Network.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/318971-rupert-murdoch-owned-outlets-get-only-us-questions-at-trump-japan

– Trump hints at new travel order coming next week.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-hints-at-new-travel-order-coming-next-week/ar-AAmOqxG

– Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was greeted with protesters when she tried to enter a Washington middle school.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/protesters-rally-at-dc-school-ahead-of-visit-by-education-secretary-betsy-devos/2017/02/10/faad4962-ef06-11e6-b4ff-ac2cf509efe5_story.html

– British government drops plan to allow Trump to address joint houses of Parliament. Officials are trying to ensure that Trump is not in London at a time when parliament is sitting, in order to avoid a formal snub.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/10/british-officials-drop-plans-donald-trump-address-parliament-queen-elizabeth

– Obamacare opponent Tom Price sworn in as Health Secretary.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/us/politics/tom-price-health-secretary-senate.html

– The Central Intelligence Agency has denied elite security clearance for Michael Flynn’s top National Security Council deputy Africa Robin Townley.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/319073-top-flynn-aide-rejected-for-key-security-clearance-report

– Democrats call for Michael Flynn’s dismissal after reported Russia talks, a potential violation of the Logan Act, which prohibits private citizens from negotiating with foreign governments in disputes involving the American government.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/flynn-holds-call-with-pence-amid-calls-for-probes-of-contacts-with-russian-ambassador/2017/02/10/f8fb83a0-efe1-11e6-9973-c5efb7ccfb0d_story.html

– Undocumented Immigrants Arrested Nationwide, Stoking Fears Of Trump’s ‘Deportation Force’.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-immigration-raids-deportation_us_589e1eb0e4b094a129eb03b0?2t8f9pbl78u22ihpvi

February 11, 2017 (Saturday)

– Anti-abortion protesters rallied at scores of Planned Parenthood clinics to urge Congress and President Trump to strip the health services provider of federal funding, while supporters of the organization staged counter-demonstrations around the United States. All told, rallies and marches were called in 45 states in cities large and small.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-abortion-idUSKBN15Q0AS

– Army veterans return to Standing Rock to form a human shield against police.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/11/standing-rock-army-veterans-camp

– Trump claimed that his daughter Ivanka had been “abused” by news media following renewed scrutiny over the family’s potential conflicts of interest.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-media-abused-ivanka-234933

February 12, 2017 (Sunday)

NO ENTRIES

February 13, 2017 (Monday)

– GOP says it will not investigate Trump’s tax returns.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-tax-returns-idUSKBN15S2GZ

– Senate confirms Steven Mnuchin as treasury secretary.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/02/13/senate-confirms-mnuchin-as-treasury-secretary/

– Justin Trudeau meets with Trump at W.H.

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/trudeau-trump

February 14, 2017 (Tuesday)

– Trump national security aide Flynn resigns over Russian contacts.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-flynn-idUSKBN15S0BR

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/michael-flynn-resigns-as-national-security-adviser/2017/02/13/0007c0a8-f26e-11e6-8d72-263470bf0401_story.html

– Secret Service director to step down.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-secretservice-idUSKBN15T2J0

– Intel leaks reveal Trump aides were in constant touch with senior Russian officials during campaign.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/14/politics/donald-trump-aides-russians-campaign/index.html

– Trump signs repeal of transparency rule for oil companies, to scrap Dodd-Frank rule on oil extraction.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/02/14/trump-scraps-dodd-frank-rule-resource-extraction-disclosure/97912600/

February 15, 2017 (Wednesday)

– NY Times and Washington Post cast doubt on claims made by Trump’s team that there had been no contact with Russian officials; report intel knows of contacts between Trump campaign figures and Russia. “Phone records and intercepted calls show that members of Donald J. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2017/02/15/daily-202-it-s-bigger-than-flynn-new-russia-revelations-widen-trump-s-credibility-gap/58a3c5b9e9b69b1406c75cb4/

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/us/politics/russia-intelligence-communications-trump.html

– Andy Puzder withdraws nomination for labor secretary after he admitted employing an illegal immigrant as a former housekeeper.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/15/politics/top-senate-republicans-urge-white-house-to-withdraw-puzder-nomination/

– Trump blasts ‘criminal’ leaks by intelligence agencies, calls Flynn ‘wonderful’.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-flynn-idUSKBN15U2C1

February 16, 2017 (Thursday)

– Trump gives 76 minute press conference and berates media.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-media-out-of-control_us_58a5ea16e4b07602ad529bb7

– Mick Mulvaney, staunchly conservative tea-party, confirmed by Senate to run Trump’s OMB.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/02/16/515578360/senate-narrowly-confirms-mulvaney-as-trumps-nominee-for-omb-director

– Six Donald Trump staffers fired today, escorted out of White House, after flagged by FBI.

http://www.palmerreport.com/opinion/donald-trump-forced-fire-six-white-house-staffers-fail-fbi-background-checks/1564/

February 17, 2017 (Friday)

– Senate confirms climate-denier Scott Pruitt to head EPA.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/02/17/scott-pruitt-long-time-adversary-of-epa-confirmed-to-lead-the-agency/

– John McCain broke with the reassuring message that U.S. officials visiting Germany have sought to convey saying that the administration of President Donald Trump was in “disarray”.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-security-usa-idUSKBN15W1J2

– Trump considered using national guard to round up immigrants, memo suggests.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/17/trump-immigration-roundup-national-guard

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TRUMP_NATIONAL_GUARD?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-17-15-07-35

– Trump Calls the News Media the ‘Enemy of the American People’.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/17/business/trump-calls-the-news-media-the-enemy-of-the-people.html

– Senate Intelligence Committee meets behind closed-doors, summoning Comey, to discuss Trump-Russian ties.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/320161-comey-meets-with-intel-senators-amidst-russia-uproar

– Senate Intelligence Committee asked more than a dozen agencies, organizations and individuals to preserve communications related to the panel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. (This wasn’t reported until days later.)

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/19/politics/senate-intelligence-committee-russia-materials/

February 18, 2017 (Saturday)

– (story) Eight people flee U.S. border patrol to seek asylum in Canada.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-canada-refugees-idUSKBN15W2GN

– Trump holds rally in Orlando complete with promises to repeal the health care law, insults for the news media and a playlist highlighted by the Rolling Stones.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/18/donald-trump-attacks-press-dishonest-media-florida-rally

– At Orlando rally Trump states that a terrorist attack had occurred in Sweden, which has admitted tens of thousands of refugees in recent years. He based it on a Fox News report. (No such attack took place.)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/19/sweden-trump-cites-non-existent-terror-attack

– Memos signed by DHS secretary describe sweeping new guidelines for deporting illegal immigrants.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/memos-signed-by-dhs-secretary-describe-sweeping-new-guidelines-for-deporting-illegal-immigrants/2017/02/18/7538c072-f62c-11e6-8d72-263470bf0401_story.html

– U.S. inquiries into Russian election hacking include three FBI probes.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-cyber-idUSKBN15X0OE

February 19, 2017 (Sunday)

– NY Times reveals a back-channel plan for Ukraine and Russia was circulated with aims to unseat President Poroshenko, install a pro-Russian president, lift sanctions, “lease” Crimea to Ukraine.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/19/us/politics/donald-trump-ukraine-russia.html

February 20, 2017 (Monday)

– Trump named Lieutenant General Herbert Raymond McMaster as his new national security adviser, again turning to the U.S. military to play a central role on his foreign policy team.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-idUSKBN15Z1Z0

– Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, died suddenly in New York after being taken ill at work, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/russian-ambassador-un-vitaly-churkin-dead-diplomat-dies-suddenly-new-york-puton-a7590366.html

– Norway pledges $10 million to counter Trump’s global anti-abortion move.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-norway-abortion-idUSKBN15Z1KL

– Protests take place across the US for “Not My President’s Day”.

http://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/news/nation/2017/02/20/not-my-presidents-day-protests-across-the-usa/98164442/

– The Senate Intelligence Committee has now informed more than a dozen government agencies that they must secure documents relating to the Trump-Russia investigation and are not allowed to destroy them.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trumps-russia-scandal-takes-unexpected-turn

– More than 100 headstones at the Chesed Shel Emeth cemetery in St Louis were damaged or knocked. More than 50 bomb threats had been made against Jewish organisations in the US since January, including 11 today.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/21/vandals-damage-dozens-of-headstones-in-jewish-cemetery-in-missouri

February 21, 2017 (Tuesday)

– Millions of people living in the United States illegally could be targeted for deportation – including people simply arrested for traffic violations – under a sweeping rewrite of immigration enforcement policies announced Tuesday by the Trump administration. The broad scope of the president’s ambitions are: to publicize crimes by immigrants; enlist local police officers as enforcers; strip immigrants of privacy rights; erect new detention facilities; discourage asylum seekers; and, ultimately, speed up deportations.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/21/us/politics/dhs-immigration-trump.html

February 22, 2017 (Wednesday)

– Mexico fumes over Trump deportations to Mexico. DHS unveiled plans on Tuesday to consider almost all illegal immigrants subject to deportation, and will seek to send many of them to Mexico if they entered the United States from there, regardless of their nationality.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-mexico-idUSKBN16127O

– Police surrounded the Standing Rock camps to evict the remaining Native American activists fighting the Dakota Access pipeline.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/22/dakota-access-pipeline-standing-rock-evacuation-police

– DoJ moves to prevent CIA official from detailing role in Bush-era torture.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/22/cia-torture-gina-haspel-court-deposition-trump

– Trump Administration Rescinds Rules on Bathrooms for Transgender Students.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/24/learning/questions-for-trump-rescinds-rules-on-bathrooms-for-transgender-students.html

February 23, 2017 (Thursday)

– Alt-right leader Richard Spenser expelled from CPAC after organizer denounces ‘sinister organization’. Dan Schneider, the executive director of the American Conservative Union labeled the alt-right leftist: “We must not be deceived by [a] hateful, left-wing fascist group,” a reference to National Review columnist Jonah Goldberg’s “Liberal Fascism”.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/02/23/cpac-organizer-denounces-alt-right-as-left-wing-fascist-group/

– Conservative activist O’Keefe posts tapes targeting CNN.

https://www.yahoo.com/tv/conservative-activist-james-okeefe-release-cnn-tapes-115023325.html

– At CPAC, Bannon states Trump administration is locked in an unending battle against the media and other globalist forces to “deconstruct” an outdated system of governance. “If you think they are giving you your country back without a fight, you are sadly mistaken.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/02/23/bannon-trump-administration-is-in-unending-battle-for-deconstruction-of-the-administrative-state/

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/2/23/1637159/-President-Bannon-threatens-media-We-re-going-to-make-it-worse-every-day-for-you

– Trump says efforts to remove undocumented immigrants is a “military operation.”

http://www.politico.com/blogs/donald-trump-administration/2017/02/trump-undocumented-immigrants-military-operation-235308

– At CPAC, Ted Cruz suggested that another seat on the U.S. Supreme Court will open up this summer (with no explanation).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/02/23/ted-cruz-predicts-second-supreme-court-vacancy-this-year-but-doesnt-explain-why/

– Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) on Thursday invoked the 2011 shooting of former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.) at a constituent event as a reason not to hold a public town hall. “At this time there are groups from the more violent strains of the leftist ideology, some even being paid, who are preying on public town halls to wreak havoc and threaten public safety,” Gohmert said in a statement.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/2/23/1636854/-Louie-Gohmert-invokes-Giffords-shooting-as-reason-not-to-hold-town-hall

– White House chief of staff Reince Priebus asked a top FBI official to dispute media reports that Trump’s campaign advisers were frequently in touch with Russian intelligence agents during the election.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/23/politics/fbi-refused-white-house-request-to-knock-down-recent-trump-russia-stories/index.html

– Trump tells Reuters he wants to expand nuclear arsenal, make US ‘top of the pack’.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/23/trump-tells-reuters-he-wants-to-expand-nuclear-arsenal-make-us-top-of-the-pack.html

February 24, 2017 Friday

– Trump addresses CPAC: calls for an arms-race, vows military build-up, hammers nationalist themes; reiterates that media is “enemy of the people”. He vowed to “do something about it [the press].”

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-idUSKBN1630HH

– Trump blasted the FBI for being “totally unable to stop the national security ‘leakers’ that have permeated our government for a long time.”

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/fbi/320954-trump-fbi-totally-unable-to-stop-leaks

– Trump promises border wall ‘soon, way ahead of schedule’.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39080356

– Trump issues executive order requiring federal agencies to create “deregulatory” task forces responsible for eliminating outdated and unnecessary rules.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/02/24/presidential-executive-order-enforcing-regulatory-reform-agenda

– Media outlets were denied entry to later press briefing by Spicer: Guardian, the New York Times, Politico, CNN, BBC, LA Times, The Hill, NY Daily News, Huffington Post, Daily Mail, BuzzFeed and others. AP, USA Today and Time were invited but boycotted the briefing to show solidarity with fellow news outlets. The White House Correspondents Association condemned the White House’s move

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/24/media-blocked-white-house-briefing-sean-spicer

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-media-makes-up-sources-235345

– State legislators take steps to criminalize protests.

http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/321018-state-legislators-take-steps-to-criminalize-protests

– The White House acknowledged its chief of staff Reince Priebus asked the FBI’s deputy director to dispute a New York Times article alleging Moscow links.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39080673

– Trump puts regulation monitors in U.S. agencies. Trump signed the executive order in the Oval Office with chief executives of major U.S. corporations standing behind him including Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin Corp. and U.S. Steel Corp.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-regulations-idUSKBN1631NV

– Hate crime is feared as 2 Indian engineers are shot in Kansas. It raised new alarms about a climate of hostility toward foreigners in the United States, where Trump has made clamping down on immigration a central plank of his “America first” agenda.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/24/world/asia/kansas-attack-possible-hate-crime-srinivas-kuchibhotla.html

– John Dean Accuses The White House Of A Russia Cover-Up.

http://www.politicususa.com/2017/02/24/john-dean-trump-white-house-covering-russia-scandal.html

February 25, 2017 Saturday

– Wary of Trump unpredictability, China ramps up naval abilities.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-defence-navy-idUSKBN16500P

– Trump decides to skip White House press dinner. U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he would not attend the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, a high-profile event that draws celebrities, politicians and journalists.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-press-idUSKBN1640TF

– Former Secretary of Labor Tom Perez was elected DNC Chair in a close election, and in his first move as Chair, he created the new position of DNC Deputy Chair for his opponent Keith Ellison. The Democratic Party is now led by a Hispanic son of immigrants and a Muslim.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/25/us/politics/dnc-perez-ellison-chairman-election.html

February 26, 2017 Sunday

– Trump’s first budget proposal will spare big social welfare programs such as Social Security and Medicare from any cuts, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in an interview. (Entitlements will be cut, says a NYT report.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-economy-idUSKBN1650LL

– Spicer cracking down on leaks coming out of the West Wing, with increased security measures that include random phone checks of White House staffers, overseen by White House attorneys.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/sean-spicer-targets-own-staff-in-leak-crackdown-235413

– Sixty to one-hundred Jewish headstones vandalized in Philadelphia.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/26/us/jewish-cemetery-vandalism-philadelphia/

February 27, 2017 Monday

– House Intelligence chairman Nunes denies evidence of Trump team’s ties to Russia. Nunes contended there was no need at this time for a special prosecutor. Instead, the “major crimes” that have been committed are leaking to the news media on the subject of Russia.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/house-intelligence-chairman-denies-evidence-of-trump-teams-ties-to-russia/2017/02/27/66495ce8-fcfd-11e6-99b4-9e613afeb09f_story.html

– Trump will propose a federal budget that dramatically increases defense-related spending by $54 billion while cutting virtually all other federal agencies by the same amount.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/trump-to-propose-10-percent-spike-in-defense-spending-massive-cuts-to-other-agencies/2017/02/27/867f9690-fcf2-11e6-99b4-9e613afeb09f_story.html

– Wilbur L. Ross, Jr., a former banker and investor who earned billions during decades of buying and selling industries, dubbed the “king of bankruptcy”, was confirmed as secretary of commerce by the Senate in a 72-to-27 vote.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/02/27/billionaire-investor-wilbur-ross-confirmed-as-trumps-secretary-of-commerce

–  Trump administration will formally end opposition to Texas voter ID law. Justice department says administration won’t challenge the strict law, in a shift from Obama-era opposition to such discriminatory laws.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/27/texas-voter-id-law-trump-administration-no-challenge

– Jewish community centers in Cherry Hill, NJ, North Jersey, Wilmington, Delaware, and York, Pennsylvania, were among those evacuated, targeted in wave of bomb threats. NBC News lists at least 20 bomb threats to Jewish Community Centers and day schools in 13 states.

http://www.courierpostonline.com/story/news/local/south-jersey/2017/02/27/cherry-hill-jewish-community-center-evacuated/98476938/

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/321338-new-wave-of-bomb-threats-against-jewish-community-centers

– A federal appeals court rejected a Justice Department request to place on hold an appeal over President Donald Trump’s travel ban on people from seven majority-Muslim countries.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-court-idUSKBN16627W

– House Republicans beat back a Democratic attempt to smoke out President Donald Trump’s tax returns, after the issue was forced on the floor.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/house-gop-thwarts-democrats-pursuit-of-donald-trumps-tax-returns-1488251818

– Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) argue they want full repeal of Obamacare.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/321489-cruz-lee-paul-demand-full-repeal-of-obamacare

February 28, 2017 Tuesday

– Washington Post reports FBI once planned to pay MI6 agent Christopher Steele. An agreement with the FBI was reached a few weeks before the election for the bureau to pay him to continue his work.The agreement fell apart once Steele’s dossier was published and reported.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/fbi-once-planned-to-pay-former-british-spy-who-authored-controversial-trump-dossier/2017/02/28/896ab470-facc-11e6-9845-576c69081518_story.html

– White House lawyers instructed Trump’s staff to preserve materials that could be connected to Russian interference in November’s election.

https://apnews.com/23cca28e11b74f0cb369fda6fac64d67

– Trump gives address to Congress heralding a “new chapter of American greatness,” overhauling the health care system, boosting military spending, spending $1 trillion to upgrade infrastructure, tax relief for middle-class and reduction in corporate tax rates, promotes new immigration crime office. Trump invited relatives of those killed by undocumented people to Capitol Hill.

– Donald Trump signs bill allowing mentally ill people to buy guns.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-guns-bill-mentally-ill-background-checks-nra-a7604876.html

– House Judiciary Committee voted along party lines not to investigate the Trump-Russia scandal.

https://thinkprogress.org/house-republicans-government-information-trump-russia-852121abe2d6

March 1, 2017 Wednesday

– Senate confirms Ryan Zinke to head Interior Department.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/03/01/senate-confirms-ryan-zinke-as-interior-secretary/

– Justice Department admits Sessions had contacts with Russians, though he had denied it earlier. Adam B. Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that if the reports about Mr. Sessions were accurate, “it is essential that he recuse himself from any role in the investigation of Trump campaign ties to the Russians.” Mr. Schiff added, “This is not even a close call; it is a must.” Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader of the House, called on Mr. Sessions to resign, saying on Twitter that “he is not fit to serve as the top law enforcement officer of our country.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/01/us/politics/obama-trump-russia-election-hacking.html

– House Intelligence Committee has agreed an investigation into Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 US elections.

http://www.theindependentbd.com/post/83382

http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/321924-house-intelligence-sets-goals-for-russia-investigation

– Trump Delays New Travel Ban After Speech to Congress Gets High Marks. “We want the [executive order] to have its own ‘moment,’” a White House official told CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/28/politics/trump-travel-ban-visa-holders/

March 2, 2017 Thursday

– Ben Carson confirmed to head HUD.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/02/us/politics/ben-carson-housing-urban-development.html

– Trump stands by Session in Russia controversy.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-sessions-idUSKBN16908L

– Euro lawmakers press EU to impose visas on U.S. citizens. (File under Western nationalism.)

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-usa-visa-idUSKBN1691Q9

– Senate confirms Rick Perry as Energy Secretary.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/rick-perry-confirmed-energy-secretary-235617

– Sessions recuses himself on all current and future investigations into Russia ties with the Trump campaign.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/top-gop-lawmaker-calls-on-sessions-to-recuse-himself-from-russia-investigation/2017/03/02/148c07ac-ff46-11e6-8ebe-6e0dbe4f2bca_story.html

– White House EPA budget proposal cuts climate protection program 70 percent to $29 million, targets climate, clean water programs. An EPA climate protection program on cutting emissions of greenhouse gases like methane that contribute to global warming would be cut 70 percent to $29 million.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-epa-budget-idUSKBN1692XA

– Adam Schiff, leading Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, claims FBI holding back information on Russia probes. “At this point we know less than a fraction of what the FBI knows.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/fbi-not-answering-congress-questions-russia-probe-democrat-190000262.html

– Vice President Mike Pence used a private email account to conduct public business when he was governor of Indiana, a practice that was legal but raised questions about the security of the communications, some of which addressed sensitive topics.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/02/us/mike-pence-used-private-email-as-governor-news-report-says.html

– ‘The fuse is lit’: Dan Rather says Trump-Russia scandal is about to go off like a bomb.

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/the-fuse-is-lit-dan-rather-says-trump-russia-scandal-is-about-to-go-off-like-a-bomb/

March 3, 2017 Friday

– Women and children crossing together illegally into the United States could be separated by U.S. authorities under a proposal being considered by the Department of Homeland Security.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-children-idUSKBN16A2ES

– Vice President Pence said there was “no comparison whatsoever” between his use of a private email account for state business while he was governor of Indiana and the email woes of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/03/politics/mike-pence-personal-email-address/http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/03/politics/mike-pence-personal-email-address/

– Trump administration is seeking a 17 percent cut to the budget of the government’s meteorological agency that monitors the climate and issues daily weather forecasts. Proposed reductions in NOAA would affect research and satellite programs and eliminate funding for some smaller programs.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/03/03/white-house-proposes-steep-budget-cut-to-leading-climate-science-agency/

– Current and former officials said that in a departure from past practice, access to a classified computer system at the White House has been tightened by political appointees to prevent professional staffers from seeing memos being prepared for the new president. And at the Department of Homeland Security, some officials told Reuters they fear a witch hunt is under way for the leaker of a draft intelligence report which found little evidence that citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries covered by Trump’s now-suspended travel ban pose a threat to the United States.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-secrecy-exclusive-idUSKBN16A0GD

– The Transportation Security Administration has started using a new and more rigorous pat-down at airports, which one passenger this week likened to “groin scrutiny.”

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/03/03/tsa-rolls-out-new-more-intimate-airport-pat-downs/98713844/

– European Parliament votes to end visa-free travel for Americans. The passing of the non-binding resolution comes after the US failed to agree visa-free travel for citizens of five EU countries.

http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/european-parliament-ends-visa-free-travel-for-americans-117030301077_1.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/03/world/europe/eu-visas-parliament-united-states.html

– Trump leaves White House furious that Sessions recused himself.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/322363-reports-trump-told-aides-sessions-shouldnt-have-recused-himself

– Carter Page, Adviser Once Linked to Trump Campaign, Met With Russian Ambassador.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/carter-page-adviser-once-linked-trump-campaign-met-russian-ambassador-n728511

March 4, 2017 Saturday

– Trump suggested Obama had improperly tapped his phones, without citing evidence, in a series of tweets on Saturday morning. “No president can order a wiretap. Those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you,” Ben Rhodes wrote on Twitter.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-obama-idUSKBN16B0CC

– The White House budget director Mulvaney confirmed that the Trump administration will propose “fairly dramatic reductions” in the U.S. foreign aid budget later this month.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-budget-idUSKBN16B0NC

– Mexico opened legal aid centers at its 50 consulates across the United States on Saturday to defend its citizens, the Mexican government said, amid worries of a crackdown on illegal immigration under U.S. President Donald Trump.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-mexico-immigration-idUSKBN16B0PL

– Supporters of Trump held a second day of small rallies in communities around the country, a counterpoint to a wave of protests that have taken place since his election in November.

http://www.newsweek.com/trump-backers-series-small-rallies-support-president-563923

– The U.S. Department of Citizenship and Immigration Services will temporarily suspend expedited processing of H-1B visas, halting the option for American companies to quickly bring skilled immigrants to the United States for employment.

http://time.com/money/4691238/us-suspends-expedited-processing-h1b-visas/

– Before heading to his so-called winter White House in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump summoned some of his senior staffers to the Oval Office and went “ballistic,” a senior White House source told ABC News. Trump furious that Sessions recused himself. Washington Post reporter Robert Costa tweeted Saturday morning that Trump left the White House “in a fury” on Friday, “fuming about [Jeff] Sessions’s recusal and telling aides that Sessions shouldn’t have recused himself,” also calling the reports of his meeting “bull.”

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/322363-reports-trump-told-aides-sessions-shouldnt-have-recused-himself

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-flashes-anger-sessions-recusal-russia-stories-tense/story

March 5, 2017 Sunday

– White House asks Congress to probe Trump’s accusation of Obama wiretap.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-idUSKBN16C0MG

– Former DNI James Clapper tells “Meet the Press” “There was no such wiretap activity mounted against the president-elect at the time, or as a candidate or against his campaign.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-idUSKBN16C0MG

– James B. Comey, the director of the F.B.I., asked the Justice Department to publicly reject President Trump’s claim that former President Barack Obama ordered his phones to be tapped. It has not.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/05/us/politics/trump-seeks-inquiry-into-allegations-that-obama-tapped-his-phones.html

– In a Mere 6 Weeks, Trump Alters More Than 90 Regulations. The Trump administration has pushed a flurry of deregulations, giving more freedoms to gun sellers, bankers and miners, and corporate lobbyists are clamoring for more.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/05/us/politics/trump-deregulation-guns-wall-st-climate.html

– Priebus and Bannon didn’t fly with Trump to Florida. Various interpretations allege Trump punished them.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4284566/Video-emerges-Trump-s-Oval-Office-row-Bannon.html

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/04/politics/donald-trump-jeff-sessions-reince-priebus/

March 6, 2017 Monday

– Trump signed a revised executive order for a U.S. travel ban, leaving Iraq off the list of targeted countries.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-exclusive-idUSKBN16D154

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/new-executive-order-bans-travelers-from-six-muslim-majority-countries-applying-for-visas/2017/03/06/3012a42a-0277-11e7-ad5b-d22680e18d10_story.html

– Senators push Trump to release White House, Mar-a-Lago visitor logs.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-visitors-idUSKBN16D2AG

– House Republicans reveal bill to repeal and replace Obama’s healthcare law. American Health Care Act would shrink government role in healthcare and could leave more people without insurance despite Trump administration promises. Replaces subsidies with tax credits.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/06/house-republicans-healthcare-law-bill-obamacare-repeal

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/new-details-emerge-on-gop-plans-to-repeal-and-replace-obamacare/2017/03/06/04751e3e-028f-11e7-ad5b-d22680e18d10_story.html

– Senate votes to repeal labor protection laws that safeguarded poultry workers.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/mar/06/labor-protection-laws-repeal-poultry-industry-workers

– Ben Carson compared slaves to immigrants seeking a better life in his first official address Monday as HUD secretary.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/03/06/carson-compares-slaves-to-immigrants-coming-to-a-land-of-dreams-and-opportunity/

– Gold Star father of American soldier killed in Iraq who criticized Trump says travel rights reviewed. Khizr Khan had planned to speak at a luncheon in Toronto on Tuesday in a discussion about President Trump’s administration.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-khan-idUSKBN16D2MI

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/khizr-khan-toronto-talk-cancelled-1.4012696

– The US has temporarily suspended the fast-track processing of H1B visas, leaving many foreign workers in limbo. H1B visas allow skilled workers to come to the US temporarily. They are in high demand, particularly in Silicon Valley and the medical sector, and are allocated by lottery.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/06/us-h1b-visa-program-suspended-trump-silicon-valley

– The Homeland Security Department is considering separating children from parents caught crossing the Mexican border illegally, Secretary John Kelly said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/03/07/dhs-is-considering-separating-mothers-and-children-who-cross-the-border-illegally/

– The Supreme Court is leaving the issue of transgender rights in schools to lower courts for now after backing out of a high-profile case.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/8cb7fb31f1214e63851028bd731bc332

– Top member ff House Intel Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, questions Trump’s mental state on MSNBC.

http://www.politicususa.com/2017/03/06/top-member-house-intel-committee-questions-trumps-mental-state-msnbc.html

March 7, 2017 Tuesday

– House intelligence chief has seen no evidence to back Trump’s wiretap charge.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-hearing-idUSKBN16E2RS

– House schedules first hearing in Trump-Russia investigation.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/house-trump-russia-investigation-hearing-235789

– Conservatives rebel against Trump-backed Republican healthcare plan. Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky decried it as “Obamacare Lite.” Conservative groups including Heritage Action for America, the Club for Growth, Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Partners, backed by the billionaire Republican donor Koch brothers, urged its defeat for different reasons.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-obamacare-idUSKBN16D2RC

– Bomb threats against Jewish centers continue: The threats Tuesday targeted facilities in at least eight states, Washington, D.C., and Toronto, officials said. “Four ADL offices in Atlanta, Boston, New York and Washington D.C. received bomb threats. Before Tuesday, the ADL had reported 121 bomb threats made across the United States and Canada.

– A vast portion of the CIA’s computer hacking arsenal appeared to have been exposed by the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks, which posted thousands of files revealing secret cyber-tools used by the agency to convert cellphones, televisions and other ordinary devices into implements of espionage.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/wikileaks-says-it-has-obtained-trove-of-cia-hacking-tools/2017/03/07/c8c50c5c-0345-11e7-b1e9-a05d3c21f7cf_story.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/03/07/as-more-jewish-facilities-get-threats-senators-ask-trump-administration-for-swift-action/

– Trump’s nominee for deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, declined Tuesday to endorse the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate ties between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, bucking pressure from Democrats.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/322772-doj-nominee-declines-to-back-special-prosecutor-on-russia

March 8, 2017 Wednesday

– Trump’s administration is weighing a deployment of up to 1,000 American soldiers to Kuwait to serve as a reserve force in the fight against Islamic State as U.S.-backed fighters accelerate the offensive in Syria and Iraq, U.S. officials told Reuters.

– Mexico has canceled existing sugar export permits to the United States. The letter sent by Mexico’s sugar chamber to mills on Monday partly blamed the situation on unfilled positions at the U.S. Department of Commerce, which it said has led to a “legalistic” interpretation of rules with no U.S. counterparts in place in Washington for Mexican officials to negotiate with.

– China has granted preliminary approval for at least 35 trademarks linked to Donald Trump, documents on China’s state trademark office show, giving the U.S. President and his family protection were they to develop the “Trump” brand in the market.

– Pivotal industry and consumer groups mounted intensifying opposition to the Republican health care bill. The American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association and AARP, the nation’s largest advocacy group for older people, were arrayed against the GOP measure.

– Many American women stayed home from work, joined rallies or wore red Wednesday to demonstrate how vital they are to the U.S. economy, as International Women’s Day was observed with a multitude of events around the world.

– The Trump administration has considered more than $6 billion in cuts at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to preliminary budget documents obtained by The Washington Post. The plan would squeeze public housing support and end most federally funded community development grants. HUD’s budget would shrink by about 14 percent to $40.5 billion in fiscal 2018, which begins in October. While suggesting significant cuts, the preliminary budget maintains the same level of funding to rental assistance programs and avoids reductions that could directly put families on the streets. Budgets for public housing authorities — city and state agencies that provide subsidized housing and vouchers to local residents — would be among the hardest hit. Under the preliminary budget, those operational funds would be reduced by $600 million, or 13 percent. Under the proposal, direct rental assistance payments — including Section 8 Housing and housing vouchers for homeless veterans — would be cut by at least $300 million, to $19.3 billion. Additionally, housing for the elderly — known as the Section 202 program — would be cut by $42 million, nearly 10 percent.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-administration-considers-6-billion-cut-to-hud-budget/2017/03/08/1757e8e8-03ab-11e7-b1e9-a05d3c21f7cf_story.html

– Hawaii Mounts Legal Challenge To President’s Revised Travel Ban.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/08/519263084/hawaii-will-mount-legal-challenge-to-presidents-revised-travel-ban

– Turkish client paid $530,000 to Michael Flynn’s consulting firm. Flynn, fired last month from his White House post, formally registered as a foreign agent this week with the Justice Department and disclosed the details of his work for Inovo BV, a Dutch consulting firm owned by a Turkish businessman with ties to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/08/michael-flynn-received-530000-from-turkish-client-during-trump-campaign/98917184/

March 9, 2017 Thursday

– Two House of Representatives committees approved the legislation that would undo much of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, moving it closer to a vote before the full House.

– Three states suing to block Trump’s new travel ban: Hawaii, NY and Oregon.

http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/323226-three-states-sue-to-stop-trumps-new-travel-ban

– EPA head Scott Pruitt denies that carbon dioxide causes global warming.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/mar/09/epa-scott-pruitt-carbon-dioxide-global-warming-climate-change

– Bill Clinton, “Resurgent nationalism ‘taking us to the edge of our destruction’”

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/bill-clinton-nationalism-235894

– U.S. Is Sending About 400 Marines To Syria.

March 10, 2017 Friday

– Trump’s administration is asking for resignation letters from all 46 remaining U.S. attorneys appointed by President Barack Obama.

– More States Join Legal Challenge to Trump Travel Ban: Massachusetts, Minnesota New York and Oregon.

http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/more-states-join-legal-challenge-to-travel-ban

– Maryland joins states suing over Trump’s travel ban.

– State Dept asked NYC Medical Examiner not to disclose cause of death of Russian UN ambassador who died last month.

– Seattle synagogue targeted by anti-Semitic vandalism. “Holocaust is fake history” was spray-painted across a wall of Temple de Hirsch Sinai, with each instance of the letter “S” replaced with dollar signs.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/323545-seattle-synagogue-targeted-by-anti-semitic-vandalism-report

– Trump’s revised travel ban dealt first court setback. A federal judge in Wisconsin dealt the first legal blow to President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban on Friday, barring enforcement of the policy to deny U.S. entry to the wife and child of a Syrian refugee already granted asylum in the United States.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-court-idUSKBN16I02F

March 11, 2017 Saturday

– Defiant U.S. prosecutor fired by Trump. A prominent Obama appointed U.S. prosecutor said the Trump administration fired him on Saturday after he refused to step down, adding a discordant note to what is normally a routine changing of top attorneys when a new president takes office.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-justice-idUSKBN16I0PZ

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/attorney-preet-bharara-donald-trump-lawyer-manhattan-us-barack-obama-a7625081.html

– Man faces 10-year sentence after scaling White House fence today.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-intruder-idUSKBN16I0KU

– A federal court has dealt Texas another loss over voting rights, finding that Republicans racially gerrymandered some congressional districts to weaken the electoral influence of the state’s booming minority population. A federal three-judge panel in San Antonio invalidated three Texas congressional districts for violating the Voting Rights Act or the Constitution in a decision late Friday night.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/texas-redistricting-racial-lines-235956

https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/invalidated-texas-congressional-districts

– 134 foreign policy experts condemn Trump travel ban

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/323559-134-foreign-policy-experts-condemn-trump-travel-ban

– Sanders: US facing ‘very scary times’. “We have a president who is a pathological liar. Trump lies all of the time. He lies in order to undermine the foundations of American democracy.”

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/323550-sanders-very-scary-times-but-we-must-fight-back

– ACLU To Hold ‘Resistance Training’ So Americans Can Fight Trump’s Dangerous Policies.

http://www.politicususa.com/2017/03/11/aclu-host-resistance-training-americans-fight-trumps-dangerous-policies.html

– Preet Bharara was investigating Fox News when Sean Hannity urged Donald Trump to fire him.

http://www.palmerreport.com/politics/preet-bharara-was-investigating-fox-news-when-sean-hannity-urged-donald-trump-to-fire-him/1887/

March 12, 2017 Sunday

– Aides to Trump attacked the credibility of The Congressional Budget Office that will analyze the costs of a replacement for Obamacare, as the White House sought to quell opposition from many conservative Republicans.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-obamacare-idUSKBN16J0XH

– Mayors of Santa Fe and Philadelphia said in a SXSW panel that the president’s orders and immigration policies represent a threat to the safety and prosperity of US cities. ‘We cannot submit to a bully’.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/12/trump-immigration-sxsw-sanctuary-cities-philadelphia-santa-fe

– A Jewish community center in Rochester, New York, closed temporarily on Sunday after receiving its second bomb threat in less than a week.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/12/us/jcc-rochester-ny-bomb-threat/index.html

– Kellyanne Conway suggests Obama could have spied on Trump through a microwave.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/12/kellyanne-conway-surveillance-trump-campaign-wider/99109170/

– Trump budget expected to seek historic contraction of federal workforce.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/through-his-budget-a-bottom-line-look-at-trumps-new-washington/2017/03/12/29739206-05be-11e7-b9fa-ed727b644a0b_story.html

March 13, 2017 Monday

– CBO: 14 million would lose coverage in 2018 under GOP Obamacare repeal.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/cbo-gop-obamacare-repeal-plan-236007

– Trump gives CIA authority to conduct drone strikes. The move would be a change from the policy of former President Barack Obama’s administration of limiting the CIA’s paramilitary role.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-cia-drones-idUSKBN16K2SE

– White House Seeks to Cut Billions in Funding for United Nations. U.S. retreat from U.N. could mark a “breakdown of the international humanitarian system as we know it.”

http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/13/white-house-seeks-to-cut-billions-in-funding-for-united-nations/

– The chief federal prosecutors in Connecticut and northern New York have won short-term reprieves from Trump’s abrupt action Friday demanding immediate resignations from several dozen U.S. attorneys appointed by President Barack Obama.

– Trump signs Executive Order on a Comprehensive Plan for Reorganizing the Executive Branch. The order directs OMB Director Mick Mulvaney to “propose a plan to reorganize governmental functions and eliminate unnecessary agencies … components of agencies and agency programs.” The Executive Branch Is About to Be ‘Reorganized’ into Oblivion. Steve Bannon’s time has come.

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a53848/trump-executive-order-reorganization/

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/13/trump-to-sign-executive-order-aiming-to-see-where-money-is-being-wasted-in-government-spicer-says.html

March 14, 2017 Tuesday

– ‘Never Trump’ Republicans join call for select committee to investigate Russia and Trump. “Never Trump” Republicans are planning to pressure GOP leaders to establish a bipartisan select committee to take over the inquiries and settle the matter once and for all.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2017/03/14/never-trump-republicans-join-call-for-select-committee-to-investigate-russia-and-trump/

– Secretary of State Tillerson told the U.N. advocates and human rights groups that the U.S. “continues to evaluate the effectiveness” of the Human Rights Council but is skeptical about being in a group with nations such as China, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which have poor human rights records, Foreign Policy reported.

– Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warned Republicans on Tuesday that they’d risk a government shutdown if they try to attach money for Trump’s U.S.-Mexico border wall to a must-pass bill to keep the government open. The same applies to any attempt to defund Planned Parenthood, Schumer said.

– Trump set to completely scrap US consumer protection agency.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-scrap-us-consumer-protection-agency-randy-neugebauer-cfpb-texan-congressman-finance-a7614731.html

– Trump gives CIA power to carry out its own drone strikes. New authority sparks fears about accountability as until now all lethal remote strikes had to be launched by military.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-cia-power-drone-strikes-military-a7628561.html

– Trump’s administration is preparing to release a wide-ranging executive order to reduce the role that climate change plays in policy decisions. The move could alter how U.S. agencies weigh regulations on a broad array of industries, from drilling, coal mining and auto manufacturing to refining.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-carbon-idUSKBN16L2R4

– Kushners, Trump In-Laws, Weigh $400 Million Deal in sale of NY skyscraper with Chinese Firm. The Kushner family, owners of the tower, would reap a financial windfall courtesy of a Chinese company, even as Jared Kushner, a senior adviser to Mr. Trump as well as his son-in-law, helps oversee American foreign policy.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/14/nyregion/kushner-companies-anbang-insurance-group.html

March 15, 2017 Wednesday

– Hawaii judge halts Trump’s new travel ban before it can go into effect. A U.S. federal judge in Hawaii dealt another legal blow to President Donald Trump on Wednesday, issuing an emergency halt to his revised travel ban just hours before it was set to go into effect early on Thursday. U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson put out an emergency stop on Trump’s executive order, which aimed to temporarily bar entry to the United States of most refugees as well as travelers from six Muslim-majority countries.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-court-idUSKBN16M17N

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/lawyers-face-off-on-trump-travel-ban-in-md-court-wednesday-morning/2017/03/14/b2d24636-090c-11e7-93dc-00f9bdd74ed1_story.html

– The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly to confirm former Republican senator Dan Coats to be Trump’s director of national intelligence and to approve Army Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster’s transfer to become his national security adviser.

– The Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes, who has been one of the few defenders of Trump’s claims, made clear Wednesday that there is zero evidence to suggest Trump Tower was wiretapped.

–  US Federal Reserve raises interest rates to 1% in bid to hold off inflation. Fed chair Janet Yellen says US economy in strong health as she announces third rate rise since 2008 and the first of several expected this year

– US charges two Russian spies and two hackers in Yahoo data breach.

– Trump has begun the process of rolling back carbon pollution standards for vehicles following a meeting with automakers in Detroit, Michigan. Trump has directed the EPA to review fuel efficiency standards that were a key plank of Barack Obama’s effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The move is a victory for carmakers who have claimed the standards are too onerous and out of step with Americans’ car buying habits.

– FBI Director James Comey briefed a group of top senators Wednesday amid growing demands that he clarify if the bureau is investigating any contacts between Moscow and the Trump campaign.

March 16, 2017 Thursday

– The Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee said on Thursday they saw no evidence to support Trump’s claim that the Obama administration tapped his phones during the 2016 presidential campaign.

– Trump vows to appeal against travel ban ruling to Supreme Court.

– Trump unveiled a $1.15 trillion budget, proposing a far-reaching overhaul of federal spending that would slash many domestic programs to finance a big increase for the military and make a down payment on a U.S.-Mexico border wall. Massive cuts to the arts, science and the poor.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/trump-federal-budget-2018-massive-cuts-to-the-arts-science-and-the-poor/2017/03/15/0a0a0094-09a1-11e7-a15f-a58d4a988474_story.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/us/politics/trump-budget.html

March 17, 2017 Friday

– The White House has apologized to the British government after alleging that a UK intelligence agency spied on President Donald Trump at the behest of former President Barack Obama.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/17/politics/gchq-trump-wiretap-denial/index.html

– U.S. prepared to take military action against N. Korea, if necessary, Sec. of State Tillerson says.

– Merkel Meets Trump, the Defender Versus the Disrupter.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/17/world/europe/angela-merkel-donald-trump.html

– Trump defiantly backs-away from apologies to Britain at his news conference with Angela Merkel, making clear that the White House had nothing to retract or apologize for because his spokesman had simply repeated an assertion made by a Fox News commentator. Fox itself later disavowed the report.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/17/world/europe/trump-britain-obama-wiretap-gchq.html

– Immigration judges headed to 12 U.S. cities to speed deportations.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-judges-exclusive-idUSKBN16O2S6

– The U.S. government took the legal battle over President Donald Trump’s travel ban to a higher court on Friday, saying it would appeal a federal judge’s decision that struck down parts of the ban on the day it was set to go into effect.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-appeal-idUSKBN16O2MT

March 18, 2017 Saturday

– On the heels of a visibly awkward visit from the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, Donald Trump said that Germany owed “vast sums of money” to Nato and the US, even though the alliance does not stipulate payments to America. His remarks prompted a former US permanent representative to Nato to reply “that’s not how Nato works.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/18/trump-merkel-nato-germany-owe-money-tweet

– China has rebuffed Donald Trump’s latest Twitter attack after the US president accused Beijing of doing little to help force North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, to abandon his nuclear ambitions. Speaking in Beijing alongside the US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, claimed a responsible China had “devoted a lot of energy and effort over the years” to resolving the North Korean issue.

– G20 Leaders Roll Back Free Trade Pledge After Pushback From Trump Administration. At a meeting of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 industrialized and emerging nations and the European Union, Steven Mnuchin signaled that American policy would follow the campaign promises made by President Trump to put “America first” and review existing trade agreements to seek better deals for the United States.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/business/group-of-20-summit-us-trade.html

– Roger J. Stone Jr., an informal adviser to President Trump, has been asked by the Senate Intelligence Committee to preserve any records he may have in connection to a broader inquiry into Russian attempts to interfere with United States elections.

– One person was in custody after a car drove up to a White House checkpoint late Saturday and the driver claimed to have a bomb in the vehicle, CNN reported. There wasn’t any immediate confirmation that a device was in the car, but the vehicle was being checked, CNN reported citing law enforcement sources. The report followed another incident earlier Saturday when a man was detained after jumping a pedestrian barrier near the White House.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/324669-1-person-in-custody-after-driver-makes-bomb-claim-at-wh-report

March 19, 2017 Sunday

– Germany rejects Trump’s claim it owes NATO and U.S. ‘vast sums’ for defense.

– Sir Peter Westmacott, writing in the Guardian, has accused the White House of ‘peddling falsehoods’ by suggesting British intelligence spied on Trump Tower.

– Intruder Arrested at White House After Saying He Has ‘Bomb in the Trunk’.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/19/us/politics/white-house-intruder-bomb.html

– White House installs political aides at Cabinet agencies to be Trump’s eyes and ears.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/white-house-installs-political-aides-at-cabinet-agencies-to-be-trumps-eyes-and-ears/2017/03/19/68419f0e-08da-11e7-93dc-00f9bdd74ed1_story.html

– Chair of the House Intelligence Committee Devin Nunes told Fox News host Chris Wallace on-air that a current person in the White House is under investigation and surveillance.

http://shareblue.com/wait-what-house-intel-chair-says-no-one-at-white-house-under-surveillance-but-one/

– The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, said Sunday there was “circumstantial evidence” of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials — and “direct evidence” of deception.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/schiff-trump-russia-democrats-investigation-236231

March 20, 2017 Monday

– Day 1 of Neil Gorsuch Senate Hearings.

– FBI: Trump campaign, Russia ties investigated, no wiretap evidence found. In a hearing before the House Intelligence Committee, FBI Director James Comey said for the first time Monday that the bureau is investigating whether there was any coordination between the Trump campaign and Moscow while Russia was interfering in the presidential election. Comey also delivered an implicit rebuke to President Donald Trump, saying that he had “no information” to support claims by the President that he was wiretapped on the orders of predecessor Barack Obama. What made the moment even more extraordinary was Trump’s tweeted commentary on – and misrepresenting of – the hearing as it was happening. Trump’s spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump would not apologize to Obama for the accusations against him, adding that there were questions still remaining about surveillance that may or may not have taken place during the campaign.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/20/politics/comey-hearing-russia-wiretapping/index.html

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/20/fbi-director-comey-confirms-investigation-trump-russia

http://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-us-canada-39328507

– Donald Trump tweets lies during Russia hearings, but MSNBC corrects him in real time.

http://www.palmerreport.com/opinion/donald-trump-live-tweets-russia-hearings-but-msnbc-corrects-his-false-claims-in-real-time/1992/

http://www.palmerreport.com/politics/lie-james-comey-donald-trump-russia-tweet/1994/

March 21, 2017 Tuesday

– Day 2 of Neil Gorsuch Senate Hearings.

– Trump tells GOP critics of health-care bill: ‘I’m gonna come after you’

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/trump-arrives-on-capitol-hill-to-sell-house-gop-health-care-package/2017/03/21/e8ede3d2-0e2b-11e7-9b0d-d27c98455440_story.html

– Chair of House Intelligence Committee Devin Nunes received a phone call that caused him to bail on his Uber ride and disappear from the staffer he was with.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/24/devin-nunes-vanished-the-night-before-he-made-trump-surveillance-claims.html

March 22, 2017 Wednesday

– House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes – without any notice to the committee’s Democrats – held a press conference and then briefed the White House on what he called new evidence, provided to him by an unnamed source, that members of the Trump transition might have been improperly monitored by U.S. intelligence agencies following the November election.

March 23, 2017 Thursday

– Trump hosted conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh for dinner at the White House. Limbaugh and his wife had dinner with the president, Vice President Pence and Pence’s wife Karen at the White House.

http://thehill.com/homenews/news/327525-trump-invited-limbaugh-to-dine-at-the-white-house-report

March 24, 2017 Friday

– New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is calling what police said was a racially-motivated murder of a black Manhattan resident by a white man who traveled to the city from Baltimore an “act of domestic, racist terrorism.” And he believes that “a dynamic of hatred” is growing in America that “is clearly related to the rhetoric of Donald Trump and even other candidates during the presidential election.”

http://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2017/03/de-blasio-dynamic-of-hatred-is-clearly-related-to-donald-trump-110677

– Republican Chairman Devin Nunes of the House Intelligence Committee cancels next week’s open hearing where Sally Yates, John Brennan and James Clapper were to give public testimony. Democratic Co-Chair Schiff strongly objected, calls it a “serious mistake”.

http://www.newsweek.com/russia-election-probe-public-session-canceled-house-intelligence-chair-573893

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/3/24/1646841/-Breaking-Nunes-Cancels-Public-Intelligence-Committee-Hearings

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/adam-schiff-slams-intel-chair-devin-nunes-for-caving-to-white-house-and-canceling-key-russia-hearing/

– The head of the House Intelligence Committee secretly went to the White House grounds to meet with a source, before he surprised his colleagues by briefing the president — and the press — on information they hadn’t seen.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/27/521667814/head-of-house-intel-committee-went-to-white-house-grounds-to-meet-source

– Democrats are plotting their next move after questioning House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes’ fitness to lead the panel’s investigation into Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election.

– House repeal and replacement of ACA fails, is pulled lacking enough votes. Ryan said he told President Trump the best thing to do was pull this bill and Trump agreed with that decision. Trump blamed Democrats.

http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/ryan-concedes-on-health-care-says-house-will-move-on

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/house-leaders-prepare-to-vote-friday-on-health-care-reform/2017/03/24/736f1cd6-1081-11e7-9d5a-a83e627dc120_story.html

– FBI Director James Comey was at the White House on Friday, days after he confirmed his bureau is investigating ties between associates of President Trump and Russia. The White House said Comey visited to attend a “routine interagency meeting,” but did not say with whom he met. No meeting with Comey was listed on the president’s public schedule. Comey was spotted leaving the White House less than an hour later after television cameras showed him entering the West Wing.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/325670-fbi-director-comey-visits-white-house

– NBC News Chief Andrea Mitchell has learned that staffers in the Trump Administration are racing to “purge their cellphones” of relevant information as the threat of a subpoena by one of the three investigations into the Trump team’s potentially treasonous collusion with the Russian Federation grows with each passing day.

http://occupydemocrats.com/2017/03/25/nbc-just-busted-trump-team-purging-smartphones-hide-proof-russian-treason/

March 25, 2017 Saturday

– New York Mayor De Blasio blames Trump for ‘dynamic of hatred’ in US.

http://thehill.com/homenews/325782-nyc-mayor-links-race-related-murder-to-trump

– Fights erupt at pro-Donald Trump rally on California beach.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/26/fights-erupt-at-pro-donald-trump-rally-on-california-beach

– Trump aide Boris Epshteyn leaving White House, officials say.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/25/politics/epshteyn-leaving-white-house/

– Politico and London Times reveals Trump handed Angela Merkel a bill thought to be for more than £300 billion supposedly owed by Germany to NATO.

http://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-handed-angela-merkel-outrageous-nato-bill-report/

March 27, 2017 Monday

– Nunes said Monday that he did not coordinate his allegations that President Donald Trump’s transition team was monitored by U.S. intelligence officials with the White House. CNN reported on Monday morning that Nunes had gone to the White House grounds to view those documents, which further raised the question of whether the Trump administration had given them to him and coordinated the story.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/devin-nunes-trump-intelligence-wiretapping-236567

– The storm around intensified Monday after it was revealed that Nunes secretly visited the White House grounds the day before announcing incidental surveillance of President Trump’s transition team. The visit raised questions about whether the White House itself was the source of the mysterious intelligence that Nunes, but no one else on Capitol Hill, has seen. Nunes has vowed to protect his source while offering contradictory descriptions of what the documents reveal.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/326036-storm-builds-around-intel-chair-after-secret-white-house-trip

– Pelosi, Schiff call on Nunes to recuse himself from Russia probe. The calls are a stunning breakdown for a committee that has traditionally operated in a bipartisan manner.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/schiff-calls-on-nunes-to-recuse-himself-from-russia-probe-236565

– Trump is reportedly creating a new White House innovation office that will be led by his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner. The new office, which is described in the Post report as a “SWAT team” to fix the federal bureaucracy, is working with tech giants. It is expected to pull ideas from the business world and may consider privatizing some government functions. The team will include former business executives, according to the report.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/325869-kushner-to-lead-white-house-innovation-office-report

– Trump criticized former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s policies on Russia in a series of tweets Monday night, adding, the “Trump Russia story is a hoax.”

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/trump-clinton-russia-236571

March 28, 2017 Tuesday

– Trump administration sought to block Yates from testifying to Congress on Russia.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-administration-sought-to-block-sally-yates-from-testifying-to-congress-on-russia/2017/03/28/82b73e18-13b4-11e7-9e4f-09aa75d3ec57_story.html

– Trump signs executive order to sweep away Obama-era climate change regulations. The decree’s main target is Obama’s Clean Power Plan that required states to slash carbon emissions from power plants – a critical element in helping the United States meet its commitments to a global climate change accord reached by nearly 200 countries in Paris in 2015. The so-called “Energy Independence” order also reverses a ban on coal leasing on federal lands, undoes rules to curb methane emissions from oil and gas production, and reduces the weight of climate change and carbon emissions in policy and infrastructure permitting decisions.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-energy-idUSKBN16Z1L6

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-moves-decisively-to-wipe-out-obamas-climate-change-record/2017/03/27/411043d4-132c-11e7-9e4f-09aa75d3ec57_story.html

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article141773404.html

– Europe poised to take baton from US as leader in global efforts to fight climate change, with America’s commitment to Paris accords at risk.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/mar/28/climate-change-eu-leader-trump-executive-order

– White House backs repeal of broadband privacy rules.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-internet-idUSKBN16Z2JI

– Congress voted to kill rules meant to prevent internet service providers from selling users’ web browsing histories and app storage histories to advertisers.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/28/privacy-protection-sell-web-browsing-history-data

– House of Representatives Republican leaders said on Tuesday they still intended to repeal and replace Obamacare after their White House-backed bill failed to get enough support and collapsed last week.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-obamacare-republicans-idUSKBN16Z23K

–  House Republicans on Tuesday blocked more attempts by Democrats to obtain President Donald Trump’s tax returns from the IRS.

http://www.wcax.com/story/35017580/house-gop-blocks-effort-by-democrats-to-obtain-trumps-taxes

– Trump asks police union officials (FOP) to find out which cops didn’t vote for him.

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/watch-police-union-officials-laugh-uneasily-when-trump-asks-them-to-find-out-which-cops-didnt-vote-for-him/

– Dan Rather warns Americans of Trump’s ‘power to decimate and destroy’.

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/he-is-a-threat-dan-rather-warns-americans-of-trumps-power-to-decimate-and-destroy/

https://www.facebook.com/theDanRather/posts/10158421087140716

– Trump Administration Omits LGBTQ People from 2020 Census.

http://www.out.com/news-opinion/2017/3/28/breaking-trump-administration-removes-lgbtq-people-2020-census

March 29, 2017 Wednesday

– (incidentally) Britain’s PM May triggers Brexit. Britain now has two years to negotiate the terms of the divorce before it comes into effect in late March 2019.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-39431428

– Trump’s business network reached alleged Russian mobsters (USA Today)

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/03/28/trump-business-past-ties-russian-mobsters-organized-crime/98321252/

– A judge in Hawaii has extended a broad block on Trump’s revised travel ban, turning aside pleas from the federal government to narrow or drop an earlier order forbidding the president from implementing key parts of his plan.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/trump-travel-ban-order-hawaii-236675

– A supervisor at the Energy Department’s international climate office told staff this week not to use the phrases “climate change,” “emissions reduction” or “Paris Agreement” in written memos, briefings or other written communication, sources have told POLITICO.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/energy-department-climate-change-phrases-banned-236655

– Seattle filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration Wednesday, charging that President Donald Trump’s executive order threatening funding for “sanctuary cities” is “unconstitutional and ambiguous,” and violates the 10th Amendment of the Constitution.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/seattle-trump-sanctuary-cities-236672

– Ivanka Trump will become a federal employee as part of unpaid White House role.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/ivanka-trump-federal-employee-unpaid-236657

March 30, 2017 Thursday

– First day of Senate Intelligence Committee hearings on Trump-Russia probe. Clinton Watts informed the committee that Russia had been targeting Rubio, along with other of Donald Trump’s Republican opponents, with propaganda or fake news stories during the primary.

– Pence broke a tie in a Senate vote to roll back federal funding for family planning and reproductive health (derail grants flowing to clinics that provide contraception and other health services to low-income women in states that want to block the funding, e.g., Planned Parentood). In recent years states such as Texas have blocked some healthcare providers from receiving the grants.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-abortion-idUSKBN1712NY

– Nineteen U.S. states have introduced bills that would curb freedom of expression and the right to protest since Donald Trump’s election as president, an “alarming and undemocratic” trend, U.N. human rights investigators said on Thursday. Maina Kiai and David Kaye, independent U.N. experts on freedom of peaceful assembly and expression respectively, said in a statement that the state bills were incompatible with international human rights law.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-rights-un-idUSKBN1712SG

– Mike Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser, has told the FBI and congressional committees investigating the Trump campaign’s potential ties to Russia that he is willing to be interviewed in exchange for a grant of immunity from prosecution.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/mike-flynn-offers-to-testify-in-exchange-for-immunity-1490912959

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/30/michael-flynn-trump-russia-investigation-testify-immunity

March 31, 2017 Friday

– Trump urged Mike Flynn, his former national security adviser, to strike an immunity deal because he’s facing “a witch hunt.”

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/michael-flynn-talks-congress-wary-prosecution-46484973

– Trump officials defend immigration arrests at California courthouses. Sessions and Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly gave no indication that agents would stop the arrests.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-courthouses-idUSKBN1722T1

– Come Monday, the Trump administration may quietly revoke the ability of hundreds of thousands of immigrants — almost all women — from legally working in the United States, forcing them to choose between heading back to their kitchens or leaving the country altogether.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-may-force-thousands-of-legal-immigrants-to-stop-working-or-head-home/2017/03/30/27d2d8c6-1586-11e7-833c-503e1f6394c9_story.html

– Trump’s EPA has issued a new, more detailed plan for laying off 25 percent of its employees and scrapping 56 programs including pesticide safety, water runoff control, and environmental cooperation with Mexico and Canada under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

– Trump signs executive order aimed at identifying and targeting foreign trade abuses and orders stricter and more effective enforcement of US anti-dumping laws to prevent foreign manufacturers from undercutting US companies by selling goods at an unfair price.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/31/politics/donald-trump-executive-order-signing-walk-out/index.html

– The Trump administration released the financial disclosure forms from members of the White House staff.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/31/us/politics/white-house-releases-staff-financial-disclosures.html

April 1, 2017 Saturday

– A federal judge has rejected President Donald Trump’s free speech defense against a lawsuit accusing him of inciting violence against protesters at a campaign rally. Trump’s lawyers sought to dismiss the lawsuit by three protesters who say they were roughed up by his supporters at a March 1, 2016 rally in Louisville, Kentucky.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/judge-to-trump-no-protection-for-speech-inciting-violence/2017/04/01/e9320d68-1737-11e7-bb16-269934184168_story.html

– Wealthy White House staffers’ finances detailed in new disclosures.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-disclosures-idUSKBN173331

– Fox, Bill O’Reilly settle claims with five women

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-twenty-firstfox-oreilly-idUSKBN1733W8

April 2, 2017 Sunday

– EPA chief, Scott Pruitt, said the Paris climate change agreement is a “bad deal” for the country. He did not confirm whether the United States would remain in the global climate change pact, under which nearly all countries agreed in 2015 to halt or curb their greenhouse gas emissions, even as the world’s biggest emitter China reaffirmed its commitment to the agreement.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-climatechange-paris-idUSKBN1740NP

– Adam Schiff accused Trump of trying to divert Congress from its investigations of Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. election and any links between Moscow and the Trump campaign. He said the Republican president and his aides have instead attempted to throw the focus on the possibility of illegal leaks of classified information and whether Trump or his associates were caught up in incidental collection by surveillance that was targeting foreigners.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-idUSKBN1740OL

April 3, 2017 Monday

– Democrats secure enough votes to block Gorsuch, setting stage for ‘nuclear option’. Senate Democrats secured enough votes to filibuster the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, increasing the likelihood that Republicans will change the rules of the U.S. Senate to ensure his confirmation later this week.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/senate-panel-prepares-to-consider-gorsuch-as-threat-of-filibuster-looms/2017/04/03/129bcd8c-186a-11e7-bcc2-7d1a0973e7b2_story.html

– Trump signed a resolution approved by the U.S. House and Senate to revoke a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rule banning most predator control on Alaska refuges.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article142522494.html

– Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered Justice Department officials to review reform agreements with troubled police forces nationwide, saying it was necessary to ensure these pacts do not work against the Trump administration’s goals of promoting officer safety and morale while fighting violent crime.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article142521054.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-orders-justice-department-to-review-all-police-reform-agreements/2017/04/03/ba934058-18bd-11e7-9887-1a5314b56a08_story.html

– Blackwater founder, Erik Prince, held secret Seychelles meeting to establish Trump-Putin back channel.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/blackwater-founder-held-secret-seychelles-meeting-to-establish-trump-putin-back-channel/2017/04/03/95908a08-1648-11e7-ada0-1489b735b3a3_story.html

– California lawmakers gave initial approval to a measure that prevents law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration officials, a measure that proponents said rebukes President Donald Trump for his immigration crackdown. It makes California a statewide sanctuary for many people who are in the country illegally.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article142506584.html

– The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court, the first hurdle in a week heading towards a political showdown and a permanent change to Senate rules.

http://time.com/4723448/neil-gorsuch-confirmation-vote-senate

– Top White House officials met moderate and conservative Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday in an effort to revive a plan to repeal and replace Obamacare.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-obamacare-pence-idUSKBN1752Q2

– Ever since he seized power in a military takeover nearly four years ago, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt has been barred from the White House. But Trump made clear on Monday that the period of ostracism was over as he hosted Mr. Sisi and pledged unstinting support for the autocratic ruler.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/03/world/middleeast/-egypt-sisi-trump-white-house.html

– Ex-Trump adviser, Carter Page, gave energy industry documents to Russian spy, court files show.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/03/trump-russia-carter-page-energy-industry-files-spy

– Trump signed into law a resolution that repealed protections requiring Internet service providers to get your permission before collecting and sharing data. Democrats and privacy advocates have argued this approach effectively hands over the customer’s personal information to the highest bidder.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/03/technology/internet-privacy-law-trump/index.html

– Trump and his son hype misleading reports blaming Susan Rice for alleged wiretap. Right-wing conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich claims Obama’s national security adviser, Susan Rice, ordered the “unmasking” of Trump campaign associates ensnared in U.S. surveillance of foreign agents. It was picked up by Bloomberg’s Eli Lake and then amplified in other conservative media outlets — as vindication of the president’s claims, which have been debunked by various lawmakers, intelligence officials and federal investigators.

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/trump-and-his-son-hype-misleading-reports-blaming-susan-rice-for-alleged-wiretap/

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-04-03/top-obama-adviser-sought-names-of-trump-associates-in-intel

– Fox News hit with new Ailes harassment suit in wake of O’Reilly bombshell.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/03/media/julie-roginsky-lawsuit-fox-news-roger-ailes/index.html

– Eleven killed in suspected suicide bombing on Russian metro train.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-blast-metro-idUSKBN17519G

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/03/europe/st-petersburg-russia-explosion/index.html

April 4, 2017 Tuesday

– A chemical attack occurred in Syria and Trump blamed the Syrian regime’s “heinous actions” on the Obama administration’s “weakness and irresolution.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/activists-say-gas-attack-kills-civilians-in-syria-as-eu-leaders-discuss-reconstruction/2017/04/04/16093d24-190a-11e7-8003-f55b4c1cfae2_story.html

– Advertisers flee ‘The O’Reilly Factor’ amid sexual-harassment claims against host.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/advertisers-flee-the-oreilly-factor-amid-sexual-harassment-claims-against-host/2017/04/04/38f63464-1959-11e7-855e-4824bbb5d748_story.html

– U.S. would slash EPA vehicle testing budget under Trump plan.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-autos-environment-idUSKBN1762R4

– Trump’s senior adviser Kushner meets Iraqi PM.

http://www.aljazeera.com/video/news/2017/04/trumps-senior-adviser-kushner-meets-iraqi-pm-170404083555815.html

– Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro predicted Tuesday that the investigations into Trump’s campaign’s ties to Russia would lead to imprisonment for some of the key players. “I wouldn’t be surprised after all of this is said and done that some people end up in jail.”

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/04/politics/joaquin-castro-cnntv-jail/

– Republicans are set to use the “nuclear option” to get Neil Gorsuch confirmed to the Supreme Court.

http://mindy-fischer-writer.com/2017/04/republicans-using-nuclear-option-win-democratic-party-base/

– North Korea test-fires missile into sea ahead of Trump-Xi summit.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-idUSKBN1762XX

– Trump officials told the newspaper they are evaluating whether to require foreign nationals who visit the U.S. to divulge cellphone contacts and passwords for social media; new rules could potentially force visitors to supply their phones to authorities to check their contacts. Another method would require visitors to supply authorities with the passwords for online accounts so they may view both public and private interactions. Foreigners entering U.S. could be forced to hand over phones, answer questions on ideology; changes could apply to allies like France and Germany.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/327133-administration-reviewing-extreme-vetting-policies-report

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-administration-considers-far-reaching-steps-for-extreme-vetting-1491303602

– Infowars host Alex Jones threatens Adam Schiff: “I’ll beat your goddamn ass”.

http://www.salon.com/2017/04/04/infowars-host-alex-jones-threatens-adam-schiff-ill-beat-your-goddamn-ass/

https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2017/04/04/trump-ally-alex-jones-threatens-beat-rep-adam-schiff-s-goddamn-ass-anti-gay-tirade/215903

– Politico.com reports Gorsuch plagiarized. Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch copied the structure and language used by several authors and failed to cite source material in his book and an academic article, according to documents provided to POLITICO.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/gorsuch-writings-supreme-court-236891

April 5, 2017 Wednesday

– Trump removed his chief strategist Steve Bannon from the National Security Council on Wednesday, reversing his controversial decision early this year to give a political adviser an unprecedented role in security discussions. The New York Times reported Wednesday evening that Bannon “resisted the move” and threatened to resign if the change was made. It took the intervention of billionaire Rebekah Mercer to persuade him to stay after he was ousted from the NSC saying that achieving their shared nationalistic goals was a “long-term play” and that he needed to remain. The shifting roles also restored the Joint Chiefs chairman and intelligence director roles as “regular attendees” of the Principals Committee on the NSC.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-security-idUSKBN17724S

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/327534-bannon-threatened-to-quit-if-removed-from-national-security-council

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/04/bannon-threatens-to-quit-white-house

– House GOP mulls emergency meeting to push Obamacare repeal.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/obamacare-repeal-republican-emergency-236941

April 6, 2017 Thursday

– Senate Republicans on Thursday crushed a Democratic blockade of Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee in a fierce partisan brawl, approving a rule change dubbed the “nuclear option” to allow for conservative judge Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation by Friday. Trump had encouraged Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to “go nuclear.” “In 20 or 30 or 40 years, we will sadly point to today as a turning point in the history of the Senate and the Supreme Court, a day when we irrevocably moved further away from the principles our founders intended for these institutions: principles of bipartisanship, moderation and consensus,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-gorsuch-idUSKBN17814Y

– Trump arrived in Florida to hold his first meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, facing pressure to make good on promises for trade concessions and prevent a spiraling crisis with North Korea.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-idUSKBN17815O

– Twitter Inc said in a lawsuit on Thursday that it had received a demand from U.S. officials for records that could reveal the user behind an account opposed to Trump and that it was challenging the demand in court.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-lawsuit-idUSKBN1782PH

https://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/twitter-sues-feds-over-attempt-to-reveal-identity-behind

– Devin Nunes steps aside from House intelligence committee’s Russia inquiry. Nunes said he would ‘temporarily’ leave the inquiry into Trump’s connections to Russia, saying that ‘leftwing activists’ had filed ethics complaints against him.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/06/devin-nunes-leaves-house-intelligence-committee-russia-inquiry-ethics-inquiry

– Trump weighing military options following chemical weapons attack in Syria. When asked if Trump would be organizing an international coalition to remove Assad, Tillerson said, “Those steps are underway.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-weighing-military-options-following-chemical-weapons-attack-in-syria/2017/04/06/0c59603a-1ae8-11e7-9887-1a5314b56a08_story.html

https://www.yahoo.com/news/tillerson-steps-way-remove-assad-power-syria-200018022.html

– The House Ethics Committee announced today that it is investigating Nunes’ actions after “allegations of unauthorized disclosures of classified information,” noting that the investigation “does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred.”

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article143054719.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/rep-devin-nunes-steps-russia-probe/story?id=46620555

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/devin-nunes-russia-probe

– House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told Republicans as they departed Washington on Thursday that their recesses could be cut short if a deal is reached on legislation to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/327616-gop-leader-suggests-house-could-be-called-back-from-recess-to-vote

– Trump launches military strike against Syria. US warships launched between 50-60 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian government airbase where the warplanes that carried out the chemical attacks were based, US officials said.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/06/politics/donald-trump-syria-military/index.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-weighing-military-options-following-chemical-weapons-attack-in-syria/2017/04/06/0c59603a-1ae8-11e7-9887-1a5314b56a08_story.html

– Canada Welcomes Tech Companies That Are Spooked by Trump.

http://time.com/4728289/canada-welcomes-tech-companies-spooked-trump/

April 7, 2017 Friday

– The Republican-led Senate confirmed Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court tilting it to the right for decades.

https://www.theguardian.com/law/2017/apr/07/senate-confirms-neil-gorsuch-supreme-court-trump

– Russia warns of “extremely serious consequences” from U.S. strike in Syria. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev charged that the U.S. strikes were one step away from clashing with Russia’s military.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-idUSKBN1782S0

– Russia is suspending a communications channel with the United States set up to avoid midair incidents between Russian and U.S. pilots in the skies over the Syria.

http://thehill.com/policy/defense/327751-russia-suspends-communication-line-with-us-meant-to-avoid-collisions-in-syria

–  Truck drives into crowd in Stockholm, killing four people. Suspect arrested over incident which police are treating as act of terrorism.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/07/truck-crashes-in-central-stockholm-sweden

– Syrian military officials appeared to anticipate Thursday night’s raid on Syria’s Shayrat air base, evacuating personnel and moving equipment ahead of the strike, according to an eyewitness.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/eyewitness-syrian-military-anticipated-us-raid/story

– Syrian strikes didn’t target runway as to not effect Russians, says US military official, & Tomahawk type used was precision, not cratering. This might offer some reassurance to Assad that the air strikes were more a slap on the wrist than the beginning of a knockout blow.

https://twitter.com/CarlaBabbVOA/status/850358298918494209

https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2017/0407/US-strike-sends-message-to-Syria-what-it-didn-t-say

http://en.addiyar.com/article/1340877-pentagon-informed-several-countries-of-planned-targeted-missile-strikes-in-syria

https://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2017/04/269543.htm

– The US had provided Russia with advance information of its deadly missile strikes on Syria, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.

https://sputniknews.com/world/201704071052397457-russia-kremlin-syria-strike/

April 9, 2017 Sunday

– A joint command center made up of the forces of Russian, Iran and allied militia alliance supporting Syrian President Bashar al Assad said the U.S. strike on a Syrian air base crossed “red lines” and it would now respond to any new aggression.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-allies-idUSKBN17B0K7

Asked at a press conference whether the U.S. would lead an international coalition to oust the Syrian leader, Tillerson replied that “those steps are underway.”

http://www.wfaa.com/news/world/tillerson-steps-are-underway-to-oust-syrias-assad/429294858

– Palm Sunday bombings of Egyptian Coptic churches kill 44.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-violence-idUSKBN17B06U

– As the US navy deployed a strike group towards the western Pacific Ocean, to provide a presence near the Korean peninsula, the secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, said China agreed with the Trump administration that “action has to be taken” regarding North Korea.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/09/us-navy-strike-group-north-korea-peninsula-syria-missile-strike

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/08/politics/navy-korean-peninsula/index.html

– Third Trump ally KT McFarland removed from National Security Council. Her departure follows that of Michael Flynn and Stephen Bannon.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/kt-mcfarland-national-security-council-singapore-ambassador-stephen-bannon-michael-flynn-donald-a7675361.html

April 10, 2017 Monday

–  North Korea ‘ready for war’ after US navy strike team redeploys. Pyongyang cites ‘reckless moves’ by US and says it will defend the country from invasion ‘by powerful force of arms’.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/11/north-korea-ready-for-war-us-navy-redeploys

– White House warns of potential US ‘red line’ over Syria barrel bomb attacks

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/10/syria-top-of-agenda-as-g7-foreign-ministers-meet-in-italy

– Neil Gorsuch is Sworn in as Supreme Court Justice, placing a devoted conservative in the seat once occupied by Justice Antonin Scalia and handing President Trump a victory in his push to shape the court for decades to come.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/10/us/politics/neil-gorsuch-supreme-court.html

– Russia and Iran request an ‘unbiased investigation’ into Syrian chemical attack

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/syria-chemical-attack-russia-iran-joint-investigation-weapons-donald-trump-sergey-lavrov-mohammad-a7676856.html

– Russia and Iran warn US they will ‘respond with force’ if red lines crossed in Syria again.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/russia-iran-us-america-syria-red-lines-respond-with-force-aggressor-air-strikes-war-latest-a7675031.html

– Don Benton, the controversial former state senator from Vancouver who was an early Donald Trump supporter, will be nominated to head the U.S. Selective Service System.

http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-politics/after-tension-at-epa-ex-state-sen-don-benton-to-lead-selective-service/

[Other] It’s not just Syria. Trump is ratcheting up wars across the world.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/apr/10/not-just-syria-trump-ratcheting-up-wars-world

April 11, 2017 Tuesday

– White House spokesman Sean Spicer triggered an uproar on Tuesday by saying Adolf Hitler did not use chemical weapons.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-hitler-idUSKBN17D2N9

– North Korean state media warned on Tuesday of a nuclear attack on the United States at any sign of American aggression, if provoked.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-nuclear-idUSKBN17D0A4

– The FBI obtained a secret court order last summer to monitor the communications of Carter Page saying there was probable cause to believe Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power (Russia).

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-idUSKBN17E00G

– Trump’s message to bankers: Wall Street reform rules (Dodd-Frank) may be eliminated. Trump said major banking rules put in place after the 2008 financial crisis were planned to get a “major haircut”.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-business-idUSKBN17D1ZD

April 12, 2017 Wednesday

– Russian President Vladimir Putin said trust had eroded between the United States and Russia as Moscow delivered an unusually hostile reception to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a face-off over Syria.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-idUSKBN17E1AF

– Trump administration moving quickly to build up nationwide deportation force.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-administration-moving-quickly-to-build-up-nationwide-deportation-force/2017/04/12/7a7f59c2-1f87-11e7-be2a-3a1fb24d4671_story.html

– Trump on NATO: ‘I said it was obsolete. It’s no longer obsolete.’

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/04/12/trump-on-nato-i-said-it-was-obsolete-its-no-longer-obsolete/

April 13, 2017 Thursday

– U.S. drops ‘mother of all bombs’ in Afghanistan. The United States dropped a massive GBU-43 bomb (cost $16M), also known as the “mother of all bombs,” in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday against a series of caves used by Islamic State militants, the military said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-afghanistan-bomb-idUSKBN17F27U

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2017/04/13/u-s-military-drops-22000-pound-bomb-on-islamic-state-forces-in-afghanistan/

http://www.deagel.com/Defensive-Weapons/GBU-43B_a000978001.aspx

– China warns against force against North Korea. With a U.S. aircraft carrier group steaming to the area and tension rising, China said military force cannot resolve tension over North Korea.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-event-idUSKBN17E2CT

– NATO deploys troops to Poland. Poland on Thursday welcomed the first U.S. troops in a multi-national force which is being posted across the Baltic region to counter potential threats from Russia.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-nato-russia-poland-idUSKBN17F290

– Improperly stored raw meat among violations found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago. Undercooled meat, potentially dangerous raw fish and broken coolers were among 13 violations found by restaurant inspectors at Mar-a-Lago.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-maralago-idUSKBN17F23A

– Trump signed a resolution that will allow U.S. states to restrict how federal funds for contraception and reproductive health are spent, a move cheered by anti-abortion campaigners.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-abortion-idUSKBN17F2IH

– CIA director labels WikiLeaks a ‘hostile intelligence service’.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/mike-pompeo-wikileaks-hostile-intelligence-service-237206

– British intelligence passed Trump associates’ communications with Russians on to US counterparts.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/13/politics/trump-russia-british-intelligence/index.html

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/apr/13/british-spies-first-to-spot-trump-team-links-russia

– Trump signs bill that guts Title X emboldening states that try to block access to health care, particularly at Planned Parenthood health centers, which provides basic health care, including family planning, to millions of Americans every year.

http://shareblue.com/donald-trump-just-killed-family-planning-for-millions-of-americans/

– The former head of the British Secret Intelligence Service went on the record saying Donald Trump owes money to Russia, putting Trump in a compromised position that “lingers” over him as president.

http://shareblue.com/breaking-former-uk-spy-chief-says-trump-likely-owes-money-to-russia/

– Trump administration issued a final rule that will shorten the Obamacare enrollment period and give insurers more of what they say they need, likely making it harder for some consumers to purchase insurance. It could also raise out-of-pocket medical expenses, the experts said, because it gives insurers more flexibility in determining the value of their coverage.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-healthcare-rule-idUSKBN17F2RX

– Trump administration halts Obama-era rule aimed at curbing toxic wastewater from coal plants.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/04/13/trump-administration-halts-obama-era-rule-aimed-at-curbing-toxic-wastewater-from-coal-plants/

– Trump’s administration has been quietly loosening firearms restrictions in the United States after successfully seeking the support of gun owners on the campaign trail.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article144436204.html

April 14, 2017 Friday

– China fears North Korea-US conflict ‘at any moment’. China said tension over North Korea had to be stopped from reaching an “irreversible and unmanageable stage.”

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-39600426

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-event-idUSKBN17E2CT

– Trump will keep list of White House visitors secret.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/04/14/trump-to-discontinue-obama-policy-of-voluntarily-releasing-white-house-visitor-logs/

– EPA chief Scott Pruitt calls for an ‘exit’ from the Paris climate agreement.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/04/14/trumps-epa-chief-scott-pruitt-calls-for-an-exit-to-the-paris-climate-agreement/

– Trump’s lawyers in a federal court filing argued that he cannot be sued for inciting his supporters to hurt protesters because, as the president, he is immune from civil lawsuits.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/trump-inciting-violence-protest-rally-lawsuit-237249

April 15, 2017 Saturday

– Thousands at U.S. rallies demand Trump release tax returns.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-taxes-idUSKBN17H0FW

– Right, left-wing protesters clash in Berkeley, California park.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-berkeley-protests-idUSKBN17H0LU

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article144817389.html

– U.S. judge puts hold on Arkansas plan for successive executions. Arkansas planned to begin the lethal injections of at least six convicted murderers on Monday and complete the executions before the end of April (totaling 8). Arkansas had scheduled the fast-paced series of executions in order to beat the expiration date on its batch of one of the three drugs used in its lethal injection cocktail.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-arkansas-execution-stay-idUSKBN17G1L4

– Former Afghan president calls decision to drop massive U.S. bomb ‘treason’.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-afghanistan-bomb-idUSKBN17F27U

– North Korea displays apparently new missiles as U.S. carrier group approaches. New missiles centre of huge parade as Kim Jong-un aide threatens ‘annihilating’ nuclear strike

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-usa-anniversary-idUSKBN17G0WU

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/north-korea-nuclear-war-weapons-tests-launch-kim-jong-un-donald-trump-parade-missiles-day-of-the-sun-a7684776.html

– Maxine Waters rallies Tax March crowd for Trump’s impeachment.

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/328979-waters-rallies-tax-march-crowd-for-trumps-impeachment

–  Man accused of assaulting woman at election rally says Trump inspired him. Lawyers for veteran being sued over an altercation at a Trump campaign rally in Kentucky says he acted at the candidate’s urging.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/15/trump-campaign-rally-lawsuit-assault-kentucky

– G.O.P. Bill Would Make Medical Malpractice Suits Harder to Win.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/15/us/politics/republicans-health-care-bill-medical-malpractice-suits.html

April 16, 2017 Sunday

– EPA emerges as major target after Trump solicits policy advice from industry, dramatic steps that Trump officials are likely to take in overhauling federal policies, especially those designed to advance environmental protection and safeguard worker rights.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/epa-emerges-as-major-target-after-trump-solicits-policy-advice-from-industry/2017/04/16/87a8a55a-205d-11e7-ad74-3a742a6e93a7_story.html

– ICE immigration arrests of noncriminals double under Trump.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/immigration-arrests-of-noncriminals-double-under-trump/2017/04/16/98a2f1e2-2096-11e7-be2a-3a1fb24d4671_story.html

– Trump reverses campaign pledge to label China ‘currency manipulator’ in light of North Korea

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-china-currency-manipulator-treasury-department-report-manufacturers-xi-jinping-meeting-a7686261.html

– Trump claimed that the tens of thousands of protesters that want his tax returns made public were paid; demanding an investigation into who paid them.

http://www.politicususa.com/2017/04/16/trump-bonkers-demands-investigation-protesters-tax-returns.html

–  Mike Pence warns North Korea: ‘Era of strategic patience is over’; reiterates commitment to protect South Korea during visit the heavily armed border with the North.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/17/mike-pence-north-korea-missile-nuclear-strategic-patience-is-over

April 17, 2017 Monday

– Trump called Turkey’s Erdogan to congratulate him on referendum win.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-election-usa-idUSKBN17J1M3

– Burying ‘Trumpomania,’ Kremlin TV says Trump scarier than North Korean leader.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-trump-media-idUSKBN17J16D

– Trump’s travel policies hurting ‘U.S. brand’ and discouraging tourists, experts say.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/17/news/economy/trump-travel-tourism/index.html

– Trump says he has ‘exposed the total failure’ of Obama’s foreign policy.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-obama-foreign-policy-failure-tweet-syria-afghanistan-twitter-a7687331.html

April 18, 2017 Tuesday

– Trump ordered federal agencies to look at tightening a visa program used to bring high-skilled foreign workers to the United States, as he tries to carry out his campaign pledge to put “America First.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-visa-idUSKBN17K02U

– Asylum applications in Mexico surge after Trump election win.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-mexico-exclusive-idUSKBN17K2CE

– Congressional critics of the Department of Homeland Security should “shut up’’ and assume the agency is acting appropriately and following the law, the agency’s chief said in a combative public speech.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/dhs-secretary-kelly-says-congressional-critics-should-shut-up-or-change-laws/2017/04/18/8a2a92b6-2454-11e7-b503-9d616bd5a305_story.html

– Trump just targeted a new opponent — Canada’s dairy trade industry.

http://time.com/4745273/donald-trump-canada-dairy-trade-industry/

– World Leaders On Edge as Trump Weighs Pulling U.S. Out of Paris Climate Deal.

http://time.com/4723481/donald-trump-paris-agreement-withdraw/

– Pruitt allies explore hiring private lawyers to rewrite EPA rule to bypass the EPA employees who spent five years writing the Waters of the U.S. regulation — the kinds of career federal bureaucrats whom supporters of President Donald Trump often deride as the “deep state.”

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/pruitt-water-rules-private-lawyers-237339

– U.S. carrier not near North Korea after all despite what the president said.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/04/18/donald-trump-carl-vinson-north-korea-armada/100611334/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/despite-talk-of-a-military-strike-trumps-armada-was-a-long-way-from-korea/2017/04/18/e8ef4237-e26a-4cfc-b5e9-526c3a17bd41_story.html

April 19, 2017 Wednesday

– U.S. House banking chairman unveils Dodd-Frank replacement.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-banks-doddfrank-idUSKBN17L2VE

– Putin-linked think tank drew up plan to sway 2016 U.S. election to Trump and undermine voters’ faith in the American electoral system.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-election-exclusive-idUSKBN17L2N3

– The EPA said it would begin the process of shrinking its 15,000-employee workforce through buyouts, in the wake of President Trump’s executive order last month aimed at streamlining agencies throughout the federal government.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/04/19/epa-plans-to-offer-buyouts-as-part-of-trump-push-to-shrink-workforce/

– Berkeley cancels conservative firebrand Ann Coulter’s speech over fears of more violent protests.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/04/19/berkeley-cancels-ann-coulter-speech-over-fears-of-more-violent-protests/

– [Other] How Bill O’Reilly created Donald Trump.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/19/politics/bill-oreilly-fox-news-ailes/index.html

– [Other] Neurologist Diagnoses Trump With ‘Cognitive Failure’ – Mental Ability Limited.

http://bipartisanreport.com/2017/04/19/neurologist-diagnoses-trump-with-cognitive-failure-mental-ability-limited-details/

http://www.palmerreport.com/opinion/donald-trumps-mental-lapses-rapidly-worsen-as-he-keeps-calling-paul-ryan-by-wrong-name/2352/

http://www.palmerreport.com/politics/brain-specialist-doctor-believes-donald-trumps-frontal-lobe-is-failing/2354/

– The White House is gearing up for a government shutdown fight to secure money for a border wall, more immigration enforcement officers and a bigger military.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/19/donald-trump-border-security-shutdown-fight-237376

– [Other] Dan Rather: While we were distracted by O’Reilly, Trump brought us closer to World War III.

http://resistancereport.com/politics/dan-rather-oreilly/

April 20, 2017 Thursday

– White House Officials, Craving Progress, Push Revised Health Bill.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/20/us/politics/affordable-care-act-house-republicans-trump.html

– Trump launches trade probe targeting Chinese steel.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-steel-idUSKBN17M237

– U.S. Representative Jason Chaffetz, the Republican chairman of the House oversight committee, said on Thursday he has not ruled out leaving before his term finishes.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-politics-chaffetz-idUSKBN17M29S

– Rex Tillerson Warns Iran Over ‘Alarming’ Behavior in The Middle East.

http://time.com/4747912/rex-tillerson-iran-middle-east-nuclear-deal/

– Exxon seeking U.S. permission to resume oil project in Russia. With its old C.E.O. Rex Tillerson running the State Department, this should be a piece of cake.

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/04/exxon-russia-sanctions-rex-tillerson

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/19/business/energy-environment/exxon-mobil-russia-sanctions-waiver-oil.html

– U.S. defense secretary James Mattis met with Saudi royals, American officials suggested that Washington might provide additional military and intelligence assistance to the kingdom’s fight in Yemen.

http://www.newsweek.com/yemen-civil-war-us-saudi-arabia-airstrikes-houthi-rebels-587018

– US could end visa-free travel for Europeans, Trump’s Secretary of Homeland Security says.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/us-visa-waiver-ends-european-travel-donald-trump-john-kelly-homeland-security-a7692861.html

– Trump hosts man who called for death of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton at White House.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-ted-nugent-sarah-palin-white-house-visit-kid-rock-photo-a7693361.html

– Pentagon chief: US won’t reveal ‘mother of all bombs’ toll.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article145732534.html

– A divided Supreme Court has rejected appeals that would have put off the execution of Arkansas inmate Ledell Lee. New justice Neil Gorsuch voted with the majority of five to deny the stay of execution sought by Lee and the other inmates.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article145719289.html

– US prepares charges to seek arrest of WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/20/politics/julian-assange-wikileaks-us-charges/index.html

– UC Berkeley reverses course, re-books canceled Ann Coulter speech.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-california-coulter-idUSKBN17M1W1

– White House turns up heat on Congress to revise the Affordable Care Act.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/gop-leaders-downplay-revisions-to-health-care-bill-offered-by-house-moderate/2017/04/20/3890a8f8-25d7-11e7-bb9d-8cd6118e1409_story.html

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/20/obamacare-repeal-republicans-new-deal-237397

– Trump’s lawyers argued in a Thursday court filing that protesters “have no right” to “express dissenting views” at Trump’s campaign rallies because such protests infringed on his First Amendment rights.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/20/donald-trump-protest-rallies-speech-237431

– Palin invited Ted Nugent and Kid Rock to the White House because ‘Jesus was booked’.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/20/trump-ted-nugent-kid-rock-sarah-palin-237402

– Jeff Sessions doesn’t think a judge in Hawaii — a.k.a. ‘an island in the Pacific’ — should overrule Trump.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/04/20/jeff-sessions-doesnt-think-a-judge-in-hawaii-a-k-a-an-island-in-the-pacific-should-overrule-trump/

April 21, 2017 Friday

– Sanctuary Cities Face Aid Cuts as Justice Dept. Tightens Screws. Trump administration sent letters Friday to nine jurisdictions telling them they were obligated to prove compliance.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/us/politics/sanctuary-city-justice-department.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-sanctuary-idUSKBN17N2JA

– California cities ready to fight Trump’s call to punish so-called ‘sanctuary cities’.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article146093959.html

– [Other] Tech firms look to Canada in light of Trump H1-B visa reform.

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/tech-firms-look-canada-light-trump-h1-b-visa-reform-122513990.html

– Arkansas execution flurry marks early test for new Justice Gorsuch who casts death-penalty vote in one of his first Supreme Court cases. Gorsuch helped clear the way for Arkansas to hold its first execution in 12 years, a sign of the challenges facing other inmates seeking to block their executions next week.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/gorsuch-casts-death-penalty-vote-in-one-of-his-first-supreme-court-cases/2017/04/21/2d9bc5dc-26a8-11e7-a1b3-faff0034e2de_story.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-arkansas-execution-idUSKBN17N1IO

– Treasury Department will not grant exemptions to companies looking to drill in Russia, including Exxon Mobil, in a move aimed at showing the United States would maintain a tough stance on sanctions against Moscow.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-exxon-mobil-sanctions-russia-usa-idUSKBN17N2B5

– Trump: Marine Le Pen is ‘strongest candidate’ in French election. Trump claims he did not ‘explicitly endorse’ when appearing to support the far-right leader known for her Islamophobic and xenophobic platform.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/21/donald-trump-marine-le-pen-french-presidential-election

– Trump ordered his Treasury Department to review measures put in place by the Obama administration, setting the stage for a rollback of regulations that were intended to curtail corporate tax evasion and prevent another financial crisis.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/us/politics/trump-order-takes-aim-at-tax-regulations-imposed-by-obama.html

– U.S. states realign in legal battle over Trump’s travel ban which faces its second challenge at a U.S. appeals court next month, and this time more Republican states are backing the measure.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-legal-idUSKBN17O00W

– Trump on US charging Julian Assange: ‘It’s OK with me’.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-julian-assange-wikileaks-response-a7696326.html

– Trump has ‘dangerous mental illness’, say psychiatry experts at Yale conference. Mental health experts say President is ‘paranoid and delusional’.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-dangerous-mental-illness-yale-psychiatrist-conference-us-president-unfit-james-gartner-a7694316.html

– Indian techies, IT firms fret as Trump orders U.S. visa review.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-india-immigration-idUSKBN17N1VA

– Transcript of AP interview with Trump.

https://apnews.com/c810d7de280a47e88848b0ac74690c83

April 22, 2017 Saturday

– March for Science draws big crowds across U.S. The marches were effectively protests against steep cuts that Trump has proposed for federal science and research budgets and his administration’s skepticism about climate change and the need to slow global warming. ‘There is no Planet B’. More than 600 marches held around the world, with organizers saying science ‘under attack’ from a White House that dismisses the threat of climate change.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/apr/22/march-for-science-earth-day-climate-change-trump

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/big-turnout-expected-for-march-for-science-in-dc/2017/04/21/67cf7f90-237f-11e7-bb9d-8cd6118e1409_story.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-earth-day-usa-march-idUSKBN17O09F

– Trump’s promised “big announcement” next week on overhauling the U.S. tax code will consist of “broad principles and priorities,” an administration official said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tax-trump-idUSKBN17O0KY

– Trump officials delay grant for Caltrain upgrade. California officials, who had hoped the long-awaited project would mesh nicely with Trump’s call for fresh spending on the nation’s aging infrastructure but an otherwise popular initiative has become a GOP target, seen as a pet project of the former president.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/though-shovels-are-ready-trump-officials-delay-grant-for-caltrain-upgrade/2017/04/22/013ee458-160c-11e7-ada0-1489b735b3a3_story.html

– Surgeon general is removed by Trump administration, replaced by deputy for now.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/04/22/surgeon-general-vivek-h-murthy-removed-by-trump-administration-replaced-by-deputy-for-now/

– Trump and his top aides have been calling on Congress to take dramatic action in the coming week: vote on health care, take up tax reform and demand that Democrats agree to a stopgap spending measure that includes funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/ryan-promises-to-keep-government-open–and-makes-no-promises-on-health-care/2017/04/22/2f9aeaea-2769-11e7-b503-9d616bd5a305_story.html

April 23, 2017 Sunday

– (Other) North Korea says it is ready to strike U.S. aircraft carrier.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-usa-japan-idUSKBN17P01Y

– Trump, Pence allies rake in millions as new Washington lobbyists.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/04/23/trump-pence-allies-cash-lobbyists-swamp-president/100782332/

– Senior US officials hint that Donald Trump’s Mexican border wall could lead to government shutdown.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/mexican-us-border-wall-funding-congress-donald-trump-veto-shut-down-government-john-kelly-mick-a7697846.html

– Trump has worst poll approval rating at 100 days than any President since 1945.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-worst-approval-rating-since-1945-barack-obama-higher-foreign-policy-jobs-hillary-a7697381.html

April 24, 2017 Monday

– Trump pressed congressional Republicans to use the threat of a government shutdown to win funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/showdown-looms-as-trump-demands-funding-for-wall-on-us-mexico-border/2017/04/23/5e0a2840-276a-11e7-b503-9d616bd5a305_story.html

– Trump’s boastful AP interview – Some of the claims are truly remarkable, including that he may have given the greatest speech in the history of the House chamber and that a Democrat told him he’d be among the greatest presidents ever.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/04/24/trumps-bragging-boastful-ap-interview-annotated/

– U.S. college campuses have been the “hotbed of anti-Semitism,” according to researchers at Tel Aviv University. The Anti-Defamation League found that anti-Semitic incidents overall, which it says were driven by the presidential election, skyrocketed last year and in first months of 2017.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/04/24/the-hotbed-of-anti-semitism-isnt-a-foreign-country-but-u-s-college-campuses-report-says/

– Trump calls for new U.N. sanctions on North Korea.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-usa-idUSKBN17Q06N

– China urges ‘restraint’ amid North Korea threat to sink a U.S. aircraft carrier. Xi Jinping Urges Trump to ‘Avoid Aggravating’ North Korea.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-39695503

http://time.com/4753577/xi-jinping-donald-trump-north-korea-restraint/

– Entire U.S. Senate to go to White House for North Korea briefing. All 100 senators have been asked to the White House for the briefing by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-nuclear-usa-senate-idUSKBN17Q1LR

– U.S. Senate confirmed former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue as secretary of agriculture.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-perdue-idUSKBN17Q2BS

– U.S. State Department website published an article this month about Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, stoking criticism from prominent ethics experts.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-resort-ethics-idUSKBN17Q2BC

– Students who invited conservative commentator Ann Coulter to speak at the University of California at Berkeley sued school officials saying their postponement of her talk was discriminatory and violated free speech rights.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-california-coulter-idUSKBN17Q22Y

– Trump to impose tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber.

http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/business-a-lobbying/330335-trump-to-impose-tariffs-on-canadian-softwood-lumber

– AP uses the word “Unintelligible” sixteen times in its interview transcript with Donald Trump.

http://www.palmerreport.com/opinion/ap-uses-the-word-unintelligible-sixteen-times-in-its-interview-transcript-with-donald-trump/2432/

– Transcript of AP interview with Trump.

https://apnews.com/c810d7de280a47e88848b0ac74690c83

– US Supreme Court clears way for rare double execution in Arkansas. Ruling came just minutes before another inmate was pronounced dead. Lethal injections will be first double execution in more than 16 years.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/24/arkansas-double-executions-supreme-court-jack-jones-marcel-williams

– Trump fumes about supposedly ‘fake’ polls giving him a dismal approval rating.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-fumes-supposedly-fake-polls-giving-dismal-approval-rating-131804187.html

– Trump seeks 15 percent corporate tax rate, even if it swells the national debt. Trump has instructed advisers to propose cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent, according to White House officials.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/trump-seeks-15-percent-corporate-tax-rate-even-if-it-swells-the-national-debt/2017/04/24/0c78a35c-2923-11e7-be51-b3fc6ff7faee_story.html

– Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote Monday that the court is developing a “disturbing trend” of siding with police officers accused of excessive force at the expense of their alleged victims, a notion disputed by two of her colleagues.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/sotomayor-sees-disturbing-trend-of-unequal-treatment-regarding-police-alleged-victims/2017/04/24/dfe8c368-2912-11e7-b605-33413c691853_story.html

– Republicans in Congress push for religious liberty executive order asking Trump to scale back Obama-era protections for gays and lesbians in order to make good on a campaign promise to protect religious liberty.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/04/24/republicans-congress-push-religious-liberty-executive-order/100842590/

April 25, 2017 Tuesday

– German crowd boos Ivanka Trump for calling her father a ‘champion’ for families.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/04/25/ivanka-trump-wants-to-help-female-entrepreneurs-they-say-her-dad-is-making-their-work-harder/

– Public pans Republicans’ latest approach to replacing Affordable Care Act. American public disagrees with the course that Trump and congressional Republicans are pursuing to replace the Affordable Care Act with conservative policies, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/public-pans-republicans-latest-approach-to-replacing-affordable-care-act/2017/04/25/25355eb0-26aa-11e7-bb9d-8cd6118e1409_story.html

–  Trump signals delay on border wall funding to avoid government shutdown; tells conservative media his $1.4bn demand could be pushed to September, avoiding a spending freeze on his 100th day in office.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/25/trump-signals-delay-on-border-wall-funding-to-avoid-government-shutdown

– Michael Flynn’s Russia payment likely broke disclosure laws, the leading Republican and Democrat on the House oversight committee said.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/25/michael-flynn-russia-payment-house-panel-investigation

– White House refuses to hand over documents to House Oversight Committee on Michael Flynn to Trump-Russia investigation.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-russia-investigation-michael-flynn-documents-white-house-a7701921.html

– Trudeau vows to defend Canada interests as U.S. targets lumber and trade tensions between the two countries escalated, sending the Canadian dollar to a 14-month low..

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-canada-trade-idUSKBN17R1VZ

– Trump to strip all funding from State Department team promoting women’s rights around the world.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-budget-2018-state-department-cut-office-global-womens-issues-oxfam-ivanka-a7701631.html

– Trump behaviour ‘showing a lot of signs’ of dangerous mental illness, says psychiatrist.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-mental-illness-signs-yale-psychiatrist-dr-bandy-lee-dangerous-us-president-goldwater-a7700816.html

– Hannity: Liberal ‘fascism’ trying to silence every conservative voice.

http://thehill.com/homenews/media/330362-hannity-liberal-fascism-trying-to-silence-every-conservative-voice

– Sen. Richard Burr, Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a recent interview that the U.S. and Russia are locked in a new Cold War.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/330439-burr-us-in-new-cold-war-with-russia

– A U.S. judge blocked Trump’s executive order that sought to withhold federal funds from so-called sanctuary cities, dealing another legal blow to the administration’s efforts to toughen immigration enforcement.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-ruling-idUSKBN17R2QO

– [Other] New Alt-Right “Fight Club” Ready for Street Violence.

https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/04/25/new-alt-right-%E2%80%9Cfight-club%E2%80%9D-ready-street-violence

April 26, 2017 Wednesday

– Trump unveiled a one-page plan proposing deep U.S. tax cuts, many for businesses, that would make the federal deficit balloon if enacted, and would be the largest overhaul since Reagan era.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/us/politics/trump-tax-cut-plan.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tax-idUSKBN17S1CE

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/26/trump-tax-cuts-proposal-deductions-brackets

– Mnuchin: Trump has ‘no intention’ of releasing his tax returns.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/26/trump-no-tax-returns-steven-mnuchin-237642

– U.S. Commerce Department launched an investigation to determine whether a flood of aluminum imports from China and elsewhere was compromising U.S. national security, a step that could lead to broad import restrictions on the metal.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-aluminum-idUSKBN17T044

– Republican lawmakers launched the next round in their fight against federal regulation as the U.S. Senate began work on legislation to change nearly every step agencies take in creating and applying new rules.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-regulation-idUSKBN17S33P

– The conservative House Freedom Caucus came out in support of a reworked U.S. healthcare overhaul bill. The bill would replace Obamacare’s income-based tax credit with a flat age-based credit, roll back an expansion of the Medicaid government health insurance program for the poor and repeal most Obamacare taxes. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated 24 million fewer people would have insurance under the bill.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-healthcare-idUSKBN17S2F1

– FCC Chairman Ajit Pai proposed overturning the landmark 2015 Obama-era net neutrality rules that prohibit broadband providers from giving or selling access to certain internet services over others.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fcc-neutrality-idUSKBN17S2I3

– Trump looks to renegotiate, not cancel NAFTA With Canada.

http://time.com/4757113/trump-nafta-renegotiate-cancel/

http://www.npr.org/2017/04/27/525918213/trump-looks-to-renegotiate-nafta-with-canada

– Trump is considering splitting up the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit after its recent rulings that have blocked two of his executive orders.

http://time.com/4756872/donald-trump-ninth-circuit-court/

– Pentagon and Trump officials sound alarm on North Korea nuclear threat, summoning all 100 senators to the White House to hear top defense officials declare that defending the U.S. from a possible nuclear attack has become a top priority.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article147000349.html

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/330791-senators-get-n-korea-briefing-in-rare-meeting

– Iran fires new cruise missiles amid gulf tensions with U.S.

http://www.newsweek.com/iran-military-fire-cruise-missiles-gulf-tensions-us-590462

– US conducts missile test amid growing tensions over North Korea.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-missile-test-intercontinental-ballistic-minuteman-california-donald-trump-north-korea-kim-jong-un-a7704391.html

– Nuclear attack drills staged near Manhattan as US-North Korea tensions escalate.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/new-york-nuclear-attack-drills-manhattan-north-korea-bomb-threat-trump-a7704516.html

– Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein on Trump-Russia investigation: ‘Oh my god, there’s a cover-up going on’.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-russia-investigation-cover-up-michael-flynn-carl-bernstein-a7704381.html

April 27, 2017 Thursday

– U.S. Senate confirms R. Alexander Acosta to head Labor Department, first Hispanic member of the Trump cabinet.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-labor-idUSKBN17T3D1

– FCC chief unveils plan to scrap Obama-era internet rules to reverse the landmark 2015 “net neutrality” order and disclosed the agency may withdraw “bright line” rules barring internet companies from blocking, throttling or giving “fast lanes” to some websites.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-internet-fcc-idUSKBN17T34W

– Mike Flynn under formal investigation by Pentagon over payments from Russia.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/27/mike-flynn-pentagon-formal-investigation-russia

– White House press secretary Spicer blames Obama for Flynn’s security clearance.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/330925-spicer-blames-obama-for-flynns-security-clearance

– Senate Minority Leader Schumer objected to a deal on passing a one-week stopgap government funding bill, citing concerns about ongoing negotiations over a larger spending agreement. Schumer said there were still unresolved “poison pill riders” being worked out on a longer spending deal that would fund the government through Sept. 30.

– Senate Democrats are exploring a lawsuit against Trump on the grounds that his vast business empire has created conflicts of interest that violate the Constitution.

– Rep. Adam Schiff said Trump is likely to blame his predecessor Barack Obama for any shortcomings or difficulties during his time in office. “I’m confident of this, Chuck: On the last day of the Trump administration, Trump will be blaming Obama for something,” Schiff told MSNBC.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/331011-schiff-trump-will-blame-obama-during-his-entire-presidency

– Trump will abolish women’s right to abortion, warns expert US doctor. Dr Willie Parker said he expected the Trump presidency to succeed in overturning Roe v Wade.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-abortion-illegal-dr-willie-parker-planned-parenthood-roe-v-wade-pro-life-choice-neil-a7670496.html

– House Republican leaders delayed a vote on their Obamacare repeal bill until next week at the earliest, denying Trump a major legislative victory during his first 100 days in office.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/27/house-republicans-obamacare-repeal-votes-237685

April 28, 2017 Friday

– The House passed legislation to avoid a government shutdown just hours ahead of a midnight deadline. The weeklong stopgap measure easily passed. After the Senate clears the bill late Friday, lawmakers will have one week to hash out a longer-term spending package that lasts through September.

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/331058-house-passes-bill-to-avoid-shutdown

– Attorney General Sessions recuses himself from any Michael Flynn investigation. The attorney general recused himself from the Justice Department’s investigation into Russian interference in last year’s election amid reports that he had met on multiple occasions with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. during the campaign even though he had testified during his Senate confirmation hearing that he had not interacted with Russian officials.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/28/jeff-sessions-recusal-michael-flynn-investigation-237736

– Trump picks former anti-abortion leader, Charmaine Yoest, for health and human services post

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/28/trump-health-human-services-anti-abortion-charmaine-yoest

– Trump warns of ‘major, major conflict’ with North Korea, though he would prefer to solve the standoff over the country’s nuclear and missile programmes through diplomacy.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/28/donald-trump-warns-of-major-major-conflict-with-north-korea

– Trump pledges fealty to NRA gun lobby.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-guns-idUSKBN17U2SX

– House and Senate approve stopgap spending measure while negotiators work to reach an agreement over a longer-term funding package.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/28/government-shutdown-congress-hours-before-deadline

– Trump tells NRA: ‘I am going to come through for you’.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/28/donald-trump-nra

– DeMint to be ousted from Heritage Foundation.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/28/demint-set-to-be-ousted-from-heritage-foundation-237754

– EPA scrubs website of references to Obama climate plans.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/28/epa-website-scrubbed-obama-climate-plans-237779

– North Korea test-fires ballistic missile in defiance of world pressure.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-idUSKBN17U2XB

– U.S. could speed up North Korea sanctions in response to missile test.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-usa-idUSKBN17U34D

– U.S. says time to act on North Korea, China says not up to Beijing alone.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-usa-un-tillerson-idUSKBN17U27O

Trump’s first 100 Days: What media has said:

 Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_100_days_of_Donald_Trump%27s_presidency

The White House:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/04/27/president-trumps-100-days-accountability

Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/04/28/the-32-word-history-of-trumps-first-100-days/

USA Today:

https://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/trump-100-days

Wall Street Journal:

http://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/donald-trumps-first-100-days

New York Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/opinion/donald-trumps-first-100-days-the-worst-on-record.html

Fox News:

http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/04/27/president-trump-best-and-worst-moments-his-first-100-days

NPR:

http://www.npr.org/2017/04/27/525584236/in-trumps-first-100-days-a-dramatic-reduction-in-immigration

Reuters:

http://www.reuters.com/news/picture/first-100-days-of-trump

Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/apr/27/the-simpsons-trump-first-100-days

Politico:

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/04/26/trump-first-100-days-president-rating-accomplishments-215071

Time:

http://time.com/4748940/historians-president-trump-100-days/

Newsweek:

http://www.newsweek.com/simpsons-trump-first-100-days-us-president-590692

NBC News:

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/president-trumps-first-100-days

CBS News:

http://www.cbsnews.com/trump-first-100-days/

ABC News:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/photos/trumps-100-days-45102963/image-47090714

CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/28/politics/donald-trump-100-days-tweets/

BBC (UK):

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39724045

The Telegraph (UK):

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/25/donald-trumps-achievements-failures-first-100-days-president/

CBC (Canada):

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/donald-trump-100-days-analysis-boag-1.4083673

Deutsche Welle (Germany)

http://www.dw.com/en/100-days-of-us-president-donald-trump-what-you-need-to-know/a-38605502

France 24 (France):

http://www.france24.com/en/20170425-trump-mark-first-100-days-white-house-usa-president

RT (Russia):

https://www.rt.com/shows/boom-bust/386412-donald-trump-100-days/

Global Times (China)

http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/president-trump-completes-100-days-so-did-he-keep-his-promises/story-8D8xGLYAyk5QShH3weh6KK.html

Hindustan Times (India)

http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/president-trump-completes-100-days-so-did-he-keep-his-promises/story-8D8xGLYAyk5QShH3weh6KK.html

South China Morning Post (Hong Kong):

http://www.scmp.com/topics/donald-trumps-first-100-days

What Trump said:

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/331154-trump-first-100-days-just-about-the-most-successful-in-history

[Note: With few exceptions, sources are from mainstream media and updated daily with additions and changes.]

Michael T. Bucci is a retired public relations executive now residing in New England. He has authored nine books on practical spirituality collectively titled The Cerithous Material.

This article first published by GR on August 10, 2010. An expanded version was subsequently incorporated as a chapter in Michel Chossudovsky’s book entitled: Towards a World War III Scenario, The Dangers of Nuclear War, Global Research, 2011.

A decisive shift in US military doctrine was reached in 2014 with the creation of the Islamic State (ISIS- Daesh) and the launching of Obama’s 2014 counter-terrorism campaign.

The “Global War on Terrorism: launched by George W. Bush has evolved under the Trump administration towards a full-fledged “war of religion”, a “holy crusade” directed against the Muslim World. 

Vilification of the enemy. The “Good Muslim”, “Bad Muslim” divide has been scrapped. In the words of Donald Trump, there are “A lot of bad dudes out there!”

*     *    *

US military dogma and war propaganda under the Bush administration were predicated on combating Islamic fundamentalism rather than targeting Muslims. “This is not a war between the West and Islam, but .. a war against terrorism.” So-called “Good Muslims” are to be distinguished from “Bad Muslims”:

“The dust from the collapse of the twin towers had hardly settled on 11 September 2001 when the febrile search began for “moderate Muslims”, people who would provide answers, who would distance themselves from this outrage and condemn the violent acts of “Muslim extremists”, “Islamic fundamentalists” and “Islamists”. Two distinct categories of Muslims rapidly emerged: the “good” and the “bad”; the “moderates”, “liberals” and “secularists” versus the “fundamentalists”, the “extremists” and the “Islamists”.” (Tariq Ramadan, Good Muslim, bad Muslim, New Statesman, February 12, 2010)

In the wake of 9/11, the Muslim community in most Western countries was markedly on the defensive.  The “Good Muslim” “Bad Muslim” divide was broadly accepted. The 9/11 terrorist attacks allegedly perpetrated by Muslims were not only condemned, Muslim communities also supported the US-NATO invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, as part of a legitimate campaign directed against Islamic fundamentalism.

Washington’s objective was to instill a sentiment of guilt within the Muslim community.  The fact that the 9/11 attacks were not instigated by Muslims has rarely been acknowledged by the Muslim community. Al Qaeda’s ongoing relationship to the CIA, its role as a US sponsored “intelligence asset” going back to to the Soviet-Afghan war is not mentioned. (Michel Chossudovsky, America’s “War on Terrorism”  Global Research, Montreal, 2005)

Since the early 1980s, Washington has covertly supported the most conservative and fundamentalist factions of Islam, largely with a view to weakening secular, nationalist and progressive movements in the Middle East and Central Asia. Known and documented, the fundamentalist Wahhabi and Salafi missions from Saudi Arabia, dispatched not only to Afghanistan but also to the Balkans and to the Muslim republics of the former Soviet republics were covertly supported by US intelligence. (Ibid) What is often referred to as “Political Islam” is in large part a creation of the US intelligence apparatus (with the support of Britain’s MI6 and Israel’s Mossad).

The Ground Zero Mosque

Recent developments suggest a breaking point, a transition from “the war on terrorism” to the outright demonization of Muslims. While underscoring the freedom of religion, the Obama administration is “beating the drums” of a broader war against Islam:

“As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country… This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable.” (quoted in Obama Backs Ground Zero Mosque; Iranian Link Questioned, Israel National News, August 15, 2010)

Beneath the political smokescreen, the distinction between “Good Muslims” and “Bad Muslims” is being scrapped. The proposed Ground Zero mosque is allegedly being funding by “the radical rogue Islamic state of Iran … as the United States is stepping up sanctions on the regime in retaliation for its support of terrorism and what is feared to be an illegal nuclear-weapons development program.” ( Ground Zero mosque developers refuse to outright reject funding from Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – NYPOST.com, August 19, 2010)

The rising tide of xenophobia, sparked by the proposed Ground Zero mosque and community center, has all the appearances of  a PSYOP (Psychological Operation) which contributes to fomenting hatred against Muslims throughout the Western World.

The objective is to instil fear, rouse and harness citizens’ unbending support for the next stage of America’s “long war”, which consists in waging “humanitarian” aerial attacks on the Islamic Republic of Iran, portrayed by the media as endorsing the terrorists.

While “all Muslims are not terrorists”, all terrorist attacks (planned or realized) are reported by the media as being perpetrated by Muslims.

In America, the Muslim community as a whole is being targeted. Islam is described as a “religion of war”. The proposed mosque and community center are being heralded as “violating the sanctity of Ground Zero”.

“..opening a mosque at Ground Zero is offensive and disrespectful to the city and the people who died in the attacks. The project is “spitting in the face of everyone murdered on 9/11.” (Plan to build mosque at Ground Zero angers New Yorkers ,National Post, May 17, 2010)

“Homegrown Terrorists”

The arrests on trumped up charges, as well as the show trials of alleged “homegrown” “Islamic terrorists”, perform an important function. They sustain the illusion, in the inner consciousness of Americans, that “Islamic terrorists” not only constitute a real threat but that the Muslim community to which they belong is broadly supportive of their actions:

“[T]he threat increasingly comes not from strangers with rough English and dubious passports. Instead, it resides much closer to home: in urban townhouses, darkened basements — anywhere with an Internet connection. Homegrown terrorism is the latest incarnation of the al-Qaeda threat.” How terror came home to roost, Ottawa Citizen, August 27, 2010, report on an alleged homegrown terrorist attack in Canada)

From a process of selective targeting of Muslims with radical tendencies (or allegedly associated with “terrorist organizations”), what is now unfolding is a generalized process of demonization of an entire population group.

Muslims are increasingly the object of routine discrimination and ethnic profiling. They are considered a potential threat to national security. The threat is said to be “much closer to home”, “within your neighborhood”. In other words what is unfolding is an all out witch-hunt reminiscent of the Spanish inquisition.

In turn,  Al Qaeda is described as a powerful multinational terrorist organization (possessing WMDs) with subsidiaries (covertly supported by US and allied intelligence agencies) in a number of Muslim countries: Al Qaeda is present (with corresponding acronyms) in various geopolitical hotspots and war theaters:

-Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) (comprised of Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Jihad of Yemen), Al Qaeda in Southeast Asia (Jamaah Islamiyah), Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb, Harakat al-Shabaab Mujahideen in Somalia, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, etc.

At no moment is the issue of atrocities committed against several million Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan considered a terrorist act by the occupation forces.

The American Inquisition

A “war of religion” is unfolding, with a view to justifying a global military crusade. In the inner consciousness of many Americans, the “holy crusade” against Muslims is justified. While President Obama may uphold freedom of religion, the US inquisitorial social order has institutionalized patterns of discrimination, prejudice and xenophobia directed against Muslims. Ethnic profiling applies to travel, the job market, access to education and social services and more generally to social status and mobility.

The American Inquisition as an ideological construct which is, in many regards, similar to the inquisitorial social order prevailing in France and Spain during the Middle Ages. The inquisition, which started in France in the 12th century, was used as a justification for conquest and military intervention. (See Michel Chossudovsky, 9/11 and the “American Inquisition”, Global Research, September 11, 2008).

The arrests, trials and sentences of so-called “homegrown” terrorists” (from within America’s Muslim community) on trumped up charges sustain the legitimacy of the Homeland Security State and its inquisitorial legal and law enforcement apparatus.

An inquisitorial doctrine turns realities upside down. It is a social order based on lies and fabrications. But because these lies emanate from the highest political authority and are part of a widely held “consensus”, they invariably remain unchallenged. And those who challenge the inquisitorial order or in any way oppose America’s military or national security agenda are themselves branded as “conspiracy theorists” or outright terrorists.

Beyond the process of inquisitorial arrests and prosecution, which outdwarfs the Spanish inquisition, an expedient extrajudicial assassination program sanctioned by the White House has been launched. This program allows US special forces to kill American citizens and suspected homegrown terrorists:: “A shortlist of U.S. citizens specifically targeted for killing”? (See Chuck Norris, Obama’s US Assassination Program? “A Shortlist of U.S. Citizens specifically Targeted for Killing”?,. Global Research, August 26, 2010)

The objective is to sustain the illusion that “America is under attack” and that Muslims across the land are complicit and supportive of “Islamic terrorism”.

The demonization of Muslims sustains a global military agenda. Under the American inquisition, Washington has a self-proclaimed holy mandate to extirpate Islam and “spread democracy” throughout the world.

What we are dealing with is an outright and blind acceptance of the structures of power and political authority. America’s holy crusade against the Muslim World is an outright criminal act directed against millions of people. It is a war of economic conquest.

More than 60% of the World’s oil and natural gas reserves lie in Muslim lands. “The Battle for Oil” waged by the US NATO Israel military alliance requires the demonization of the inhabitants of those countries which possess these vast reserves of oil and natural gas. (See Michel Chossudovsky, The Demonization of Muslims and the Battle for Oil, Global Research, January 4, 2007)

The U.S. Secretary of Defense claims Russia is giving weapons to the Taliban, in Afghanistan. “Mad Dog” Mattis must also have mad cow disease of the brain. “If there is one major power in the world that has consistently fought against Islamic jihadists, in Afghanistan and everywhere else, it is Russia.”

If the United States were not a superpower, it would be the joke of the planet, a nation whose government tells the most outrageous and ridiculous lies — and may actually believe them — and whose corporate media report those lies as gospel truth.

The latest whopper comes from the mouth of James “Mad Dog” Mattis, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, who claims the Russians are providing weapons to the Taliban, in Afghanistan. The charge is insane. If there is one major power in the world that has consistently fought against Islamic jihadists, in Afghanistan and everywhere else, it is Russia. And, the major power most responsible for the rise of the Taliban and other jihadist outfits, is the United States, which teamed with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to create the international jihadist network in order to force the Soviets out of Afghanistan, almost 40 years ago. Despite that history, beginning in 2009, the Russians allowed the U.S. to use Russian airspace to supply American troops in Afghanistan. It was a vital lifeline for the U.S. mission in Afghanistan, which could not be adequately supplied through Pakistan.

The Russians were hoping that the new American president, Barack Obama, would make an honest effort to improve relations with Moscow – which, of course, never happened. But mainly, Russia was acting in its own interest. Afghan heroin devastated Russian society, and Islamic jihadists have killed thousands of people on Russian soil. Jihadists from Chechnya have done the most damage, but Russia has a vital interest in combating Islamist terror in the Muslim former Soviet Republics, especially Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan, which all border on Afghanistan. For Russia, the war in Afghanistan is a domestic issue, with a direct impact on the drug trade and terrorist attacks on Russian cities. The suicide bomber that blew up a subway train in St. Petersburg, Russia, killing 14 people earlier this month, was from Kyrgyzstan.

Nobody has to tell the Russians about the threat of jihadist terror.

Washington is Jihadists’ Sugar Daddy

The Russians finally shut off U.S. military access to their airspace near Afghanistan, in 2015, after the Obama administration fomented the coup in Ukraine and decided to make Russia its main adversary in the world. But, it is the Russians, along with the Syrians and the Iranians, that continue to be the main obstacle to the spread of jihadist terror in the world, today – while the Americans, the Saudis and Pakistan remain the bulwarks of Islamic terror, providing billions in arms and training for Islamic fighters all around the region. The United States and its NATO allies provided the air force for jihadists in Libya, and then did the same thing in Syria for al Qaida, which became so powerful that it split, with one branch becoming ISIS. ISIS now vies for influence and territory in Afghanistan. The ISIS fighters that the U.S. targeted with the biggest conventional bomb in its inventory, a MOAB, in Afghanistan, this month, came from Pakistan, Washington’s longtime ally, which is also continues to be the home base for the Afghan Taliban. So, when the United States makes the outrageous charge that Russia is aiding the Taliban, it’s like the Mafia complaining about organized crime.

For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the web, go to Black Agenda Report.com.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at [email protected].

The EU is in a deep crisis, the situation very worrying according to Srećko Horvat. But elites and governments in the EU are unwilling and incapable of responding to this crisis.

The Left has also failed to provide people with alternatives. Right-wing movements have so far profited from the anger of workers and middle-class citizens. The pan European movement DiEM25 wants to fill the gap and develop proposals for solving the crisis in order to build bridges between political parties and progressive movements to create a different Europe beyond neoliberalism, mass unemployment and fortress Europe.

Guest: Srećko Horvat: co-founder of DiEM25, philosopher, activist and author from Croatia

The pan-European movement DiEM25, co-founded by Srećko Horvat and Yanis Varoufakis, former finance minister of Greece, wants to build bridges between political parties and progressive movements in Europe. Left parties like the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn and Podemos in Spain should not be losing touch with  its progressive base to avoid what has happened with Syriza in Greece, says Horvat. Additionally, many problems could not be solved on an isolated national level. Therefore a left exit from the European project is the false answer according to Horvat. Most problems have transnational implications like the economic or financial crisis, climate change or the refugee crisis. But the Left has so far failed to provide alternatives to the neoliberal assault on European societies. Right movements and parties have instead ceased the opportunity and are doing well. It is high time to build a “progressive, internationally oriented” Europe.

“Fake news” and media lies are a talking point. The MSM targets the alternative media.

This pathbreaking article by veteran war correspondent Felicity Arbuthnot first published in December 2012 deciphers America’s war propaganda and media disinformation campaign. (And yes: Winston Churchill was in favor of chemical weapons against rogue enemies).

*     *     *

“I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas. We have definitely adopted the position at the Peace Conference of arguing in favour of the retention of gas as a permanent method of warfare…. I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes.” (Winston S. Churchill, 1874-1965, from War Office  minute, 12th May 1919.)

As the sabre rattling against Syria gets ever louder, the allegations ever wilder and double standards, stirring, plotting and terrorist financing (sorry: “aiding the legitimate opposition”) neon lit, it is instructive to look at the justifications presented by US Administrations for a few other murderous incursions in recent history.

This month is the twenty third anniversary of the US invasion of Panama on 20th December 1989, as Panamanians prepared their Christmas celebrations. A quick check reminds the late Philip Agee recalling President George H.W. Bush telling the American people that the threat from Panama (pop: 3,571,185 – 2011) was such that: “our way of life is at stake.” Agee referred to this in his aptly named talk “Producing the Proper Crisis.”(i) Apt then as now. Nothing changes.

The aim of the invasion was to capture the country’s leader General Manuel Noriega and, of course, to: “establish a democratic government.” Regime change.

With the approaching transfer of control of the Panama Canal to Panama (originally scheduled for 1st January  1990) after a century of US colonial stewardship, America wanted to ensure it was in the hands of malleable allies.

Noriega a CIA asset, since 1967 (ii) who had also attended the notorious School of the Americas, at Fort Benning, Georgia, came to power with US backing, but seemingly his support for the US was cooling. To encapsulate a long story, the US kidnapped him and sentenced him to forty years in jail.

Plans to invade were called: “Operation Prayer Book.” It was later re-named “Operation Just Cause”, with General Colin Powell commenting that it was a moniker of which he approved as: ”Even our severest critics would have to utter ‘Just Cause’ whilst denouncing us.” (Colin Powell, with Jospeh E. Persico: “My American Journey”, 1995.)

All military marauding should simply be called: “Operation Silly Name 1, then 2,3,4” etc., until the numbers finally run out.

Twenty seven thousand US troops backed by Apache helicopters decimated much of the small country, with a defence force of just three thousand. George Bush Snr., said he was removing an evil dictator who was brutalizing his own people  (sound familiar?) and that the action was needed to:” protect American lives.” It was also to: “defend democracy and human rights in Panama” – and to “protect the Canal.” Surprise, eh?

Manuel Noriega was released from US jail in 2007, extradited to France which had awarded him the country’s highest honour, The Legion d’honneur in 1987. He remained in jail in France until December 2011, when he was returned to Panama, where he is still imprisoned.

In the near forgotten Panama decimation (unless you are Panamanian) the densely populated, poverty stricken neighbourhood of El Chorillo was incinerated by American actions to such an extent that it became named “Little Hiroshima.”

One woman charged that: “The North Americans began burning down El Chorillo at about 6.30 in the morning. They would throw a small device in to a house and it would catch on fire – then they would move to another, they burned from one street to the next, coordinating the burning on walkie-talkies.”

A US soldier was recorded stating: “We ask you to surrender … if you do not, we are prepared to level each and every building.”

“Everything that moved they shot”, said a city resident.

The dead were consigned to mass graves with witnesses stating that US troops used flame throwers on the dead, noting the bodies shriveling as they burned. Others were bulldozed in to piles.(iii)

There was worse. As the current self righteous, if contradictory statements flow from Washington and Whitehall about Syria’s unproven chemical weapons, proven facts relate to America’s.

“From the 1940s to the 1990s the United States used various parts of Panama as a testing ground for chemical weapons, including mustard gas, VX, sarin, hydrogen cyanide and other nerve agents in … mines, rockets and shells; perhaps tens of thousands of chemical munitions.” (William Blum: Rogue State, 2002.)

Further, on departing Panama at the end of 1999 they left: “many sites containing chemical weapons. They had also: “conducted secret tests of Agent Orange in Panama …” In the 1989 invasion, the village of Pacora, near Panama City: “was bombed with (chemicals) by helicopters and aircraft from US Southern Command, with substances that burned skin, caused intense pain and diarrhea.”

Many analysts felt that Panama was the testing ground for Iraq.

Nine months after the poisoning of Panama, on Hiroshima Day 1990, the strangulating US-driven embargo on Iraq was enforced by the UN, after the US Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie had given the green light for Saddam Hussein to invade Kuwait, after Kuwait’s considerable provocation and financial and geographical destabilization.(iv.)

The hype over chemical and other weapons went in to overdrive, leading Saddam Hussein to comment: “I am afraid, one day, you will say ‘You are going to make gunpowder out of wheat.’ ”

Thirteen months after Panama, America led a thirty one country coalition to “reduce Iraq to a pre-industrial age.” The only chemicals released from Iraq were the poisonous mix from the bombed pharmaceutical and fertilizer factories, the car manufacturing plants and the factories of Iraq’s entire industrial base, including the compounds holding the chemical and biological substances, including medical ones, sold to Iraq by the US, UK Germany and others over the previous decades, sales ironically, still ongoing at the time of the onslaught. (v.)

Highly toxic and radioactive substances were introduced into Iraq however, in the form of up to seven hundred and fifty tonnes of chemically toxic and radioactive depleted uranium munitions (DU) which have a toxic “half life” of 4.5 billion years. Iraq’s litany of deformed, still born, aborted babies, infants born with cancers, the tiny graves, silent testimony to weapons of mass destruction of unique wickedness. Iraq was bombed for forty two days and nights.

The hyped chemical weapons alleged to have been manufactured by Iraq were, of course, never deployed.

On 24th March 1999, NATO began to liberate Kosovo from Serbia. (US Silly Name: Operation Noble Anvil) Kosovo had an estimated ten trillion dollars worth of “inexhaustible” minerals in the Trebca mines.

The “liberation” was seventy eight days of relentless bombardment, including use of depleted uranium weaponry. Twenty thousand tonnes of bombs were dispatched. Destroyed systematically were communications centres, fuel depots, airports, traffic communications, trains, markets, the Chinese Embassy – China was against the attack, NATO, resoundingly unconvincingly, said they had the wrong map. And of course, the media centre. Murdering journalists is now another routine, unaccountable war crime.

Before the attack, the Pentagon stated that the Army of Yugoslavia possessed at least two kinds of poisonous gasses, with the facilities to produce them. The US Department of Defense warned Slobodan Milosevic the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army : “If Belgrade uses poisonous gasses sarin and mustard gas against NATO, the response of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will be devastating.”

Oddly, after the air strikes began, NATO mentioned not one word to indicate that it was attacking Serbia’s US-stated capacity to produce chemical weapons. (Zagred Globus, 16th April 1999, pp 18-19.)

The industrial scale destruction, however, left the Trebca mines unscathed.

   On 14th August 2000, nine hundred heavily armed British, French, Italian, Pakistani and KFOR troops were landed from helicopters at the mines. Managers and workers tried to fight them off and were beaten, tear gassed with plastic bullets used. The resisting staff were arrested.

UN papers described the action as: “ … induction of democratization in Kosovo.” The attack in fact, paved the way for selling of the mines -containing “the inexhaustible” estimated 77,302,000 tons of coal, copper, zinc, lead, nickel, gold, silver, marble, manganese, iron ore, asbestos and limestone “to name a few” – to private foreign groups. (News reports, websites.)

The  “Kosovo Liberation Army” had been: “ … trained for years and supported with millions of US dollars and German Marks … through the CIA and BND” (German Intelligence) “for this war, misleadingly called a civil war”(vi) by NATO governments and spokespersons.

DU’s chemical and radiological properties were rained down throughout former Yugoslavia too. By 2001, doctors in the Serb run hospital in Kosovo Mitrovica stated that the number of patients suffering from malignant diseases had increased by two hundred percent since a 1998 survey.

A 2003 study by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) found drinking water and air samples contaminated in Bosnia Herzegovina. There was, of course: “no cause for alarm.” Pekka Haavisto, former Environment Minister of Finland, Heading UNEP, called for a wide and thorough scientific investigation to establish the full extent and hazards of the contamination. The US – cited as the only country to use DU weaponry in that conflict – blocked the request. (vii.)

However alarm was raised in Europe when Italian, Portuguese, Belgian and French peacekeepers in the region developed cancers, within a matter of months, a high proportion of those diagnosed died. Norwegian peacekeepers refused to be deployed.(viii.)

“Less than a month after the war in Yugoslavia ended in 1999, the British National Radiological Protection Board warned British citizens about the dangers from staying in Kosovo because of the contamination of its territories by D.U. weapons.”

The peacekeepers, of course were there for just weeks or months, the people of the region live there, the plight of their health and that of future generations ignored and forgotten by their “liberators.” They had other “tyrants” to topple, other populations to relieve of their lives and limbs and livelihoods.

Iraq, had again been bombed by the US and UK during the Christmas season of 1998, four months before the assault on Yugoslavia and had been back on the invasion radar ever since. The lies were familiar – and relentless, a currently topical example, one of of countless:

“2nd September 2002: Experts: Iraq has tons of chemical weapons.

“As some in the Bush administration press the case for a pre-emptive strike against Iraq, weapons experts say there is mounting evidence that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has amassed large stocks of chemical and biological weapons he is hiding from a possible U.S. military attack.

“Washington’s concern is that Iraq could supply those weapons to terrorist groups …  ‘If we wait for the danger to become clear, it could be too late’ said Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Delaware, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.”

With Biden now Vice President, it is impossible not to wonder whether he has any input in to the Syria spin, with its uncannily similar words.

“Jon Wolfsthal, an analyst with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said Iraq’s inventory is significant: ‘Iraq continues to possess several tons of chemical weapons agents, enough to kill thousands and thousands of civilians or soldiers’, Wolfsthal said.” (ix)

Further: “U.N. weapons experts have said Iraq may have stockpiled more than 600 metric tons of chemical agents, including mustard gas, VX and sarin. Some 25,000 rockets and 15,000 artillery shells with chemical agents are also unaccounted for, the experts said.

“The concern is they either have on hand — or could quickly re-create the capability to produce — vast amounts of anthrax, tons of material”, was Wolfsthal’s additional spin.

“Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld” asserted :“… Iraq has mobile biological weapons laboratories, which would be nearly impossible for U.S. forces to target.” The lives of thousands of people were at stake, he said. Indeed, since the invasion, Iraqi deaths at American and British hands or that of their militias, and imposed puppet government, are nothing short of holocaustal.

According to Jonathan Schwartz, who revisited General Colin Powell’s pack of lies on Iraq to the UN on 5th February 2003 : “ My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we’re giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence …”  Powell is now regretful.

Schwartz is unsympathetic. On the  fifth anniversary of Powell’s misleading nonsense, 5th February 2008, he commented: “As much criticism as Powell has received for this – he calls it ‘painful’ and something that will ‘always be a part of my record’ – it hasn’t been close to what’s justified. Powell was far more than just horribly mistaken, the evidence is conclusive that he fabricated evidence and ignored repeated warnings that what he was saying was false.”

The entirely illegal invasion of Iraq, based on a trans-Atlantic pack of lies had commenced just forty five days later. Operation Very Silly Name? “Operation Iraqi Liberation”: OIL.

The lies over Libya – which under Colonel Quadaffi came top of the Human Development Index for Africa – are of recent memory. Nevertheless a few reminders:

CIA paid Quislings abound in the above invasions and others over many decades. Meet General Abdul Fatah Younis, Colonel Gaddafi’s Interior Minister, who “defected to the opposition” – wonder what his price was – and became chief of staff of the insurgents: “ … he pleaded for NATO allies to arm the rebels with heavy weapons, including helicopters and anti-tank missiles, to defend the besieged city of Misurata.. He predicted the dictator  … would be ready to use chemical weapons in a last stand against rebels or the civilian population.” (Amazing, words straight out of the current Syria “opposition” check list.)

“Gaddafi is desperate now. Unfortunately he still has about 25 per cent of his chemical weapons, which he might use as he’s in a desperate situation. …”

“Col. Gaddafi is known to have around ten tons of mustard gas remaining from stocks that he had been destroying under the supervision of a United Nations body, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.”(x.)

In context, back in 2002, Neil Mackay, multi-award winning investigations Editor of the Sunday Herald explained that: “Driven by greed and a profound lack of morality, the British government violated the Chemical weapons Convention by selling chemicals “that could be converted to weapons of war.”

Countries benefiting from UK sales, Mackay stated, included Libya, Yemen, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Cyprus, India, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Turkey and Uganda, a charge the Department of Trade and Industry “clearly admitted.”

After Tony Blair’s embrace of Colonel Gaddafi in March 2004, the British government announced plans to send their experts to Libya to destroy the chemical weapons they had sold, stating that Colonel Gaddafi had mislead Blair over their existence. That they had the remittance documents seems to have escaped them. Identical to UK duplicities over Iraq.

Between the start of Libya’s destruction on 19th March 2011 and NATO taking over on 31st March 2011, the US and UK dropped one hundred and ten Cruise missiles on a country with a population of under six and a half million. When NATO assumed command of the “humanitarian intervention” they assaulted this minimal population with 26,500 bomb- releasing sorties.

There were, of course no Presidential tears for Libya’s lost children, whose demise would have been preceded by unimaginable terror, in an onslaught which had two Silly Names, one for the US: “Operation Odyssey Dawn” and one for NATO: “Operation Unified Protector”, the latter, comment defying.

Quadaffi himself lost three small grandchildren and three sons. In 1986 in another US bombing, he lost a just toddling adopted daughter.

Moments after she learned of his terrible death at the hands of a rabid NATO “protected” mob, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared on television laughing as she said: “We came, we saw, he died.”

What an age since she said: “I really believe that it takes a village to raise a child.” Now her beliefs are apparently to wipe out the village, its children, parents and lynch the village elder for a tele-opportunity of raucous mirth.

On 4th December 2012, Clinton warned that Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad may be moving, guess what – a “chemical weapons stockpile.”

“We have made our views very clear.This is a red line for the United States. I’m not going to telegraph in any specifics what we would do in the event of credible evidence that the Assad regime has resorted to using chemical weapons against his own people, but suffice to say we are certainly planning to take action if that eventuality were to occur,” she said at a press conference in Prague.

Weapons of course:  “could be used to contain sarin gas”, according to another U.S. official. Another added:  “ … we are concerned about any move that might signal that they are somehow ready to use those chemical weapons on their own people.” (xii.)

“Déjà vu all over again”, as the saying goes.

Syria responded on 6th December: “Syria stresses again, for the tenth, the hundredth time, that if we had such weapons, they would not be used against its people. We would not commit suicide,” Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Al Maqdad told Lebanon’s Al Manar television …”

“We fear there is a conspiracy to provide a pretext for any subsequent interventions in Syria by these countries that are increasing pressure on Syria.” Indeed. It would hardly be a first.

In late October US troops arrived in Jordan for a major joint exercise near the Syrian border. Operation Silly and Childish Name: “Operation Eager Lion.” Al Assad in arabic translates as: the lion.

Ironically the first allegation of Syria having chemical weapons would seem to have come from John R.Bolton, alleged by Congressman Henry Waxman to have persuaded George W. Bush to include the fairy story of Iraq purchasing yellow cake uranium from Niger in his 2003 State of the Union address.The allegation is unproven, however, since the documents are still classified.

Bolton is involved with a plethora of less than liberal organizations, including the Project for the New American Century, The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) and the currently in the news, The National Rifle Association.

Relating to Syria, it should also be remembered that the country has been under increasingly strangulating sanctions since 2004.

Former Chief Weapons Inspector in Iraq, Scott Ritter has written that: “chemical weapons have a shelf life of five years. Biological weapons have a shelf life of three.” They also give off an “ether”, say experts, which can be picked up by satellite surveillance, which Syria, as Iraq before it is certain to be comprehensively subject of.

Heaven forbid Washington, Whitehall, Tel Aviv and the coalition of the coerced are crying “Wolf!” again. Heaven help anyone who believes them.

Notes

i.http://www.serendipity.li/cia/agee_1.html

ii.http://revcom.us/a/017/us-invasion-panama.htm

iii.http://www.addictedtowar.com/docs/panama.htm

iv.http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-war-on-iraq-five-us-presidents-five-british-prime-ministers-thirty-years-of-duplicity-and-counting/20510

v.http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0908-08.htm

vi.http://www.currentconcerns.ch/index.php?id=785

vii. http://www.iacenter.org/depleted/un_du.htm

viii.http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1803/18030580.htm

ix.http://articles.cnn.com/2002-09-02/world/iraq.weapons_1_biological-weapons-weapons-inspectors-iraqi-president-saddam-hussein?_s=PM:WORLD

x.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8481250/Libya-Col-Gaddafi-still-has-quarter-of-chemical-weapons-stockpile.html

xi.http://news.yahoo.com/clinton-assads-chemical-weapons-red-line-us-170103890–abc-news-politics.html

After any crime, regardless of scale, a swift, impartial and independent investigation is required if any accountability at all is desired. The French government, in the wake of an alleged “chemical weapons attack” near Syria’s northern city of Idlib, has claimed that it is “committed to ensuring that the perpetrators of this heinous attack are held accountable.”

The LA Times in an article titled, “Syrian chemical attack bears Assad’s signature, France says,” would report:

A six-page report by French intelligence services claims the nerve agent came from hidden stockpiles of chemical weapons that Damascus was supposed to have destroyed under an U.S.- and Russian-brokered deal in 2013.

Were it the case that France was seriously committed to holding the perpetrators of the alleged attack accountable, the French government would need to call for an impartial, independent investigation into the attack, and as soon as possible. Instead, it decided to carry out its own “investigation,” ensuring neither impartiality nor independence, and by consequence, achieving no accountability.

Neither Impartial nor Independent

France is one of several nations directly involved in a multi-year US-led effort to violently overthrow the Syrian government.

Terrorist organizations fighting in and along Syria’s borders have, for 6 years now, brandished the black, green, white and red colonial flag of French-occupied Syria.

France itself has admittedly supplied militant groups fighting the Syrian government with financial, military and political support with many prominent members of the so-called residing within French territory, leading political efforts to overthrow the Syrian government remotely.

In a 2014  France 24 article titled, “France delivered arms to Syrian rebels, Hollande confirms,” its revealed that:

President Francois Hollande said on Thursday that France had delivered weapons to rebels battling the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad “a few months ago.”

The deliveries took place “a few months ago, when the Syrian rebels had to face both the armies of the dictator Bashar al-Assad and this terrorist group Islamic State,” Hollande told reporters on a tour of the French island of La Reunion. 

“We cannot leave the only Syrians who are preparing a democracy … without weapons,” he added.

And French warplanes are flying over Syria, without a UN resolution or invitation by the Syrian government, bombarding its territory in an alleged effort to wage war on the very militant groups it has flooded with arms, cash and others forms of material support.

A nation directly involved in efforts to violently overthrow a government cannot in any rational way conduct an impartial, independent investigation into the actions of that targeted government.

France, by all legal metrics, is a compromised party with a direct stake in finding the Syrian government “guilty.” The evidence France claims to possess must be verified by an impartial, independent party, but even at face value, French “evidence” appears illogical and intentionally misrepresented amid its most recent claims.

French ‘Intel’ Not Adding Up

French evidence is based on what French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault himself claims is, “a certain source,” which, in wording alone, resembles the ambiguity and oblique tactics used by the United States in the lead up to the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq. It is also language that would be inadmissible during any genuine legal proceeding.

In 2003, US and European politicians during interviews, press conferences and public speeches relied heavily on alleged evidence produced by similar unnamed sources. It would later be revealed that those sources were intentionally lying, and were intentionally cited in a wider effort to fabricate a false pretext for war with Iraq.

Additionally, France has attempted to implicate the Syrian government in the most recent alleged attack by claiming the same sarin nerve agent was also used in an alleged attack in 2013.

However, were this true, such a claim would require an indisputable conclusion drawn by an impartial, independent investigation that the 2013 attack was indeed carried out by the Syrian government, using not only sarin nerve agent, but the precise variant allegedly used in this most recent attack.

No such conclusion exists, with France failing to produce any of these basic legal or rational prerequisites, going far in explaining why the French foreign minister has resorted to the same ambiguous rhetoric used by US politicians in the lead up to the 2003 Iraq invasion.

Despite this, the French government and those across US, European and Persian Gulf media have attempted to project confidence in this “investigation.” However, should the French government and its allies be so confident in their findings, they would invite a truly impartial, independent party to open up its own investigation, consider and verify this evidence and draw its own, impartial and independent conclusions.

The political capital provided to France and its allies by doing this would be enormous, yet no such investigation is being called for by France, the United States or any of the other parties involved in the protracted, violent dismemberment of the Syrian state. The answer to “why” they would forgo such a politically lucrative move can be explained by a total lack of confidence in their evidence, or certain knowledge that their “evidence” is entirely fabricated, and genuine investigations would only confirm that publicly.

And in fact, the only calls for a truly independent investigation have come from the Syrian government itself as well as from its allies in Moscow and Tehran. It should be noted that these nations were also among those opposed to the US invasion of Iraq based on similarly fabricated claims.

In all, the French “investigation” is nothing of the sort. Had the French government been truly committed to discovering the truth behind the recent alleged chemical weapons attack, it would have recognized its own limits as an impartial, independent investigator and forwarded its “evidence” to a party that is capable of a real investigation. Instead, it has embarked on an intentionally dishonest course of actions to conceal its lack of impartiality and independence, using tenuous if not fabricated claims to further deepen a violent, deadly and supremely costly conflict it itself is a key instigator of.

Ulson Gunnar, a New York-based geopolitical analyst and writer especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.   

Paul Atwood, a Senior Lecturer in American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston, provides a concise summary of the history that informs North Korea’s “relations with the United States” and “drives its determination never to submit to any American diktat”.

Excerpts from Atwood’s summary are here used as a framework, with other sources where indicated.

Atwood notes it is an American “myth” that the “North Korean Army suddenly attacked without warning, overwhelming surprised ROK defenders.” In fact, the North/South border “had been progressively militarized and there had been numerous cross border incursions by both sides going back to 1949.”

Part of what made the US’s ultimate destruction of Korea (which involved essentially a colossal version of one of the cross-border incursions) “inevitable” was the goal of US planners to access or control “global… resources, markets and cheaper labor power”.

In its full invasion of the North, the US acted under the banner of the United Nations. However, the UN at that time was “largely under the control of the United States”, and as Professor Carl Boggs (PhD political science, UC Berkeley) puts it, essentially was the United States. (28)

While it is still today the world’s most powerful military empire, the US was then at the peak of its global dominance – the most concentrated power-center in world history.  Almost all allies and enemies had been destroyed in World War II while the US strategically preserved its forces, experiencing just over 400,000 overall war-related deaths after Germany and Japan declared war on the US, whereas Russia, for example, lost tens of millions fending off the Nazi invasion. Boggs further notes that as the UN gradually democratized, US capacity to dictate UN policy waned, with the US soon becoming the world leader in UN vetoes. (154)

In South Korea, “tens of thousands” of “guerrillas who had originated in peoples’ committees” in the South “fought the Americans and the ROK” (Republic of Korea), the Southern dictatorship set up by the US. Before hot war broke out, the ROK military “over mere weeks” summarily executed some 100,000 to 1 million (74) (S. Brian Wilson puts the figure at 800,000) guerillas and peasant civilians, many of whom the dictatorship lured into camps with the promise of food. This was done with US knowledge and sometimes under direct US supervision, according to historian Kim Dong-choon and others (see Wilson above for more sources). The orders for the executions “undoubtedly came from the top”, which was dictator Syngman Rhee, the “US-installed” puppet, and the US itself, which “controlled South Korea’s military.” After the war, the US helped try to cover up these executions, an effort that largely succeeded until the 1990s.

At a point in the war when the US was on the verge of defeat, General Douglas MacArthur

“announced that he saw unique opportunities for the deployment of atomic weapons. This call was taken up by many in Congress.”

Truman rejected this idea and instead “authorized MacArthur to conduct the famous landings at Inchon in September 1950”, which “threw North Korean troops into disarray and MacArthur began pushing them back across the 38^th Parallel”, the line the US had “arbitrarily” drawn to artificially divide Korea, where there was “overwhelming support for unification” among the country’s population as a whole. The US then violated its own artificial border and pushed into the North.

China warned the US it would not sit by while the its neighbor was invaded (China itself also feared being invaded), but MacArthur shrugged this off, saying if the Chinese “tried to get down to Pyongyang” he would “slaughter” them, adding, “we are the best.” MacArthur “then ordered airstrikes to lay waste thousands of square miles of northern Korea bordering China and ordered infantry divisions ever closer to its border.”

It was the terrible devastation of this bombing campaign, worse than anything seen during World War II short of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that to this day dominates North Korea’s relations with the United States and drives its determination never to submit to any American diktat.

General Curtis Lemay directed this onslaught. It was he who had firebombed Tokyo in March 1945 saying it was “about time we stopped swatting at flies and gone after the manure pile.” It was he who later said that the US “ought to bomb North Vietnam back into the stone age.” Remarking about his desire to lay waste to North Korea he said “We burned down every town in North Korea and South Korea too.” Lemay was by no means exaggerating.

Lemay estimated the US “killed off” some “20% of the [North Korean] population.” (For comparison, the highest percentage of population lost in World War II was in Poland, which lost approximately 16.93 to 17.22% of its people overall.) Dean Rusk, who later became a Secretary of State, said the US targeted and attempted to execute every person “that moved” in North Korea, and tried to knock over “every brick standing on top of another.”

Boggs gives many examples of mass atrocities, one taking place in 1950 when the US rounded up “nearly 1,000 civilians” who were then “beaten, tortured, and shot to death by US troops”, another in Pyongyang when the US summarily executed 3,000 people, “mostly women and children”, and another when the US executed some 6,000 civilians, many with machine guns, many by beheading them with sabers. He notes this list, just of the major atrocities, “goes on endlessly.” (75)

Above: US/UN forces in Korea in tanks painted to look like tigers.

When Chinese forces followed through on their threat and entered North Korea, successfully pushing back US troops, Truman then threatened China with nuclear weapons, saying they were under “active consideration.” For his part, “MacArthur demanded the bombs… As he put it in his memoirs:

I would have dropped between thirty and fifty atomic bombs…strung across the neck of Manchuria…and spread behind us – from the Sea of Japan to the Yellow Sea- a belt of radioactive cobalt. It has an active life of between 60 and 120 years.

Cobalt it should be noted is at least 100 times more radioactive than uranium.

He also expressed a desire for chemicals and gas.

In 1951 the U.S. initiated “Operation Strangle”, which officials estimated killed at least 3 million people on both sides of the 38th parallel, but the figure is probably closer to 4 million [“mostly civilians” and “mostly resulting from US aerial bombardments” in which civilians “were deliberately targeted” (54, 67-8), as were “schools, hospitals, and churches” (65).  Estimates for the death toll also go “much higher” than 4 million (74)].

Boggs notes US propaganda during this time period (the US was a world leader in eugenics scholarship and race-based “legal” discrimination) dehumanized Asians and facilitated targeting and mass executions of “inferior” civilians: the “US decision to target civilians … was planned and systematic, going to the top of the power structure. …no one was ever charged…”  Some in the US forces, such as General Matthew Ridgeway, claimed the war was a Christian jihad in defense of “God”. (54-5) Analysts at George Washington University, looking at US contingency plans from this era to wipe out much of the world’s population with nuclear weapons, determined a likely rationale for the US’s doctrine of targeting of civilians is to “reduce the morale of the enemy civilian population through fear” – the definition of terrorism.

Atwood continues:

The question of whether the U.S. carried out germ warfare has been raised but has never been fully proved or disproved. The North accused the U.S. of dropping bombs laden with cholera, anthrax, plague, and encephalitis and hemorrhagic fever, all of which turned up among soldiers and civilians in the north. Some American prisoners of war confessed to such war crimes but these were dismissed as evidence of torture by North Korea on Americans. However, none of the U.S. POWs who did confess and were later repatriated were allowed to meet the press. A number of investigations were carried out by scientists from friendly western countries. One of the most prominent concluded the charges were true.

At this time the US was engaged in top secret germ-warfare research [including non-consensual human experimentation] with captured Nazi and Japanese germ warfare experts, and also [conducting non-consensual human experimentation on tens of thousands of people, including in gas chambers and aerial bombardments, with mustard gas and other chemical weapons,] experimenting with Sarin [later including non-consensual human experimentation], despite its ban by the Geneva Convention.

Boggs notes the US “had substantial stocks of biological weapons” and US leaders thought they might be able to keep their use “secret enough to make a plausible denial”. They also thought that if their use was uncovered, the US could simply remind its accusers that it had never signed the 1925 Geneva Protocol on biological warfare. (135-6)

A 1952 US government film made to instruct the US armed forces on the US’s “offensive biological and chemical warfare program” says the US can “deliver a biological or chemical attack … hundreds of miles inland from any coastline” to “attack a large portion of an enemy’s population.” The film shows US soldiers filling bio/chemical dispersal containers for “contamination” of enemy areas, and then a cartoon depiction of US bio/chem weapons agents being delivered from US ships, passing over Korea, and covering huge swathes of China.

Boggs notes

“the US apparently hoped the rapid spread of deadly diseases would instill panic in Koreans and Chinese, resulting in a collapse of combat morale”. (136)

Atwood adds that as in the case of the Rhee/US mass executions of South Koreans, Washington blamed the evident use of germ warfare on “the communists”.

The US also used napalm, a fiery gel that sticks to and burns through targets,

…extensively, completely and utterly destroying the northern capital of Pyongyang. By 1953 American pilots were returning to carriers and bases claiming there were no longer any significant targets in all of North Korea to bomb. In fact a very large percentage of the northern population was by then living in tunnels dug by hand underground. A British journalist wrote that the northern population was living “a troglodyte existence.” In the Spring of 1953 US warplanes hit five of the largest dams along the Yalu river completely inundating and killing Pyongyang’s harvest of rice. Air Force documents reveal calculated premeditation saying that “Attacks in May will be most effective psychologically because it was the end of the rice-transplanting season before the roots could become completely embedded.” Flash floods scooped out hundreds of square miles of vital food producing valleys and killed untold numbers of farmers.

At Nuremberg after WWII, Nazi officers who carried out similar attacks on the dikes of Holland, creating a mass famine in 1944, were tried as criminals and some were executed for their crimes.

Atwood concludes it is “the collective memory” of the above “that animates North Korea’s policies toward the US today”.

Under no circumstances could any westerner reasonably expect … that the North Korean regime would simply submit to any ultimatums by the US, by far the worst enemy Korea ever had measured by the damage inflicted on the entirety of the Korean peninsula.

Robert J. Barsocchini is an independent researcher and reporter whose interest in propaganda and global force dynamics arose from working as a cross-cultural intermediary for large corporations in the US film and Television industry.  His work has been cited, published, or followed by numerous professors, economists, lawyers, military and intelligence veterans, and journalists.  He begins work on a Master’s Degree in American Studies in the fall.

Source

Boggs, Carl. The Crimes of Empire. London; New York: Pluto; Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. Print.

Notes

1) Regarding which side technically fired the first shot in the Korean War, “Bruce Cumings, head of the history department at the University of Chicago, gave us the definitive answer in his two-volume The Origins of the Korean War, and The Korean War: A History: the Korean war started during the American occupation of the South, and it was Rhee [the US-installed dictator], with help from his American sponsors, who initiated a series of attacks that well preceded the North Korean offensive of 1950. From 1945-1948, American forces aided Rhee in a killing spree that claimed tens of thousands of victims: the counterinsurgency campaign took a high toll in Kwangju, and on the island of Cheju-do – where as many as 60,000 people were murdered by Rhee’s US-backed forces.”

Truman then used the North’s counter-attack “to justify sending American troops to Korea to keep Rhee in power”.

2) Chomsky, whom International Business Times notes is “one of the world’s most eminent academics and political commentators”, and Herman, an award-winning media and political economy analyst and economist, find a chief reason for the US destruction of Korea (as well as Vietnam and other places) was the “demonstration effect”, or “threat of a good example”.  They cite US government documents noting China’s economic growth would soon “outstrip” non-“communist” countries, and that the US thus needed to take action to ‘retard’ economic growth in “communist” states, which it did in Asia and globally.  Chomsky and Herman cite a National Security Council assessment that says in South Korea there was “discouragement at the failure to make as much progress economically and politically as North Korea”.  And a US intelligence estimate from 1959 noted that the US-installed dictatorship in South Vietnam would, like the US-installed dictatorship in South Korea, would “lag behind” the North in terms of “development”.  Thus drastic action had to be taken where possible (in Korea and Vietnam, not China) to retard development and growth and prevent the “demonstration effect”.*  The US even undertook action to try to retard development in East Berlin, though for obvious reasons this was restricted to petty clandestine activities intended to both hamper growth and disrupt daily life, such as spoiling milk intended for school-children and breaking equipment in factories.

(The phrase “threat of a good example” comes from an Oxfam report on why the US was trying to destroy Nicaragua through terrorism in the 1980s.  The US was convicted of aggression in the world’s highest court for this campaign, but, since there is no enforcement mechanism against super-powers, refused to pay the damages awarded to Nicaragua.)

*Chomsky, Noam, and Edward S. Herman. “The Overall US Assault as the Primary Bloodbath.” The Political Economy of Human Rights. Boston: South End, 1979. 305, 423. Print.

The greatest threat to humanity is nuclear war.

While public opinion is largely misinformed regarding the impacts of a nuclear war , US “decision-makers” including president Trump are also unaware and misinformed as to the devastating consequences of their actions.

The production of nuclear weapons constitutes a multi-billion dollar bonanza for the Military-Industrial Complex. “Scientific opinion” on contract to the Pentagon “confirm” that the B61-11 and B61-12 tactical nuclear weapons are  “peace-making” bombs “harmless to the surrounding civilian population because the explosion is underground”.

Those who decide on the use of nuclear weapons believe their own propaganda.  

Global Research will be featuring on a regular basis a number of articles and reports on the dangers of nuclear war focussing on the scientific, policy and military dimensions.

Forward this selection of articles.

The objective is to build a cohesive and Worldwide campaign against nuclear weapons.

See Indepth Report: Global Research Articles on Nuclear War 

Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, April 28, 2017

*   *   *

“The Doomsday Forum”: Senior Military, Nuclear Weapons Officials Convene… America’s “$1 Trillion Nuclear Weapons Plan”. Take out Russia, Iran and North Korea?

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky, April 28, 2017

In June 2016 under the Obama administration, top military brass together with the CEOs of the weapons industry debated the deployment of nuclear weapons against Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.

The event was intended to sensitize senior decision makers. The focus was on building a consensus (within the Armed Forces, the science labs, the nuclear industry, etc) in favor of pre-emptive nuclear war.

Is Trump Suffering from “WMD-Ophobia”? Leading Psychiatrists Express Concern at President’s “Dangerousness”, “Instability” and “Unpredictability”

By Felicity Arbuthnot, April 27, 2017

His threats to Iran and North Korea, the latter even invoking a possible US nuclear attack without, apparently, even being aware of the consequences, are the stuff of nightmares, indeed of the chilling film “The Day After.”

Someone should send the movie-loving President a copy.

The Threat of Nuclear War, North Korea or the United States?

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky, April 28, 2017

These continuous threats and actions of latent aggression directed against the DPRK should also be understood as part of the broader US military agenda in East Asia, directed against both China and Russia.

Washington Plans to Nuke Russia and China

By Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, April 28, 2017

The US military/security complex has clearly prevailed over Trump’s intention to normalize relations between the US and Russia, and anti-Russian venom continues to pour out of NATO and Washington’s European vassal states. The majority of the American people seem to have accepted the propaganda that Russia is the number one threat to the United States. With propaganda controlling the explanation, Washington’s aggressive actions are explained as defense against a threat and not as a policy that will end life on earth.

War Against North Korea. THAAD Missile System Aimed at Russia, China, not DPRK

By Sputnik, April 28, 2017

North Korea’s missiles are short-range SCUDs with a range of 500 km (300 miles), medium-range Rodong 1s with a range of 1,300km (780 miles) whereas THAAD is most effect for long range and high altitude missiles.

Mainstream Media Massively Hypes North Korean ‘Threat’ To America’s West Coast

By Media Lens, April 28, 2017

As if on cue, the US Navy has just provoked North Korea by deploying a strike force, including a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, in its direction. The Guardian said this was ‘to provide a presence near the Korean peninsula’. Why the US should provide ‘a presence’ is not questioned; it is simply taken for granted that Washington is the world’s policeman.

Trump’s North Korean Obsession

By Federico Pieraccini, April 27, 2017

The United States and its allies (South Korea and Japan) carried out two enormous exercises between March and April 2017. The first, focusing on land and sea operations and named Foal Eagle, involved tens of thousands of US and South Korean soldiers and naval warships. A few weeks later the Max Thunder 17 exercise kicked in, with dozens of aircraft involved. In both exercises the goal is to focus on the DPRK, with simulations of an attack by the United States and its allies by land, sea and air.

Trump Talks Tough on North Korea

By Stephen Lendman, April 26, 2017

Trump’s rage for war heightens concerns. Waging it on the Korean peninsula risks possible nuclear confrontation – what all regional nations want avoided above all else.

See Indepth Report: Global Research Articles on Nuclear War 

Concern was heightened last night when word came from the prison that Mumia had asked someone to call out and tell people he was being moved. Given the animosity of the administration and guards, and the recent deaths in custody, Mumia was worried and his family was worried regarding this abrupt transfer. It turns out that Mumia was moved to the infirmary and not told why. Today, the prison said it was in preparation for an outside medical appointment this morning, and in fact Mumia went to the hospital at 6am and was returned to the prison at 11:45 am.

He was immediately brought to the visiting room to visit with his brother Keith Cook Mumia’s brother and Dr. Suzanne Ross. They came out of the prison at 4pm. For now, two weeks into his Hep C treatment, Mumia is on the road to recovering his health. Keith told us that Mumia wants to make sure you know that he

“Thanks you and he loves everyone, and he knows how powerful the movement is, that stands behind him. And that the prison knows that people have his back, and that is very important”.

Dateline: Philadelphia  Monday 4-24-2017

For Mumia Abu-Jamal to get out of prison his criminal conviction needs to be challenged and overturned. The newest chapter in this struggle took place in the Common Pleas Courts of Philadelphia before Judge Leon Tucker.
On April 24^th, 2017 in room 805 Christina Swarns of the NAACP LDF, and Judith Ritter of Widner appeared before the court to argue that a new Supreme Court ruling required the reinstatement of Mumia’s appellate rights.   On the other side Ronald Eisenberg, Deputy DA argued for the Commonwealth.

It began when the U.S. Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the former Philadelphia DA and PA Supreme Court Justice Ronald Castille’s practice of sitting in judgement on his own cases; the cases where he was a prosecutor and DA. In Williams v. the Commonwealth the Supreme Court ordered a new trial because Castille was obligated in the interest of justice and fairness to recuse himself from these appeals.

Christina Swarns argued the case for 45mins, with the goal of getting Judge Tucker to order the District Attorney’s office to produce discovery i.e. the prosecutorial files in this case. If turned over, these files will undoubtedly establish that Castille was intimately involved in Mumia’s case as supervisory ADA during his trial and DA during all of his appeals.

Swarns put on the record that the DA’s office had lied to the court regarding the “lack of involvement” of Castille in similar cases, and was rebuked by the U.S. Supreme court because of it. Notably, the judge asked the DA Eisenberg, that if the time bar and the retroactivity claim were met, would Mumia Abu-Jamal be entitled to relief. Eisenberg agree, saying yes, Mumia’s appellate rights would be reinstated. There is no doubt that the district attorney’s office will appeal to PA Superior Court and the PA Supreme Court if discovery on this issue is granted.

Photo credit: Joe Piette
After Mumia’s Philadelphia Court Hearing, April 24

Photo credit: Joe Piette
Christina Swarns, Litigating Director of the NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, co-representing Mumia in court.

Pam Africa and Mumia

Mumia with his brother, Keith Cook.
It was Mumia’s birthday on April 24th, and Keith’s birthday on April 26th.

Labour’s right wing is now openly campaigning for a defeat for the party in the June 8 snap general election.

Yesterday, the old war criminal himself, Tony Blair, went on Rupert Murdoch’s Sky TV and refused to endorse Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, stating that Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May would win the election.

The issue was not to run a “conventional partisan election” that relegated Britain’s exit from the European Union to one issue among many, he asserted. The task was to build a parliamentary opposition across party lines to a Brexit that takes “membership of the single market and the customs union off the table.” On this basis, Blair urged voters to consider also backing Liberal Democrats and anti-Brexit Tories.

In the Labour Party and in the media, Blair’s followers are taking up the theme of Labour’s un-electability under Corbyn with less reserve than even their political mentor. A striking feature of this offensive is how it centres on denunciations of any and all calls for social equality.

On Wednesday, Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee asked,

“How can Labour survive this Tory tidal wave?”

She cited a Tuesday morning meeting at the “Smith Institute” where Labour MPs heard a “presentation by Deborah Mattinson, of Britain Thinks, and Nick Pecorelli, of The Campaign Company—leading pollsters and focus groupers who have followed Labour’s fortunes over decades.”

These “leading pollsters,” Toynbee declared in apocalyptic tones, had explained that Labour was doomed because

“[t]he class and culture divide between Labour leaders and its putative voters yawns too wide to bridge.”

Mattinson and Pecorelli had explained

“[t]he thinking” of working class voters “now is that Labour doesn’t like ‘people like us’, is neither ‘one of us’ nor ‘on our side’. Whose side is it on? It’s the party of posh metropolitans who defend only immigrants and people on benefits.”

She continues,

“The words the leadership uses have little meaning or resonance with erstwhile Labour voters. ‘Austerity’ is empty verbiage to them, says Mattinson. Social justice, equality, fairness—these have no traction; they are abstractions that, if understood, are viewed with suspicion: more money for immigrants and people on benefits.”

The meeting cited by Toynbee is properly understood as one hosted by a right-wing Labour Party think tank, featuring two right-wing Labourites advising right-wing Labour MPs on why a further shift to the right is the order of the day.

Mattinson and Pecorelli, the apparently disinterested pollsters, told the Labour bureaucracy precisely the message it wants to hear because they are both political creatures spawned from out of the bowels of the party machine. And both have played their own role for decades in helping shift Labour to the right under Blair and his ally and successor, Gordon Brown.

Gordon Brown

Campaign Company boasts that Pecorelli was an adviser to Brown and a “Labour Party Assistant General Secretary covering Policy and Campaigns, economic consultancy and NHS management.”

Mattinson was Brown’s chief pollster when he was Blair’s chancellor from 1997-2007 and remained in the role after he succeeded Blair as prime minister in 2007. She has written numerous articles for Progress, the main Blairite think-tank.

The Smith Institute, named after former Labour leader John Smith, is directed by Paul Hackett, previously “Special Adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott MP and other ministers at the Department of Communities and Local Government (1997-05).”

All of them traded on their political connections with the bureaucracy to go private, so they could be paid more handsomely for their so highly valuable insights.

Mattinson began her career under political consultant and former advertising executive, Philip Gould, the man enlisted by Blair’s Director of Communications, Peter Mandelson, as a strategist and polling adviser to Labour in the general elections of 1987, 1992, 1997, 2001 and 2005.

A New Statesman article in 2010 notes that she was in on the ground floor and assisted Gould in running

“something called the Shadow Communications Agency, which had been tasked with helping to make Labour electable again. Thus was born the focus group, a phenomenon familiar to advertising agencies, but hitherto unknown in the world of British politics.”

The article notes that, under Blair and Brown,

“there was scarcely a domestic policy announcement that had not first been road-tested on Middle England.”

Mattinson’s previous work on behalf of Labour includes “Emerging from the Darkness,” an internal report commissioned by the party’s then interim leader, Harriet Harman in 2015, following its defeat in the 2015 general election under Ed Miliband.

Deborah Mattinson

Based on interviews with 10 focus groups in Watford, Croydon, Nuneaton, Edinburgh and Glasgow, the report said that, under Miliband, the Labour Party was “in thrall to the undeserving.” It had to “redefine and revitalise its brand,” and be “for middle class voters not just down and outs.”

The report was hailed by the Blairites as pointing the direction of travel for the party, before Corbyn’s landslide leadership contest victory on an anti-austerity, anti-war ticket temporarily cut across such moves.

This heralded an 18-month campaign to get rid of Corbyn by any means necessary, leading up to the present offensive meant to guarantee the party’s defeat on June 8.

The contempt for the “undeserving” and hostility to “social justice, equality, fairness” points to the real social layers represented by the Labour Party.

To return to Mattinson, she was a co-founder of Opinion Leader Research Limited (OLR), which was owned by Chime Communications. By 2007, she owned about 2 million shares worth around £1 million in Chime Communications. OLR’s accounts showed that its three directors, including Mattinson and co-founder Viki Cooke, took home in 2007 aggregate emoluments, excluding pension contributions, of £445,502. The highest paid of the three, who is not named, took home £223,000.

After Brown was kicked out of office in 2010, Mattinson and Cooke left Chime to set up Britain Thinks later that year.

While spewing out right-wing propaganda denouncing benefit claimants, it is the social layer epitomised by Mattinson and Pecorelli who have amassed enormous wealth via their parasitic relationship to the Labour and trade union bureaucracy, which they have now negotiated into a personal fortune.

A 2007 investigation by the Sunday Telegraph found that in the previous two years, OLR won nearly £3 million worth of contracts “across an astonishing array of government departments and agencies.” These included the Treasury run by Brown and the Department of Constitutional Affairs “when it was led by Labour’s deputy leader, Harriet Harman, a close friend of Miss Mattinson.”

Britain Thinks, whose latest work on the upcoming June election was described by Blair himself as “required reading”, boasts of its relationship with clients including McDonald’s, E-Bay, British Gas, Centrica, Barratt Development’s, Morrison’s and Waitrose. Other clients listed are the UK government’s Home Office and, lo and behold, the Guardian .

Mattinson, Pecorelli, Cooke and Toynbee represent the political dregs of New Labour. The opinions they cite are those of “focus groups” that are used to reinforce a political message that serves a privileged social layer grown exceedingly wealthy as a result of the pro-business, privatisation agenda championed by Blair and Brown.

They have far more in common with May than with her government’s victims. Only such selfish and venal creatures could describe references to the austerity measures that have ruined the lives of millions as “empty verbiage.”

The meeting referenced by Toynbee and the views expressed therein underscore that, regardless of Corbyn’s leadership, Labour remains the political vehicle of this grasping social layer, which is filled with fear and contempt for the working class.

Clashes resumed in Al-Qaboun district in eastern Damascus as the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) capture more points from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies. The SAA detected a tunnel connecting many positions of the militants inside the district and destroyed it. Ahrar al-Sham claimed that its members had hit two SAA tanks in Al-Qaboun district.

Pro-militant sources say that opposition forces are in a critical situation in the area after government troops cut off supply lines operated by militants in the area. HTS-led forces suffer from shortages of ammunition and food.

Earlier this week, the SAA launched an operation against ISIS to in the Damascus desert east of the Syrian capital. So far, the SAA has advanced towards the Al-Sham desert around the Tishreen electricity station capturing some 6 kilometers. Pro-government sources report heavy losses among ISIS members.

There were also some reports about the dismantling of three Israeli spy and jamming stations by the SAA in the area. The stations used to monitor the Damascus International Airport and the Marj al-Sultan Airport.

The Tiger Forces, the 5th Assault Corps, a military wing of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party and other pro-government units continued attempts to advance against Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in northern Hama. Now clashes are mainly ongoing in the areas near Massanah and Zilaqiat. Government troops are attempting to reach al-Lataminah and to besiege this important militant stronghold.

In the province of Homs, government forces captured the abandoned battalion north of the T4 airbase and a range of strategic highlands near the Al-Mahr gas field. 5th Assault Corps troops had resized the Al-Sha’er gas field earlier this week. Separately, the SAA repelled an ISIS attack on the Al-Sukari area south of Palmyra. ISIS claimed that its members had killed four Syrian soldiers in the clashes.

ISIS had deployed some reinforcements to eastern Homs following the significant advances made by the SAA and the Free Syrian Army in the desert of Palmyra and Damascus. ISIS seeks to keep the presence in this area in order to prevent further advances of anti-ISIS forces along the Syrian-Iraqi border.

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) continued its operations against ISIS in the districts of Al-Wahbe and Al-Iza’a in the southern part of Tabqa in the province of Raqqah.

In recent clashes, the SDF reportedly killed 20 ISIS militants and captured 10 others. The SDF also destroyed four ISIS vehicles and managed to capture an arms depot and a tank in the southern districts of Tabqa. The SDF operation is an actively supported by the US-led coalition airpower and military advisors.

The SDF released an official statement condemning Turkish airstrikes on Kurdish militia in northern Syria and called the international community to force Turkey to avoid such actions.

Meanwhile, Kurdish YPG fighters attacked a Turkish air defense site at the Syrian-Turkish border. YPG members destroyed a radar vehicle and a command vehicle with ATGMs in response to Turkish airstrikes and artillery strikes on YPG-aligned targets in northern Syria.

Israeli Air Force warplanes bombed the area of the Damascus International Airport early on Thursday, the Syrian Defense Ministry announced in a statement at its website. According to the statement, airstrikes hit objects in southwestern the international airport. The ministry confirmed that airstrikes caused some damage and denied any casualties. The statement also said that Israel airstrikes are aimed at supporting terrorists in Syria. According to media reports, at least 5 airstrikes hit the airport area on around 3:00-3:30 A.M. local time. Reuters reported (citing own sources) that the airstrikes hit a military hub operated by Hezbollah.

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On April 17, 1500 Palestinian political prisoners, led by Fatah leader, Marwan Barghouti, who has been held in an Israeli prison since 2002, began a mass hunger strike, the Freedom and Dignity Strike, to protest prison conditions for the more than 6300 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Three hundred of them have been in prison for decades. In an op-ed in the New York Times Barghouti stated that the prisoners have been subject to torture, inhumane and degrading treatment and medical negligence and that 200 of the prisoners have died as a result of this treatment since 1967.

Barghouti stated,

“After exhausting all other options, I decided there was no choice but to resist these abuses by going on a hunger strike,” Barghouti wrote. “Hunger striking is the most peaceful form of resistance available. It inflicts pain solely on those who participate and on their loved ones, in the hopes that their empty stomachs and their sacrifice will help the message resonate beyond the confines of their dark cells.”

This strike follows hunger strikes by two individual prisoners in 2016 and a mass hunger strike in 2014 complaining of the same harsh conditions, which even Amnesty International, perhaps to lend itself some credibility, stated is a violation of The Fourth Geneva Convention which requires humane treatment of prisoners from occupied territories.

The detention of these prisoners is also a crime against humanity under Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court that forbids the crime of apartheid which Israel has inflicted on the Palestinian peoples under its occupation. Article 7 defines apartheid as

“inhumane acts … committed in the context of an institutionalised regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime.”

The Israelis hold hundreds of prisoners without trial or under “administrative detention” for indefinite periods of time without charge, and are tried, when there is a trial, by military judges. The majority of the prisoners are held for engaging in political actions including simple membership in organisations declared illegal by Israel, which includes Fatah, though the Israelis have to deal with Fatah on a routine basis.

It is surprising that Barghouti was allowed to put his statement in an op-ed piece in the New York Times, a newspaper not noted for its sympathies for resistance leaders, and the strike and Barghouti have received positive coverage in the Israeli left journal Haaretz. It seems someone wants to play Barghouti off against rivals in Fatah and Hamas, and, at the same time, to put pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to come to a peaceful resolution of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

Barghouti, a former member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and political leader of Fatah’s armed wing, Tanzim was recently elected to the Fatah Executive Committee and in 2016 was nominated by Belgian parliamentarians for the Nobel Peace Prize. If freed he would be a natural leader of the Palestinian people and successor to Mahmoud Abbas. He is courageous, intelligent, educated, eloquent, has a long history of resistance to the Israeli Occupation and is seen as the leader of the First and Second Intifadas. In 2004, on the death of Yasser Arafat, Barghouti, from his prison cell, stood for election against Abbas, the favourite of London, Washington and Tel Aviv, who had called for the armed resistance and uprisings to stop in favour of negotiations. Barghouti wanted and wants to continue armed resistance as the only way to be able to negotiate from strength.

In February 2017, President Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and stated that the United States was considering abandoning its support for a two state solution in favour of a one state solution, a reversal of the American position held since the Clinton administration. But just a day prior to the meeting with Netanyahu,b, director of the American CIA, met with the leader of the Palestinian Authority, Fatah leader, Mahmoud Abbas, in Ramallah and told him something different. The Jerusalem Post reported only that they discussed “political and security issues in addition to the future of the peace process.”

Mahmoud Abbas

But Haaretz had another view and reported that Pompeo contradicted Trump, and said the US still supports a two state solution, that they talked about the war in Syria and reported interestingly, that the Palestinian Authority expressed fears that the collapse of the peace process would lead to the collapse of the Authority and the “entry of extremist elements perhaps associated with Iran” that will have repercussions in Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

It is in those meetings that we can perhaps detect the reason for allowing Barghouti to have his voice heard world-wide in the New York Times on April 17.

Fatah, the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, is in control of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank under the leadership of Mahmoud Abbas. In Gaza, Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, claims to be the legitimate authority since it won the elections there in 2006, forcing Fatah out of Gaza. The two groups attempted to form a unity government in 2011 but the arrangement soon collapsed. It was attempted again in 2014 but was undermined by pressure from the United States, Europe and Israel who did not like Fatah working with Hamas, which refuses to recognise the existence of Israel and refuses to hand over its control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority. The bickering over who has administrative, financial and political control in Gaza and the West Bank between Hamas and Fatah and within Fatah itself on what the strategy should be to achieve the goals of the Palestinian people continues and the split in the Palestinian resistance to Israel only helps Israel.

The Palestinian Authority’s latest announcements support the hunger strike because it has no choice but to do so in the eyes of the people but Abbas and Barghouti do not see eye to eye on strategy vis a vis Israel or Hamas and Abbas is probably not happy that Barghouti is once again the most popular man in Palestine. Neither is Hamas which has given lukewarm support to the strike, but is reluctant to lend support to a Fatah leader and reduce its own support among the people.

The Israelis of course have reacted as expected. They deny that the strikers are political prisoners and label them “terrorists” and “murderers,” justly convicted under international law, who deserve what they get. They have thrown Barghouti into solitary confinement to try to break the strike.

The Israeli Defence Minister Lieberman stated he wanted to use the Thatcher approach to the strike-let them starve to death – which is what happened in 1981 to IRA resistance fighters Bobby Sands and 9 other IRA prisoners held by the British. The principle objectives of the IRA hunger strikers were to be recognized as political prisoners, not criminals, and achieve international support for the republican movement in Northern Ireland.

While Barghouti did not explicitly call for recognition of the strikers as political prisoners his eloquent statement expresses the facts proving that they are political prisoners, and he made an explicit link to the International Campaign to Free Marwan Barghouti and All Palestinian Prisoners that began in 2013. It appears some demonstrators have said they will engage in hunger strikes themselves in solidarity with the prisoners. Throwing Barghouti into solitary can only inflame Palestinians everywhere for political prisoners they are, both the Palestinians in the Israeli jails, and the Palestinians kept under virtual siege conditions in Gaza and the West Bank since the ‘67 War.

Since Israel is supported by the United States, and since Barghouti is considered an enemy and a criminal by Israel the support of Barghouti by the New York Times must flow from exchanges Trump had with Mahmoud Abbas in mid-March in which he stated that the United States wants a “comprehensive agreement to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” The Americans don’t want a simmering war against its ally Israel to continue when both countries are intent on continuing the war against Syria and harassing Iran. Trump stated that he wants direct negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis and it looks like the US is hedging its bets on who the Palestinian negotiator will be. Whoever they finally back we can be sure that they will attempt to control their choice to produce the result they want.

Some in Israel think Barghouti is easier to work with than Abbas and Hamas, that he has become more “moderate” in jail. This may be disinformation to weaken his support but perhaps Trump and the Times have been told this too. Most in the Israeli government see him, and fear him, as the potential leader of the Palestinian people; a man who has always fought for the interests, independence and liberation of the Palestinian people and occupied territories of Palestine and is willing, able and ready to carry on the struggle. That is why they fear this strike, and that is why they fear this man, because he is the living symbol of the Palestinian Resistance.

We shall have to follow this strike closely, support it, and watch closely the next moves of the United States and Israel in relation to it and the impact on Trump’s desire for peace between Israel and the Palestinians-not so there can be peace in the region- but so the Americans and Israelis can more easily carry on the war against Syria. But Barghouti is not a man to be controlled. Though they have thrown him into solitary after giving him a brief voice in the New York Times, to set a cat among the pigeons, they have unleashed a new energy within the Palestinian resistance which has never surrendered, and never will.

Christopher Black is an international criminal lawyer based in Toronto. He is known for a number of high-profile war crimes cases and recently published his novel “Beneath the Clouds. He writes essays on international law, politics and world events, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”

Following weeks of threats and bombast, with wild talk of the US fleet closing in on North Korea, of the US taking ‘unilateral action’ to stop North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programmes, and after the entire US Senate was called for a briefing in the White House – which in the event produced precisely nothing and which lasted all of 14 minutes – the US today after the briefing announced a policy of more of the same: of trying to stop the North Korean nuclear weapons programme through “sanctions and diplomatic pressure”.

This is set out in a joint statement following the briefing made by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and US Defense Secretary James Mattis. The statement reads as follows

Past efforts have failed to halt North Korea’s unlawful weapons programs and nuclear and ballistic missile tests. With each provocation, North Korea jeopardizes stability in Northeast Asia and poses a growing threat to our Allies and the U.S. homeland.

North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons is an urgent national security threat and top foreign policy priority. Upon assuming office, President Trump ordered a thorough review of U.S. policy pertaining to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (D.P.R.K.).

Today, along with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joe Dunford, we briefed Members of Congress on the review. The President’s approach aims to pressure North Korea into dismantling its nuclear, ballistic missile, and proliferation programs by tightening economic sanctions and pursuing diplomatic measures with our Allies and regional partners.

We are engaging responsible members of the international community to increase pressure on the D.P.R.K. in order to convince the regime to de-escalate and return to the path of dialogue. We will maintain our close coordination and cooperation with our Allies, especially the Republic of Korea and Japan, as we work together to preserve stability and prosperity in the region.

The United States seeks stability and the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. We remain open to negotiations towards that goal. However, we remain prepared to defend ourselves and our Allies.

There is no hint here of military action against North Korea save in self-defence i.e. following an armed attack by North Korea on the US or its allies. About that no one of course has ever had any doubt.

Certainly there is no suggestion here of military action in response to North Korean ballistic missile or nuclear tests, much less of pre-emptive military action to prevent such tests, and the statement suggests that those options, if they were ever seriously considered, have now been ruled out.

Though the statement says that “past efforts have failed to halt North Korea’s unlawful weapons programs and nuclear and ballistic missiles tests”, what it proposes – “pressure [on] North Korea ….by tightening economic sanctions and pursuing diplomatic measures with our Allies and regional partners” – is the same policy pursued by previous US administrations.

Either wiser counsels have prevailed, and President Trump has been talked out of whatever dangerous military action against North Korea he had planned, or the various threats and military moves of the last few weeks were never intended seriously, and were just a bluff. If so, then as discussed previously, the bluff was called on Sunday, when China’s President Xi Jinping telephoned President Trump and warned him that China would not change its policy because of US threats.

The extent of the failure of the attempts to bluff China into taking tougher action against North Korea is illustrated by one telling fact: the statement does not even mention China – much less make demands of it – even though China has been the centre-piece of the diplomacy for weeks.

Whatever the truth of the matter President Trump has acted wisely if, as appears to be the case, he has pulled back from military action.

If he was bluffing – and that has to be by far the most likely explanation for his actions – then his bluff has been called, and he has been taught an important lesson, which is that with China one should never bluff.

Hopefully he will learn that lesson, and act on it in future.

While emoting sympathy for Kim Jong Un‘s situation, President Trump told Reuters, during a lengthy interview ahead of his 100th day in office, that he’d “love to solve things diplomatically,” but warned that “there is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea.”

Putting a somewhat human face on the North Korean leader, President Trump had an interesting response when asked by Reuters if he considered North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to be rational…

“He’s 27 years old. His father dies, took over a regime. So say what you want but that is not easy, especially at that age.

“I’m not giving him credit or not giving him credit, I’m just saying that’s a very hard thing to do. As to whether or not he’s rational, I have no opinion on it. I hope he’s rational.“

And that is perhaps why he still holds out hope for a path that avoids the military option…

“We’d love to solve things diplomatically but it’s very difficult,”

Emphasizing the possibility of new sanctions, and in particular leverage from China:

“I have established a very good personal relationship with President Xi”

“I believe he is trying very hard. He certainly doesn’t want to see turmoil and death. He doesn’t want to see it. He is a good man. He is a very good man and I got to know him very well.”

Still, as Reuters notes, just a day after he and his top national security advisers briefed U.S. lawmakers  declaring North Korea “an urgent national security threat and top foreign policy priority;”  and one day before Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will press the United Nations Security Council on sanctions to further isolate Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile programs, it’s clear where this could lead…

“There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea. Absolutely.”

U.S. officials said military strikes remained an option but played down the prospect, though the administration has sent an aircraft carrier and a nuclear-powered submarine to the region in a show of force.

Claims about Russian US election hacking were fabricated. No evidence exists suggesting it. Accusations without it are groundless. Media repeat them anyway. 

Indisputable evidence proves America routinely interferes in elections worldwide. It ruthlessly wants independent governments toppled, pro-Western puppet regimes replacing them.

A longstanding joke asks why America never experienced a coup – because Washington has no US embassy.

Since the 19th century, the United States sought to impose its will on other countries, notably post-WW II, beginning with US aggression on North Korea.

It’s been worst of all post-9/11, America at war at home and worldwide, a reality check indictment of a rogue state, history’s worst by far – humanity threatened by possible nuclear annihilation.

On April 24, AP News headlined “Researchers: Russia-linked hackers targeted Macron campaign” – falsely accused by “the Japanese anti-virus firm Trend Micro…”

Its digital chief Mounir Mahjoubi cited no evidence proving his claim because none exists. The accusation is fake. No Russian meddling in France’s election occurred.

Moscow categorically denies fabricated claims about it interfering in any nation’s elections – not America’s, not France’s or any others.

Accusations are bogus. Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed phony claims, saying

“(i)t resembles the accusations made by Washington, which to this day remain hollow, doing no honor to the people making them.”

Trend Micro’s report is “fake news,” he stressed. Addressing the UN Committee on Information in New York, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakhavova urged the world body to establish “a strategy for battling fake news and disinformation.”

“Russia will be ready to fully support this initiative which is extremely important for developing a healthy environment for news reporting,” she stressed.

Western media fake news drowns out legitimate journalism. 

False accusations about Russian interference in France’s election creates the appearance of “Macron want(ing) to follow in the steps of Hillary Clinton, a very dubious path,” Zakharova said weeks earlier.

Russia bashing persists without letup, bilateral relations with Washington at a post-Cold War low.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected]. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

One of the longstanding functions of the ‘mainstream’ media is to channel government ideology about who are ‘the Good Guys’ – that’s ‘us’ and our allies – and who are the ‘Bad Guys’ – ‘Putin’s Russia’, ‘Saddam’s Iraq’, ‘Chavez’s Venezuela’, ‘Gaddafi’s Libya’ (until rehabilitated for a while by Blair) and North Korea.

Of course, ‘we’ often help ‘Bad Guys’ into power, even give them poison gas, sell them arms, and support them through thick and thin. But let’s put all that to one side.

Consider a recent BBC News at Ten segment on the US, China and North Korea that began with presenter Huw Edwards saying:

‘President Trump has said the United States will “solve” the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear programme. In an interview with the Financial Times, the president said the US would act alone if China would not intervene. He made his comments ahead of a visit to the US by the Chinese president later this week. Our North America editor, Jon Sopel, is at the White House.

‘And, Jon, what does this tell us then about President Trump’s approach to this upcoming visit?’

Jon Sopel: ‘Well, Huw, for all the talk of surveillance and phone tapping and wire taps and Russia, this is the major strategic national security issue, at least as far as this White House is concerned. What to do about North Korea and their growing ability, it seems, to launch a nuclear missile that could hit the west coast of America.’ (April 3, 2017; kindly captured and uploaded to YouTube for us by Steve Ennever)

As we will see, far from being responsible, ‘impartial’ journalism, this was blatant propaganda, depicting North Korea as a serious threat to the United States, capable of hitting California with a nuclear missile.

Consider, by contrast, a careful analysis by the US writer Adam Johnson in a piece for Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting last month.

Johnson noted that:

‘Tensions between the United States and North Korea are making their way back into the news after a series of missile tests and presidential Twitterthreats. Meanwhile, a conservative think tank—previously thought all but dead—has seen a resurgence in relevancy, thanks to its alignment with Donald Trump. The result is that the Heritage Foundation has provided much of the narrative backbone for North Korean/US relations in the age of Trump, making the rounds in dozens of media articles and television appearances.’

Johnson continued:

‘One key feature of reports on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program is the Hypothetical Scary Nuke Map that shows an entirely hypothetical, not-yet-proven-to-have-been-built intercontinental ballistic missile hitting the US mainland.’

Two types of missile, known as KN-14 and KN-08, are depicted in media reports as capable of reaching the United States.

Johnson highlighted the crucial fact that:

‘These missiles have not been tested by North Korea’.

In other words, the media have been publishing ‘misleading’ maps that ‘buried the fact that the range indicating the US could be nuked had not, in fact, been demonstrated.’

Recall Sopel‘s words:

‘What to do about North Korea and their growing ability, it seems, to launch a nuclear missile that could hit the west coast of America.’

The sole extent of Sopel’s journalistic scrutiny was to insert two words, ‘it seems’, in a report blatantly boosting the US propaganda message of North Korea as a nuclear ‘threat’ capable of attacking the west coast of the United States.

As for the right-wing Heritage Foundation, Johnson raised questions about its funding ties to the South Korean government and to the US weapons industry:

‘In the late ’90s, it was criticized for accepting $1 million in funding directly from the South Korean government. A 2015 report in The Intercept (9/15/15) showed the cozy relationship between the foundation and military contractor Lockheed Martin, with Heritage building the requisite marketing collateral to lobby Congress to expand the F-22 program, urging the purchase of 20 planes for resale to Japan, Australia and “possibly South Korea.”‘

He also points out that:

‘the Heritage Foundation has been incredibly influential in the Trump administration, having written many of its budget-slashing proposals and shaping policy at a high level.’

On April 4, 2017, we emailed Sopel ([email protected]):

Dear Jon Sopel,

On last night’s BBC News at Ten you reported that the White House is concerned by ‘North Korea and their growing ability, it seems, to launch a nuclear missile that could hit the west coast of America.’

But surely responsible journalism should include scrutiny of government claims, rather than channelling them uncritically to your audience? Indeed, BBC editorial guidelines say that journalists must show ‘appropriate scrutiny… to those who are in government, or hold power and responsibility’. You have not done so here.

By contrast, US media analyst Adam Johnson has examined the claims surrounding the supposed threat posed by North Korea’s missile programme. Many of the lurid claims and ‘scary nuke maps’ originate with the right-wing Heritage Foundation which has (or had) funding links to South Korea and US military contractor Lockheed Martin.

Crucially, Johnson notes of the missiles that are depicted as being able to hit the west coast of America:

‘These missiles have not been tested by North Korea’.

Even a BBC News article concludes of the claim for long-range nuclear missiles:

‘experts have cast doubts on this given the lack of evidence.’

Why did your report not include these balancing facts and concerns?

Best wishes

David Cromwell & David Edwards
Editors, Media Lens
www.medialens.org

Sopel did not reply.

Current news coverage about North Korea omits significant history. The fact that the United States devastated the Korean peninsula in the 1950s is regularly buried. US General Douglas MacArthur testified to Congress in 1951 that:

‘The war in Korea has already destroyed that nation of 20,000,000 people. I have never seen such devastation. I have seen, I guess, as much blood and disaster as any living man, and it just curdled my stomach, the last time I was there. After I looked at that wreckage and those thousands of women and children and everything, I vomited.’ (‘Napalm – An American Biography’ by Robert Neer, Belknap Press, 2013, p. 100)

US Air Force General Curtis LeMay wrote:

‘We burned down just about every city in North Korea and South Korea both…we killed off over a million civilians and drove several million more from their homes, with the inevitable additional tragedies bound to ensue.’ (Ibid., p. 100)

All this is regularly forgotten in news reports about North and South Korea today. Instead, BBC News and other outlets dutifully report, without blinking, that:

‘US Vice-President Mike Pence has said his country’s “era of strategic patience” with North Korea is over.’

One BBC News article stated:

‘North Korea has long been seen to use provocation and brinkmanship to raise tension for its own strategic advantage.’

That this sentence applies to the United States in global affairs, where it goes beyond brinkmanship into actual full-scale invasion and war, is an irony that will not be lost on many readers.

As if on cue, the US Navy has just provoked North Korea by deploying a strike force, including a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, in its direction. The Guardian said this was ‘to provide a presence near the Korean peninsula’. Why the US should provide ‘a presence’ is not questioned; it is simply taken for granted that Washington is the world’s policeman. The Guardian also noted casually that the recent:

‘US strike against a Syrian base is also being seen as a warning to North Korea’.

Again, it is just a given that the US is entitled to make such threats.

In an interview with Democracy Now!, Noam Chomsky sketched the more recent history of US – North Korea relations that is also routinely missing from ‘mainstream’ media reporting:

‘1994, [Bill] Clinton made—established what was called the Framework Agreement with North Korea. North Korea would terminate its efforts to develop nuclear weapons. The U.S. would reduce hostile acts. It more or less worked, and neither side lived up to it totally, but, by 2000, North Korea had not proceeded with its nuclear weapons programs. George W. Bush came in and immediately launched an assault on North Korea—you know, “axis of evil,” sanctions and so on. North Korea turned to producing nuclear weapons. In 2005, there was an agreement between North Korea and the United States, a pretty sensible agreement. North Korea agreed to terminate its development of nuclear weapons. In return, it called for a nonaggression pact. So, stop making hostile threats, relief from harsh sanctions, and provision of a system to provide North Korea with low-enriched uranium for medical and other purposes—that was the proposal. George Bush instantly tore it to shreds. Within days, the U.S. was imposing—trying to disrupt North Korean financial transactions with other countries through Macau and elsewhere. North Korea backed off, started building nuclear weapons again. I mean, maybe you can say it’s the worst regime in history, whatever you like, but they have been following a pretty rational tit-for-tat policy.’

Thus, despite standard media misrepresentations to the contrary, North Korea has been following ‘a pretty rational policy’ in the face of ‘hostile acts’ and ‘harsh sanctions’ from, in particular, the US. You would never know that if you relied solely on ‘mainstream’ media such as BBC News.

When the gullible and insouciant American public and the presstitutes who participate in the deceptions permitted the Deep State to get away with the fairy tale that a few Saudi Arabians under the direction of Osama bin Laden, but without the support of any government or intelligence agency, were able to outwit the entirety of the Western Alliance and Israel’s Mossad and deliver the greatest humiliation in history to “the world’s only superpower” by making the entirety of the US government dysfunctional on September 11, 2001, Washington learned that it could get away with anything, any illegal and treasonous act, any lie. The gullible Western populations would believe anything that they were told.

Not only insouciant Americans, but much of the world accepts any statement out of Washington as the truth despite the evidence. If Washington said it, Washington’s vassals in Germany, France, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands, Belgium, and Japan assent to the obvious lie as if it were the obvious truth. So do the CIA purchased media of these vassal states, a collection of whores who prefer CIA subsidies to truth.

When Obama inherited the Deep State’s agenda from George W. Bush, he set up Syria’s Assad for regime change by repeating for many months that if Assad used chemical weapons in the “civil war” that Washington had sent ISIS to conduct, Assad would have crossed the “Red Line” that Obama had drawn and would, as the consequence, face an invasion by the US military, just as Iraq had been invaded based on Washington’s lie about “weapons of mass destruction.”

Having burnt this idea into the feeble minds of the Western populations, Obama then arranged for a chemical weapon to be exploded in Syria and blamed it on Assad. Thus, the Red Line had been crossed, the insouciant West was told, and America would now invade.

The UK prime minister, the usual piece of Washington-owned garbage, rushed to the support of the American invasion, promising British support. But the British Parliament voted NO. The MPs said that the UK was not going to support another American war crime justified by obvious lies. Only in Britain does democracy still have any teeth, as we saw a second time with the Brexit vote. All the rest of the West lives in vassalage and slavery.

The Russian government also took a firm stand, admitting that Russia stupidly trusted America in Libya, but no more. We, said the Russians, will ourselves remove any and all chemical weapons from Syria and turn them over to Western “civilization” to be destroyed, which the Russians did.

What did Western “civilization” do with the weapons? They gave some of them to ISIS. This gave Washington a second chance to accuse Assad of using chemical weapons “against his own people.”

And so Washington has rolled out this hoax a second time. During a Syrian air force attack on an ISIS position, a chemical weapon exploded, or so it is alleged. Instantly Washington said that Assad had used “Sarin gas against his own people.” Trump was shown photos of dead babies and stupidly ordered a US military strike against Syria.

This was the first time that Washington had engaged in an unambiguous war crime without any cover. Trump had no UN resolution, not even one that could be stood on its head as in Libya. Trump had no NATO participation, no George W. Bush “coalition of the willing” to give cover to the war crime with the support of other governments.

There are no skirts for Trump to hid behind. He stupidly let himself be pushed into committing an unambiguous war crime. Now all his opponents—the Deep State, the military/security complex, the CIA, the Hillary Democrats, the warmonger Republicans—have the New White House Fool under their control. If Trump doesn’t do as they want, they will impeach him for his war crime.

Meanwhile the risk of war with the Russian/Chinese/Iranian/Syrian alliance grows closer. The US shows every intention of provoking this war. Washington has imposed sanctions on 271 employees of Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Center for, in Washington’s lying words, responsibility “for developing and producing non-conventional weapons and the means to deliver them.”

In order to make this false charge stick, Washington prevented any investigation whatsoever into the facts of the alleged chemical weapon associated by Western propaganda, not by any known fact, with a Syrian air attack on ISIS. If Washington is so certain that Syria is responsible, why does Washington block an investigation? If Washington is right, an investigation would prove Washington’s case. But as Washington is again lying through its teeth, an investigation would prove the contrary. And that is what Washington fears and is the reason Washington blocked an investigation.

Why do Western peoples believe the US government, a well proven liar, who blocks an investigation and asserts that everyone must believe Washington or else be put on a list of Russian agents?

Here is the lie, the raw propaganda, that the US government has no qualms about issuing: 

It comes from the US Department of the Treasury in which I once served honorably. But honor no longer exists in the US Treasury.

Are Western populations intelligent enough to understand that the only reason for Washington to block an investigation of the alleged use by Syria of a chemical weapon is that the facts clearly do not support Washington’s lie? No, they are not.

Theodore Postol, a scientist at MIT, has concluded from his investigation that the chemical weapon was not dropped from the air but was set off on the ground and that it was not Sarin gas as Sarin lingers and the alleged aid workers who were immediately on the scene were unprotected by gloves or masks or by anything. If the gas were Sarin, they would be dead also.

The Russian explanation is that the Syrian air force attack hit a storage facility, conveniently arranged by Washington, that contained chemical weapons. I have seen reports that Washington, or Washington’s vassals such as Saudi Arabia, have provided ISIS with chemical weapons. President Putin of Russia says the reason Washington has delivered chemical weapons to ISIS is that there can be more orchestrated instances of their use that can be blamed on Assad.

I think I can say in complete confidence that this is what is happening: Washington intends to wear Russia down with orchestrated chemical attack after chemical attack, portraying Russia as an inhuman defender of Assad’s alleged chemical attacks, in order to more thoroughly isolate Russia and in order to provoke opposition to Putin’s government, especially among the US and German financed NGOs that Russia stupidly permits to operate in Russia and in the Russian media. Washington’s goal is to force by the weight of world opinion Putin to abandon Assad to Washington.

US Secretary of State Tillerson, another gigantic disappointment to those who hoped for peaceful relations between the US and Russia/China/Iran/Syria, has said that the US still intends regime change in Syria. Tillerson has advised Russia to get out of Washington’s way and to “consider carefully their support for Bashar al-Assad.”

Russia cannot abandon Assad, because if Syria falls to Washington, Iran will be next, and then the Washington-financed jihadists will be set upon the Muslim populations of the Russian Federation and China.

This is Washington’s game plan. I am certain Putin is aware of it, and I think the Chinese are, despite their inordinate focus on making money.

The questions before us could not be any clearer: Will Russia and China break and give in to Washington? If not, will Washington become a good world citizen for the first time in America’s history, or will Washington issue more threats, thereby convincing Russia and China that their alternative is to wait for Washington’s preemptive nuclear strike or deliver one themselves?

This is the only question that the world faces that is worth our attention. I spent a quarter century in Washington. The evil that is in control there at the present time is unprecedented. I have never seen anything like it.

Can the world survive the evil that is concentrated in Washington, evil that has the support of the governments of the Western world?

An open memorandum for the American people

From: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)

Subject: Mattis ‘No Doubt’ Stance on Alleged Syrian CW Smacks of Politicized Intelligence

Donald Trump’s new Secretary of Defense, retired Marine General James “Mad Dog” Mattis, during a recent trip to Israel, commented on the issue of SyriTa’s retention and use of chemical weapons in violation of its obligations to dispose of the totality of its declared chemical weapons capability in accordance with the provisions of both the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions.

“There can be no doubt,” Secretary Mattis said during a April 21, 2017 joint news conference with his Israeli counterpart, Minister of Defense Avigdor Lieberman, “in the international community’s mind that Syria has retained chemical weapons in violation of its agreement and its statement that it had removed them all.” To the contrary, Mattis noted, “I can say authoritatively they have retained some.”

Lieberman joined Mattis in his assessment, noting that Israel had

“100 percent information that [the] Assad regime used chemical weapons against [Syrian] rebels.”

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman hold a news conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, April 21, 2017. (U.S. Embassy photo by Matty Stern)

Both Mattis and Lieberman seemed to be channeling assessments offered to reporters two days prior, on April 19, 2017, by anonymous Israeli defense officials that the April 4, 2017 chemical weapons attack on the Syrian village of Khan Shaykhun was ordered by Syrian military commanders, with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s personal knowledge, and that Syria retained a stock of “between one and three tons” of chemical weapons.The Israeli intelligence followed on the heels of an April 13, 2017 speech given by CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies that, once information had come in about a chemical attack on Khan Shaykhun, the CIA had been able to “develop several hypothesis around that, and then to begin to develop fact patterns which either supported or suggested that the hypothesis wasn’t right.”

The CIA, Pompeo said, was “in relatively short order able to deliver to [President Trump] a high-confidence assessment that, in fact, it was the Syrian regime that had launched chemical strikes against its own people in [Khan Shaykhun.]”

The speed in which this assessment was made is of some concern. Both Director Pompeo, during his CSIS remarks, and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, during comments to the press on April 6, 2017, note that President Trump turned to the intelligence community early on in the crisis to understand better “the circumstances of the attack and who was responsible.” McMaster indicated that the U.S. Intelligence Community, working with allied partners, was able to determine with “a very high degree of confidence” where the attack originated.

Both McMaster and Pompeo spoke of the importance of open source imagery in confirming that a chemical attack had taken place, along with evidence collected from the victims themselves – presumably blood samples – that confirmed the type of agent that was used in the attack. This initial assessment drove the decision to use military force – McMaster goes on to discuss a series of National Security Council meetings where military options were discussed and decided upon; the discussion about the intelligence underpinning the decision to strike Syria was over.

The danger of this rush toward an intelligence decision by Director Pompeo and National Security Advisor McMaster is that once the President and his top national security advisors have endorsed an intelligence-based conclusion, and authorized military action based upon that conclusion, it becomes virtually impossible for that conclusion to change. Intelligence assessments from that point forward will embrace facts that sustain this conclusion, and reject those that don’t; it is the definition of politicized intelligence, even if those involved disagree.

A similar “no doubt” moment had occurred nearly 15 years ago when, in August 2002, Vice President Cheney delivered a speech before the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

“There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction,” Cheney declared. “There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies and against us.”

The message Cheney was sending to the Intelligence Community was clear: Saddam Hussein had WMD; there was no need to answer that question anymore.

The CIA vehemently denies that either Vice President Cheney or anyone at the White House put pressure on its analysts to alter their assessments. This may very well be true, but if it is, then the record of certainty – and arrogance – that existed in the mindset of senior intelligence managers and analysts only further erodes public confidence in the assessments produced by the CIA, especially when, as is the case with Iraq and Weapons of Mass Destruction – the agency was found so lacking. Stuart Cohen, a veteran CIA intelligence analyst who served as the acting Chairman of the National Intelligence Council, oversaw the production of the 2002 Iraq National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) that was used to make case for Iraq possessing WMD that was used to justify war.

According to Mr. Cohen, he had four National Intelligence Officers with “over 100 years’ collective work experience on weapons of mass destruction issues” backed up by hundreds of analysts with “thousands of man-years invested in studying these issues.”

On the basis of this commitment of talent alone, Mr. Cohen assessed that

“no reasonable person could have viewed the totality of the information that the Intelligence Community had at its disposal … and reached any conclusion or alternative views that were profoundly different from those that we reached,” namely that – judged with high confidence – “Iraq had chemical and biological weapons as well as missiles with ranges in excess of the 150 kilometer limit imposed by the UN Security Council.”

Two facts emerge from this expression of intellectual hubris. First, the U.S. Intelligence Community was, in fact, wrong in its estimate on Iraq’s WMD capability, throwing into question the standards used to assign “high confidence” ratings to official assessments. Second, the “reasonable person” standard cited by Cohen must be reassessed, perhaps based upon a benchmark derived from a history of analytical accuracy rather than time spent behind a desk.

The major lesson learned here, however, is that the U.S. Intelligence Community, and in particular the CIA, more often than not hides behind self-generated platitudes (“high confidence”, “reasonable person”) to disguise a process of intelligence analysis that has long ago been subordinated to domestic politics.

It is important to point out the fact that Israel, too, was wrong about Iraq’s WMD. According to Shlomo Brom, a retired Israeli Intelligence Officer, Israeli intelligence seriously overplayed the threat posed by Iraqi WMD in the lead up to the 2003 Iraq War, including a 2002 briefing to NATO provided by Efraim Halevy, who at the time headed the Israeli Mossad, or intelligence service, that Israel had “clear indications” that Iraq had reconstituted its WMD programs after U.N. weapons inspectors left Iraq in 1998.

The Israeli intelligence assessments on Iraq, Mr. Brom concluded, were most likely colored by political considerations, such as the desire for regime change in Iraq. In this light, neither the presence of Avigdor Leiberman, nor the anonymous background briefings provided by Israel about Syria’s chemical weapons capabilities, should be used to provide any credence to Secretary Mattis’s embrace of the “no doubt” standard when it comes to Syria’s alleged possession of chemical weapons.

The intelligence data that has been used to back up the allegations of Syrian chemical weapons use has been far from conclusive. Allusions to intercepted Syrian communications have been offered as “proof”, but the Iraq experience – in particular former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s unfortunate experience before the U.N. Security Council – show how easily such intelligence can be misunderstood and misused.

Inconsistencies in the publicly available imagery which the White House (and CIA) have so heavily relied upon have raised legitimate questions about the veracity of any conclusions drawn from these sources (and begs the question as to where the CIA’s own Open Source Intelligence Center was in this episode.) The blood samples used to back up claims of the presence of nerve agent among the victims was collected void of any verifiable chain of custody, making their sourcing impossible to verify, and as such invalidates any conclusions based upon their analysis.

In the end, the conclusions CIA Director Pompeo provided to the President was driven by a fundamental rethinking of the CIA’s analysts when it came to Syria and chemical weapons that took place in 2014. Initial CIA assessments in the aftermath of the disarmament of Syria’s chemical weapons seemed to support the Syrian government’s stance that it had declared the totality of its holding of chemical weapons, and had turned everything over to the OPCW for disposal. However, in 2014, OPCW inspectors had detected traces of Sarin and VX nerve agent precursors at sites where the Syrians had indicated no chemical weapons activity had taken place; other samples showed the presence of weaponized Sarin nerve agent.

The Syrian explanation that the samples detected were caused by cross-contamination brought on by the emergency evacuation of chemical precursors and equipment used to handle chemical weapons necessitated by the ongoing Civil War was not accepted by the inspectors, and this doubt made its way into the minds of the CIA analysts, who closely followed the work of the OPCW inspectors in Syria.

One would think that the CIA would operate using the adage of “once bitten, twice shy” when assessing inspector-driven doubt; U.N. inspectors in Iraq, driven by a combination of the positive sampling combined with unverifiable Iraqi explanations, created an atmosphere of doubt about the veracity of Iraqi declarations that all chemical weapons had been destroyed. The CIA embraced the U.N. inspectors’ conclusions, and discounted the Iraqi version of events; as it turned out, Iraq was telling the truth.

While the jury is still out about whether or not Syria is, like Iraq, telling the truth, or whether the suspicions of inspectors are well founded, one thing is clear: a reasonable person would do well to withhold final judgment until all the facts are in. (Note: The U.S. proclivity for endorsing the findings of U.N. inspectors appears not to include the Khan Shaykhun attack; while both Syria and Russia have asked the OPCW to conduct a thorough investigation of the April 4, 2017 incident, the OPCW has been blocked from doing so by the United States and its allies.)

CIA Director Pompeo’s job is not to make policy – the intelligence his agency provides simply informs policy. It is not known if the U.S. Intelligence Community will be producing a formal National Intelligence Estimate addressing the Syrian chemical weapons issue, although the fact that the United States has undertaken military action under the premise that these weapons exist more than underscores the need for such a document, especially in light of repeated threats made by the Trump administration that follow-on strikes might be necessary.

Making policy is, however, the job of Secretary of Defense Mattis. At the end of the day, Secretary of Defense Mattis will need to make his own mind up as to the veracity of any intelligence used to justify military action. Mattis’s new job requires that he does more than simply advise the President on military options; he needs to ensure that the employment of these options is justified by the facts.

In the case of Syria, the “no doubt” standard Mattis has employed does not meet the “reasonable man” standard. Given the consequences that are attached to his every word, Secretary Mattis would be well advised not to commit to a “no doubt” standard until there is, literally, no doubt.

For the Steering Group, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

William Binney, Technical Director, NSA; co-founder, SIGINT Automation Research Center (ret.)

Marshall Carter-Tripp, Foreign Service Officer (ret) and former Office Division Director in the State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research

Thomas Drake, former Senior Executive, NSA

Bogdan Dzakovic, Former Team Leader of Federal Air Marshals and Red Team, FAA Security, (ret.) (associate VIPS)

Philip Giraldi, CIA, Operations Officer (ret.)

Matthew Hoh, former Capt., USMC, Iraq & Foreign Service Officer, Afghanistan (associate VIPS)

Larry C Johnson, CIA & State Department (ret.)

Michael S. Kearns, Captain, USAF (Ret.); ex-Master SERE Instructor for Strategic Reconnaissance Operations (NSA/DIA) and Special Mission Units (JSOC)

Brady Kiesling, former U.S. Foreign Service Officer, ret. (Associate VIPS)

Karen Kwiatkowski, former Lt. Col., US Air Force (ret.), at Office of Secretary of Defense watching the manufacture of lies on Iraq, 2001-2003

Lisa Ling, TSgt USAF (ret.)

Linda Lewis, WMD preparedness policy analyst, USDA (ret.) (associate VIPS)

Edward Loomis, NSA, Cryptologic Computer Scientist (ret.)

David MacMichael, National Intelligence Council (ret.)

Elizabeth Murray, Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Near East, CIA and National Intelligence Council (ret.)

Torin Nelson, former Intelligence Officer/Interrogator (GG-12) HQ, Department of the Army

Todd E. Pierce, MAJ, US Army Judge Advocate (ret.)

Coleen Rowley, FBI Special Agent and former Minneapolis Division Legal Counsel (ret.)

Scott Ritter, former MAJ., USMC, former UN Weapon Inspector, Iraq

Peter Van Buren, U.S. Department of State, Foreign Service Officer (ret.) (associate VIPS)

Kirk Wiebe, former Senior Analyst, SIGINT Automation Research Center, NSA

Lawrence Wilkerson, Colonel (USA, ret.), Distinguished Visiting Professor, College of William and Mary (associate VIPS)

Sarah G. Wilton, Intelligence Officer, DIA (ret.); Commander, US Naval Reserve (ret.)

Robert Wing, former Foreign Service Officer (associate VIPS)

Ann Wright, Col., US Army (ret.); Foreign Service Officer (resigned)

The Lawless-loving corporatists have worked overtime to besmirch the word “regulation” (or law and order for corporations) and edify the word “deregulation,” to help bring about their dream state of  dismantled or weakened regulation.

Here is one little-mentioned ongoing disaster of  non-regulation costing our country. The patsy FAA, for decades after the hijacking of planes to Castro’s Cuba, refused to require the airlines to install toughened cockpit doors and stronger locks to prevent entry by terrorists bent on making the aircraft a destructive weapon. Why? Because the airlines objected to the mere $3000 cost per aircraft and, by its very nature, the FAA acquiesced.

Then came 9/11, followed by “mad dog” George W. Bush (and Dick Cheney, his handler) launching an all-out attack on Afghanistan, rather than leading a multilateral force to apprehend the backers of the attackers. Later, Bush’s criminal war devastated the country and people of Iraq. Iraq is still convulsing violently today.

All for not regulating the airlines to protect their cockpits and pilots. Sure, the hijackers could still have hijacked the planes, but they could not have piloted them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Government regulations have led to life-saving motor vehicle standards. They have required safer pharmaceuticals, improved the safety of mines, factories and other workplaces, and diminished the poisonous contaminants of air, water food and soil. According to the Center for Auto Safety, the federal programs for highway and vehicle safety have averted 3.5 million deaths in the US since 1966.

In an industrialized economy with corporations, hospitals and other commercial activities producing old and new hazards, regulations are needed to foresee and forestall many human casualties and damage to the natural world.

The role of sensible regulations has been all but ignored by Donald J. Trump in his regime’s first 100 days of rage and rapacity.  The Trump administration continues to take away basic protections that save both money and lives. With his cruel and monetized Republicans controlling Congress, he has eliminated 13 safeguards issued by the Obama administration.

Proudly, he and House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have turned their backs on ensuring cleaner waterways, and making coal-polluted air less toxic, enforcing workplace protections and preserving our public lands. Disastrously for our country, Trump has joined forces with the Republicans in Congress to immobilize our government’s research and action regarding accelerating climate change. Here he even is scaring big business, including the insurance industry.

The worst of Trump’s egregious attacks on regulatory protections are coming out of his mindless Executive Orders (EO) to federal agencies. While many are of dubious legality – they would require Congressional legislation – his intent is clear: roll back major protections of Americans wherever they eat, breathe, drink, work, drive and receive healthcare.

One EO requires agencies to repeal two regulations for every one they issue. Such an empty but dangerous gesture is mindless but emblematic of the prevaricating, boasting, failed gambling czar. The Trump administration’s rejection of essential roles for government is stunning.

Trump would weaken the laws protecting your savings, investments and retirement security from what shredded them during the 2008-2009 Wall Street crash. No Wall Street bosses ever were jailed, so they’re prone to keep speculating with your money and pocketing huge fees from your accounts in the process.

Trump is even putting off a Department of Labor rule requiring your investment advisers to put your interests ahead of their conflicting interests – the so-called fiduciary rule. Trump – who betrayed creditors, employees, investors and consumers alike during his business career – readily knows what that accountability mechanism is all about.

When Trump’s formal budget is announced next May, it will starve the already strained enforcement budgets of the health and safety regulatory agencies such as the FDA, EPA and OSHA. Trump even wants a sharp cut of the Centers for Disease Control’s program to head off deadly global epidemics.

In addition, Trump has broken  his campaign promises, surrounding himself with Wall Street insiders and intensifying Obama’s belligerent and militaristic foreign policy around the globe. He is also demanding that Congress add fifty-two billion dollars more to the already bloated Pentagon budget, decried by many liberals and conservatives. Fifty-two billion dollars is far greater than all the combined federal regulatory budgets for the agencies that provide the health, safety and economic protections for Americans from costly corporate crimes, abuses and frauds.

The fallout of these ominous 100 days is not escaping millions of lawyers, accountants, physicians, engineers, scientists and teachers at all levels. And it isn’t escaping those blue collar workers who rolled the dice and voted for Trump, despite his opposition to raising the minimum wage and fair labor standards.

Yes, there are signs of stirrings among these citizens. But will there be action against the Trumpsters and Trumpism in the coming weeks and at the polls next year? Will the people continue to turn out in ever greater numbers at marches, rallies and Congressional town meetings (see indivisibleguide.com), whether arranged by their Senators and Representatives or, if not, by the citizenry summoning their 535 members of Congress to peoples’ town meetings?

Only you, the American people, one-by-one and by joining together, can answer these questions.

Dr. Gus Abu-Sitta is the head of the Plastic Surgery Department at the AUB Medical Center in Lebanon. He specializes in: reconstructive surgery. What it means in this part of the world is clear: they bring you people from the war zones, torn to pieces, missing faces, burned beyond recognition, and you have to try to give them their life back.

Dr. Abu-Sitta is also a thinker. A Palestinian born in Kuwait, he studied and lived in the UK, and worked in various war zones of the Middle East, as well as in Asia, before accepting his present position at the AUB Medical Center in Beirut, Lebanon.

We were brought together by peculiar circumstances. Several months ago I burned my foot on red-hot sand, in Southeast Asia. It was healing slowly, but it was healing. Until I went to Afghanistan where at one of the checkpoints in Herat I had to take my shoes off, and the wound got badly infected. Passing through London, I visited a hospital there, and was treated by one of Abu-Sitta’s former professors. When I said that among other places I work in Lebanon,he recommended that I visit one of his “best students who now works in Beirut”.

I did. During that time, a pan-Arab television channel, Al-Mayadeen, was broadcasting in English, with Arabic subtitles, a long two-part interview with me, about my latest political/revolutionary novel “Aurora”and about the state of the global south, and the upsurge of the Western imperialism. To my surprise, Dr. Abu-Sitta and his colleagues were following my work and political discourses. To these hardened surgeons, my foot ‘issue’ was just a tiny insignificant scratch. What mattered was the US attack against Syria, the Palestine, and the provocations against North Korea.

My ‘injury’ healed well, and Dr. Abu-Sitta and I became good friends. Unfortunately I have to leave Beirut for Southeast Asia, before a huge conference, which he and his colleagues are launching on the May 15, 2017, a conference on the “Ecology of War”.

I believe that the topic is thoroughly fascinating and essential for our humanity, even for its survival. It combines philosophy, medicine and science.

What happens to people in war zones? And what is a war zone, really? We arrived at some common conclusions, as both of us were working with the same topic but looking at it from two different angles: “The misery is war. The destruction of the strong state leads to conflict. A great number of people on our Planet actually live in some conflict or war, without even realizing it: in slums, in refugee camps, in thoroughly collapsed states, or in refugee camps.” 

We talked a lot: about fear, which is engulfing countries like the UK, about the new wave of individualism and selfishness, which has its roots in frustration. At one point he said: “In most parts of the world “freedom” is synonymous with the independence struggle for our countries. In such places as the UK, it mainly means more individualism, selfishness and personal liberties.”

We talked about imperialism, medicine and the suffering of the Middle East.

Then we decided to publish this dialogue, shedding some light on the “Ecology of War” – this essential new discipline in both philosophy and medicine.

ECOLOGY OF WAR 

(The discussion took place in Beirut, Lebanon, in Cafe Younes, on April 25, 2017)

Broken Social Contract In The Arab World, Even In Europe

G.A-S: In the South, medicine and the provision of health were critical parts of the post-colonial state. And the post-colonial state built medical systems such as we had in Iraq, Egypt and in Syria as part of the social contract. They became an intrinsic part of the creation of those states. And it was a realization that the state has to exercise its power both coercively, (which we know the state is capable of exercising, by putting you in prison, and even exercising violence), but above all non-coercively: it needs to house you, educate you, and give you health, all of those things. And that non-coercive power that the states exercise is a critical part of the legitimizing process of the state. We saw it evolve in 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. So as a digression, if you want to look at how the state was dismantled: the aim of the sanctions against Iraq was not to weaken the Makhabarat or the army, the aim of the sanctions was to rob the Iraqi state of its non-coercive power; its ability to give life, to give education, and that’s why after 12 years, the state has totally collapsed internally – not because its coercive powers have weakened, but because it was robbed of all its non-coercive powers, of all its abilities to guarantee life to its citizens.

AV: So in a way the contract between the state and the people was broken.

G.A-S: Absolutely! And you had that contract existing in the majority of post-colonialist states. With the introduction of the IMF and World Bank-led policies that viewed health and the provision of health as a business opportunity for the ruling elites and for corporations, and viewed free healthcare as a burden on the state, you began to have an erosion in certain countries like Egypt, like Jordan, of the non-coercive powers of the state, leading to the gradual weakening of its legitimacy. Once again, the aim of the IMF and World Bank was to turn health into a commodity, which could be sold back to people as a service; sold back to those who could afford it.

AV: So, the US model, but in much more brutal form, as the wages in most of those countries were incomparably lower.

G.A-S: Absolutely! And the way you do that in these countries: you create a two-tier system where the government tier is so under-funded, that people choose to go to the private sector. And then in the private sector you basically have the flourishing of all aspects of private healthcare: from health insurance to provision of health care, to pharmaceuticals.

AV: Paradoxically this scenario is also taking place in the UK right now.

G.A-S: We see it in the UK and we’ll see it in many other European countries. But it has already happened in this region, in the Arab world. Here, the provision of health was so critical to creation of the states. It was critical to the legitimacy of the state.

AV: The scenario has been extremely cynical: while the private health system was imposed on the Arab region and on many other parts of the world, in the West itself, except in the United States, medical care remains public and basically free. We are talking about state medical care in Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

G.A-S: Yes. In Europe as part of the welfare state that came out of the Second World War, the provision of healthcare was part of the social contract. As the welfare state with the advent of Thatcherism and Reagan-ism was being dismantled, it became important to undergo a similar process as elsewhere. The difference is that in the UK, and also in countries like Germany, it was politically very dangerous. It could lead to election losses. So the second plan was to erode the health system, by a thousand blows kill it gradually. What you ended up in the UK is the piece-by-piece privatization of the health sector. And the people don’t know, they don’t notice that the system is becoming private. Or in Germany where actually the government does not pay for healthcare – the government subsidizes the insurance companies that profit from the private provision of healthcare.

AV: Before we began recording this discussion, we were speaking about the philosophical dilemmas that are now besieging or at least should be besieging the medical profession. Even the social medical care in Europe: isn’t it to some extent a cynical arrangement? European countries are now all part of the imperialist block, together with the United States, and they are all plundering the rest of the world – the Middle East, Africa, parts of Asia – and they are actually subsidizing their social system from that plunder. That’s one thing. But also, the doctors and nurses working for instance in the UK or Germany are often ‘imported’ from much poorer countries, where they have often received free education. Instead of helping their own, needy people, they are actually now serving the ageing and by all international comparisons, unreasonably spoiled and demanding population in Europe, which often uses medical facilities as if they were some ‘social club’.

G.A-S: I think what has happened, particularly in Europe is that there is a gradual erosion of all aspects of the welfare state. Politically it was not yet possible to get rid of free healthcare. The problem that you can certainly see in the United Kingdom is that health is the final consequence of social and economic factors that people live in. So if you have chronic unemployment, second and third generation unemployment problem, these have health consequences. If you have the destruction of both pensions and the cushion of a social umbrella for the unemployed, that has consequences… Poor housing has health consequences. Mass unemployment has health consequences. Politically it was easy to get rid of all other aspects of the welfare state, but they were stuck with a healthcare problem. And so the losing battle that the health systems in the West are fighting is that they are being expected to cater to the poor consequences of the brutal capitalist system as a non-profit endeavor. But we know that once these lifestyle changes are affecting people’s health, it’s too late in terms of cure or prevention. And so what the European health systems do, they try to patch people and to get them out of the system and back on the street. So if you have children with chronic asthma, you treat the asthma but not the dump housing in which these children are living in. If you have violent assaults and trauma related to violence, you treat the trauma, the physical manifestation, and not the breakdown of youth unemployment, or racism that creates this. So in order to sustain this anomaly, as you said, you need an inflated health system, because you make people sick and then you try to fix them, rather than stopping them from being sick. Hence that brain drains that have basically happened, where you have more Ghanaian doctors in New York than you have in Ghana.

AV: And you have an entire army of Philippine nurses in the UK, while there is suddenly a shortage of qualified nurses in Manila.

G.A-S: Absolutely! This is the result of the fact that actually people’s health ‘happens’ outside the health system. Because you cannot get rid of the health system, you end up having a bloated health system, and try to fix the ailments that are coming through the door.

Collapse Of The Health Care In The Middle East

AV: You worked in this entire region. You worked in Iraq, and in Gaza… both you and I worked in Shifa Hospital in Gaza… You worked in Southern Lebanon during the war. How brutal is the healthcare situation in the Middle East? How badly has been, for instance, the Iraqi peoples’ suffering, compared to Western patients? How cruel is the situation in Gaza?

Man wounded by Israeli soldiers gets treatment at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza

G.A-S: If you look at places like Iraq: Iraq in the 80’s probably had one of the most advanced health systems in the region. Then you went through the first war against Iraq, followed by 12 years of sanctions in which that health system was totally dismantled; not just in terms of hospitals and medication and the forced exile of doctors and health professionals, but also in terms of other aspects of health, which are the sewage and water and electricity plants, all of those parts of the infrastructure that directly impact on people’s lives.

AV: Then came depleted uranium…

G.A-S: And then you add to the mix that 2003 War and then the complete destruction and dismantling of the state, and the migration of some 50% of Iraq’s doctors.

AV: Where did they migrate?

G.A-S: Everywhere: to the Gulf and to the West; to North America, Europe… So what you have in Iraq is a system that is not only broken, but that has lost the components that are required to rebuild it. You can’t train a new generation of doctors in Iraq, because your trainers have all left the country. You can’t create a health system in Iraq, because you have created a government infrastructure that is intrinsically unstable and based on a multi-polarity of the centers of power which all are fighting for control of the pie of the state… and so Iraqis sub-contract their health at hospital level to India and to Turkey and Lebanon, or Jordan, because they are in this vicious loop.

AV: But this is only for those who can afford it?

G.A-S: Yes for those who can, but even in those times when the government had cash it could not build the system, anymore. So it would sub-contract health provisions outside, because the system was so broken that money couldn’t fix it.

AV: Is it the same in other countries of the region?

G.A-S: The same is happening in Libya and the same is happening in Syria, with regards of the migration of their doctors. Syria will undergo something similar to Iraq at the end of the war, if the Syrian state is destroyed.

AV: But it is still standing.

G.A-S: It still stands and it is still providing healthcare to the overwhelming majority of the population even to those who live in the rebel-controlled areas. They are travelling to Damascus and other cities for their cardiac services or for their oncological services.

AV: So no questions asked; you are sick, you get treated?

G.A-S: Even from the ISIS-controlled areas people can travel and get treated, because this is part of the job of the state.

AV: The same thing is happening with the education there; Syria still provides all basic services in that area.

G.A-S: Absolutely! But in Libya, because the state has totally disappeared or has disintegrated, all this is gone.

AV: Libya is not even one country, anymore…

G.A-S: There is not a unified country and there is definitely no health system. In Gaza and the Palestine, the occupation and the siege, ensure that there is no normal development of the health system and in case of Gaza as the Israelis say “every few years you come and you mown the lawn”; you kill as many people in these brutal and intense wars, so you can ensure that the people for the next few years will be trying to survive the damage that you have caused.

AV: Is there any help from Israeli physicians?

G.A-S: Oh yes! Very few individuals, but there is…

But the Israeli medical establishment is actually an intrinsic part of the Israeli establishment, and the Israeli academic medical establishment is also part of the Israeli establishment. And the Israeli Medical Association refused to condemn the fact that Israeli doctors examine Palestinian political prisoners for what they call “fitness for interrogation”. Which is basically… you get seen by a doctor who decides how much torture you can take before you die.

AV: This actually reminds me of what I was told in 2015 in Pretoria, South Africa, where I was invited to participate as a speaker at the International Conference of the Psychologists for Peace. Several US psychologists reported that during the interrogation and torture of alleged terrorists, there were professional psychologists and even clinical psychiatrists standing by, often assisting the interrogators.

G.A-S: Yes, there are actually 2-3 well-known American psychologists who designed the CIA interrogation system – its process.

AV: What you have described that is happening in Palestine is apparently part of a very pervasive system. I was told in the Indian-controlled Kashmir that Israeli intelligence officers are sharing their methods of interrogation and torture with their Indian counterparts. And of course the US is involved there as well.

Conflict Medicine

Gus Abu-Sitta: War surgery grew out of the Napoleonic Wars. During these wars, two armies met; they usually met at the frontline. They attacked each other, shot at each other or stabbed each other. Most of injured were combatants, and they got treated in military hospitals. You had an evolution of war surgery. What we have in this region, we believe, is that the intensity and the prolonged nature of these wars or these conflicts are not temporal-like battles, they don’t start and finish. And they are sufficiently prolonged that they change the biological ecology, the ecology in which people live. They create the ecology of war. That ecology maintains itself well beyond of what we know is the shooting, because they alter the living environment of people. The wounds are physical, psychological and social wounds; the environment is altered as to become hostile; both to the able-bodied and more hostile to the wounded. And as in the cases of these multi-drug-resistant organisms, which are now a big issue in the world like the multi-drug-resistant bacteria, 85% of Iraqi war wounded have multi-drug-resistant bacteria, 70% of Syrian war wounded have it… So we say: this ecology, this bio-sphere that the conflicts create is even altered at the basic DNA of the bacteria. We have several theories about it; partly it’s the role of the heavy metals in modern ordnance, which can trigger mutation in these bacteria that makes them resistant to antibiotics. So your bio-sphere, your bubble, your ecological bubble in which you live in, is permanently changed. And it doesn’t disappear the day the bombs disappear. It has to be dismantled, and in order to dismantle it you have to understand the dynamics of the ecology of war. That’s why our program was setup at the university, which had basically been the major tertiary teaching center during the civil war and the 1982 Israeli invasion. And then as the war in Iraq and Syria developed, we started to get patients from these countries and treat them here. We found out that we have to understand the dynamics of conflict medicine and to understand the ecology of war; how the physical, biological, psychological and social manifestations of war wounding happen, and how this ecology of war is created; everything from bacteria to the way water and the water cycle changes, to the toxic reminisce of war, to how people’s body reacts… Many of my Iraqi patients that I see have multiple members of their families injured.

AV: Is the AUB Medical Center now the pioneer in this research: the ecology of war?

G.A.-S: Yes, because of the legacy of the civil war… of regional wars.

AV: Nothing less than a regional perpetual conflict…

G.A-S: Perpetual conflict, yes; first homegrown, and then regional. We are the referral center for the Iraqi Ministry of Health, referral center for the Iraqi Ministry of Interior, so we act as a regional center, and the aim of our program is to dedicate more time and space and energy to the understanding of how this ecology of war comes about.

AV: In my writing and in my films, I often draw the parallel between the war and extreme poverty. I have been working in some of the worst slums on Earth, those in Africa, Central America and Caribbean, South Asia, the Philippines and elsewhere. I concluded that many societies that are in theory living in peace are in reality living in prolonged or even perpetual wars. Extreme misery is a form of war, although there is no ‘declaration of war’, and there is no defined frontline. I covered both countless wars and countless places of extreme misery, and the parallel, especially the physical, psychological and social impact on human beings, appears to be striking. Would you agree, based on your research? Do you see extreme misery as a type of war?

G.A-S: Absolutely. Yes.At the core of it is the ‘dehumanization’ of people. Extreme poverty is a form of violence. The more extreme this poverty becomes, the closer it comes to the physical nature of violence. War is the accelerated degradation of people’s life to reaching that extreme poverty.But that extreme poverty can be reached by a more gradual process. War only gets them there faster.

AV: A perpetual state of extreme poverty is in a way similar to a perpetual state of conflict, of a war.

G.A-S: Definitely. And it is a war mainly against those who are forced to live in these circumstances. It’s the war against the poor and the South. It’s the war against the poor in the inner-cities of the West.

AV: When you are defining the ecology of war, are you also taking what we are now discussing into consideration? Are you researching the impact of extreme poverty on human bodies and human lives? In this region, extreme poverty can often be found in the enormous refugee camps, while in other parts of the world it dwells in countless slums.

G.A-S: This extreme poverty is part of the ecology that we are discussing. One of the constituents of the ecology is when you take a wounded body and you place it in a harsh physical environment and you see how this body is re-wounded and re-wounded again, and this harsh environment becomes a continuation of that battleground, because what you see is a process of re-wounding. Not because you are still in the frontline somewhere in Syria, but because your kids are now living in a tent with 8 other people and they are in danger of becoming the victims of the epidemic of child burns that we now have in the refugee camps, because of poor and unsafe housing.

Let’s look at it from a different angle: what constitutes a war wound, or a conflict-related injury? Your most basic conflict-related injury is a gunshot wound and a blast injury from shrapnel. But what happens when you take that wounded body and throw it into a tent? What are the complications for this wounded body living in a harsh environment; does this constitute a war-related injury? When you impoverish the population to the point that you have children suffering from the kind of injuries that we know are the results of poor and unsafe housing, is that a conflict-related injury? Or you have children now who have work-related injuries, because they have to go and become the main breadwinners for the home, working as car mechanics or porters or whatever. Or do you also consider a fact that if you come from a country where a given disease used to be treatable there, but due to the destruction of a health system, that ailment is not treatable anymore, because the hospitals are gone or because doctors had to leave, does that constitute a conflict-related injury? So, we have to look at the entire ecology: beyond a bullet and shrapnel – things that get headlines in the first 20 seconds.

AV: Your research seems to be relevant to most parts of the world.

G.A-S: Absolutely. Because we know that these humanitarian crises only exist in the imagination of the media and the UN agencies. There are no crises.

AV: It is perpetual state, again.

G.A-S: Exactly, it is perpetual. It does not stop. It is there all the time. Therefore there is no concept of ‘temporality of crises’, one thing we are arguing against. There is no referee who blows the whistle at the end of the crises. When the cameras go off, the media and then the world, decides that the crises are over. But you know that people in Laos, for instance,still have one of the highest amputation rates in the world.

AV: I know. I worked there in the Plain of Jars, which is an enormous minefield even to this day.

G.A-S: Or Vietnam, with the greatest child facial deformities in the world as a result of Agent Orange.

AV: You worked in these countries.

G.A-S: Yes.

AV: Me too; and I used to live in Vietnam. That entire region is still suffering from what used to be known as the “Secret War”. In Laos, the poverty is so rampant that people are forced to sell unexploded US bombs for scrap. They periodically explode. In Cambodia, even between Seam Reap and the Thai border, there are villages where people are still dying or losing limbs.

G.A-S: Now many things depend on how we define them. It is often a game of words.

AV: India is a war zone, from Kashmir to the Northeast, Bihar and slums of Mumbai.

G.A-S: If you take the crudest way of measuring conflict, which is the number of people killed by weapons, Guatemala and Salvador have now more people slaughtered than they had during the war. But because the nature in which violence is exhibited changed, because it doesn’t carry a political tag now, it is not discussed. But actually, it is by the same people against the same people.

AV: I wrote about and filmed in Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, on several occasions. The extreme violence there is a direct result of the conflict implanted, triggered by the West, particularly by the United States. The same could be said about such places like Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Haiti. It has led to almost absolute social collapse.

G.A-S: Yes, in Jamaica, the CIA played a great role in the 70’s.

AV: In that part of the world we are not talking just about poverty…

G.A-S: No, no. We are talking AK-47’s!

AV: Exactly. Once I filmed in San Salvador, in a gangland… A friend, a local liberation theology priest kindly drove me around. We made two loops. The first loop was fine. On the second one they opened fire at our Land Cruiser, with some heavy stuff. The side of our car was full of bullet holes, and they blew two tires. We got away just on our rims. In the villages, maras simply come and plunder and rape. They take what they want. It is a war.

G.A.-S: ICRC, they train surgeons in these countries. So the ICRC introduced war surgery into the medical curriculum of the medical schools in Colombia and Honduras. Because effectively, these countries are in a war, so you have to train surgeons, so they know what to do when they receive 4-5 patients every day, with gunshot wounds.

AV: Let me tell you what I witnessed in Haiti, just to illustrate your point. Years ago I was working in Cité Soleil, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. They say it is the most dangerous ‘neighborhood’ or slum on Earth. The local wisdom goes: “you can enter, but you will never leave alive”. I went there with a truck, with two armed guards, but they were so scared that they just abandoned me there, with my big cameras and everything, standing in the middle of the road. I continued working; I had no choice. At one point I saw a long line in front of some walled compound. I went in. What I was suddenly facing was thoroughly shocking: several local people on some wooden tables, blood everywhere, and numerous US military medics and doctors performing surgeries under the open sky. It was hot, flies and dirt everywhere… A man told me his wife had a huge tumor. Without even checking what it was, the medics put her on a table, gave her “local” and began removing the stuff. After the surgery was over, a husband and wife walked slowly to a bus stop and went home. A couple of kilometers from there I found a well-equipped and clean US medical facility, but only for US troops and staff. I asked the doctors what they were really doing in Haiti and they were quiet open about it; they replied: “we are training for combat scenario… This is as close to a war that we can get.” They were experimenting on human beings, of course; learning how to operate during the combat…

Medical experiment in Haiti

G.A-S: So, the distinction is only in definitions.

AV: As a surgeon who has worked all over the Middle East but also in many other parts of the world, how would you compare the conflict here to the conflicts in Asia, the Great Lakes of Africa and elsewhere?

G.A-S: In the Middle East, you still have people remembering when they had hospitals. Iraqis who come to my clinic remember the 80’s. They know that life was different and could have been different. And they are health-literate. The other issue is that in 2014 alone, some 30,000 Iraqis were injured. The numbers are astounding. We don’t have a grasp of the numbers in Libya, the amount of ethnic cleansing and killing that is happening in Libya. In terms of numbers, they are profound, but in terms of the effect, we are at the beginning of the phase of de-medicalization. So it wasn’t that these medical systems did not develop. They are being de-developed. They are going backwards.

AV: Are you blaming Western imperialism for the situation?

G.A-S: If you look at the sanctions and what they did to their health system, of course! If you look at Libya, of course! The idea that these states disintegrated is a falsehood. We know what the dynamics of the sanctions were in Iraq, and what happened in Iraq after 2003. We know what happened in Libya.

AV: Or in Afghanistan…

G.A-S: The first thing that the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan or the Nicaraguan Contras were told to do was to attack the clinics. The Americans have always understood that you destroy the state by preventing it from providing these non-coercive powers that I spoke about.

AV: Do you see this part of the world as the most effected, most damaged?

G.A-S: At this moment and time certainly. And the statistics show it. I think around 60% of those dying from wars are killed in this region…

AV: And how do you define this region geographically?

G.A-S: From Afghanistan to Mauritania. And that includes the Algerian-Mali border. The Libyan border… The catastrophe of the division of Sudan, what’s happening in South Sudan, what’s happening in Somalia, Libya, Egypt, the Sinai Desert, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, even Pakistan including people who are killed there by drones…

An Afghan kid

AV: But then we also have around 10 million people who have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo, since the 1995 Rwandan invasion…

G.A-S: Now that is a little bit different. That is the ‘more advanced phase’: when you’ve completely taken away the state… In the Arab world Libya is the closest to that scenario. There the oil companies have taken over the country. The mining companies are occupying DRC. And they run the wars directly, rather than through the Western armies. You erode the state, completely, until it disappears and then the corporations, directly, as they did in the colonialist phase during the East Indian Company, and the Dutch companies, become the main players again.

AV: What is the goal of your research, the enormous project called the “Ecology of War”?

G.A-S: One of the things that we insist on is this holistic approach. The compartmentalization is part of the censorship process. “You are a microbiologist then only look what is happening with the bacteria… You are an orthopedic surgeon, so you only have to look at the blast injuries, bombs, landmine injuries…” So that compartmentalization prevents bringing together people who are able to see the whole picture. Therefore we are insisting that this program also has social scientists, political scientists, anthropologists, microbiologists, surgeons… Otherwise we’d just see the small science. We are trying to put the sciences together to see the bigger picture. We try to put the pieces of puzzle together, and to see the bigger picture.

AV: And now you have a big conference. On the 15^th of May…

G.A-S: Now we have a big conference; basically the first congress that will look at all these aspects of conflict and health; from the surgical, to the reconstruction of damaged bodies, to the issues of medical resistance of bacteria, infectious diseases, to some absolutely basic issues. Like, before the war there were 30,000 kidney-failure patients in Yemen. Most dialysis patients are 2 weeks away from dying if they don’t get dialysis. So, there is a session looking at how you provide dialysis in the middle of these conflicts? What do you do, because dialysis services are so centralized? The movement of patients is not easy, and the sanctions… One topic will be ‘cancer and war’… So this conference will be as holistic as possible, of the relationship between the conflict and health.

We expect over 300 delegates, and we will have speakers from India, Yemen, Palestine, Syria, from the UK, we have people coming from the humanitarian sector, from ICRC, people who worked in Africa and the Middle East, we have people who worked in previous wars and are now working in current wars, so we have a mix of people from different fields.

AV: What is the ultimate goal of the program?

G.A-S: We have to imagine the health of the region beyond the state. On the conceptual level, we need to try to figure out what is happening? We can already see certain patterns. One of them is the regionalization of healthcare. The fact that Libyans get treated in Tunisia, Iraqis and Syrians get treated in Beirut, Yemenis get treated in Jordan. So you already have the disintegration of these states and the migration of people to the regional centers. The state is no longer a major player, because the state was basically destroyed. We feel that this is a disease of the near future, medium future and long-term future. Therefore we have to understand it, in order to better treat it, we have to put mechanisms in place that this knowledge transfers into the medical education system, which will produce medical professionals who are better equipped to deal with this health system. We have to make sure that people are aware of many nuances of the conflict, beyond the shrapnel and beyond the bullet. The more research we put into this area of the conflict and health, the more transferable technologies we develop –the better healthcare we’d be allowed to deliver in these situations, the better training our students and graduates would receive,and better work they will perform in this region for the next 10 or 15 years.

AV: And hopefully more lives would be saved…

Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. Three of his latest books are revolutionary novel “Aurora” and two bestselling works of political non-fiction: “Exposing Lies Of The Empire” and  “Fighting Against Western Imperialism”. View his other books here. Andre is making films for teleSUR and Al-Mayadeen. Watch Rwanda Gambit, his groundbreaking documentary about Rwanda and DRCongo. After having lived in Latin America, Africa and Oceania, Vltchek presently resides in East Asia and the Middle East, and continues to work around the world. He can be reached through his website and his Twitter.

On April 26, Chief of the Main Operational Directorate Gen. Sergei Rudskoi announced that Russia had withdrawn half of its warplanes from the Hmeymim Airbase in Syria. Rudskoi said that the number of Russian aircraft in Hmeymim between November 10th, 2016 and January 10th, 2017 did not exceed 35 fighters; 80 UAVs. He added that the withdrawal of some warplanes comes after a decrease in the number of terrorists in Syria.

Pro-government forces, led by the Syrian Army’s 5th Assault Corps, recaptured the key ash-Shair gas filed and the ash-Shair gas plant from ISIS in the province of Homs. Earlier this week, government forces had captured a number of small hills near the ash-Shair field. Therefore, ISIS terrorists were pushed to withdraw from the area without stiff resistance.

The advance on ash-Shair is a part of the broader effort aimed at securing the countryside of Huwaysis and the nearby gas fields. If the Syrian army succeedes in this area, it will be able to secure the road between Salamiyeh and the T4 Airbase as well as gain control over gas fields located along the road.

The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), one of the largest groups in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), suspended its military operations with the US-led coalition in Syria, according to unconfirmed reports from some pro-Kurdish sources.

During the past two days, Turkish warplanes and artillery have bombed several YPG targets in northern Syria. Kurdish parties and groups in both Syria and Iraq have called the US-led coalition to establish a No-Fly zone against Turkish aircraft in northern Syria.

So far, the SDF has been continuing its operations against ISIS in the Raqqah countryside. However, it has not released any statement denying the YPG suspension of its anti-ISIS operations in Syria. Even if reports are not true, the Turkish actions have already delayed the SDF operation against ISIS.

The Turkish Defense Ministry confirmed that the airstrikes will continue in both Iraq and Syria against what they described as “terrorist groups.” Turkish President Recep Erdogan said that Washington, Russia, and the Iraqi government were aware of the airstrikes and that Turkey would not allow the Sinjar Mount or northern Syria to be turned into a safe haven for PKK militants.

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Not everyone likes to hear about the threat of nuclear war. Some find refuge in denial and say that nuclear war is impossible because it makes no sense. Unfortunately, humankind has a long record of doing things that make no sense.

In previous posts in recent years I have pointed out both written documents and changes in US war doctrine that indicate that Washington is preparing a preemptive nuclear attack on Russia and China. More recently, I have shown that Washington’s demonization of Russia and President Putin, the incessant lies about Russian deeds and intentions, and the refusal of Washington to cooperate with Russia on any issue have convinced the Russian government that Washington is preparing the Western populations for an attack on Russia. It is obvious that China has come to the same conclusion.

It is extremely dangerous to all of mankind for Washington to convince two nuclear powers that Washington is preparing a preemptive nuclear strike against them. It is impossible to imagine a more reckless and irresponsible act. Yet this is precisely what Washington has done.

Lt. Gen. Viktor Poznikhir, Deputy Head of Operations of the Russian General Staff has concluded that Washington in pursuit of global hegemony is implementing an anti-ballistic missile system that Washington believes can prevent a Russian nuclear response to a US pre-emptive attack. http://www.fort-russ.com/2017/04/us-forces-preparing-sudden-nuclear.html 

Careful studies have convinced the Russians that Washington is investing in and arranging components that have no other function than to devastate Russia and cripple the country’s retaliatory capability. In short, Washington is preparing to launch a nuclear war. https://www.rt.com/news/386276-us-missile-shield-russia-strike/ 

As I explained previously, the theory behind this insane scheme is that after America’s preemptive strike Russia will be so devastated that Russia would not retaliate with any remaining forces out of fear that Washington would launch a second major strike. Washington also plans to use agents in place to assassinate as many members as possible of the Russian government, thus leaving the government in confusion without leadership.

Yes, the insane American/Israeli neoconservatives are this determined to exercise hegemony over the world.

Yes, Washington is sufficiently criminally insane to risk the destruction of life on earth based on the supposition that Washington’s offense will work perfectly and Russia and China’s capabilities will be so degraded that no retaliatory response will occur.

One might hope that the American and Western populations would be outraged that Washington is so power-crazed that Washington is subjecting all life to such risks. But there is no sign of an anti-war movement. The Western leftwing has degenerated into Identity Politics in which the only threat comes from white heterosexual males who are portrayed as misogynists, racists, and homophopes. The Western leftwing is no longer war-conscious. Indeed, the leftwing has become diverted into such silly irrelevancies as transgender rights to toilets of their choice. The impotence of the Western left is so overwhelming that the left might as well not exist.

Where then is the hope? Russia and China cannot simply sit there and await America’s preemptive nuclear strike.

Possibly Washington does not intend a preemptive strike, but only to convince Russia and China that Washington’s preparations give Washington so much predominance in a conflict that Russia and China will submit to Washington’s hegemony. But this interpretation of Washington’s intention implies no less risk. Why would Russia and China wait for Washington to complete its preparations for war, preparations that permit Washington to turn Russia and China into puppet states?

The US military/security complex has clearly prevailed over Trump’s intention to normalize relations between the US and Russia, and anti-Russian venom continues to pour out of NATO and Washington’s European vassal states. The majority of the American people seem to have accepted the propaganda that Russia is the number one threat to the United States. With propaganda controlling the explanation, Washington’s aggressive actions are explained as defense against a threat and not as a policy that will end life on earth.

The chances are high that life on earth is approaching its end. The responsibility lies heavily on the American people, whose success, due to the mistakes of others, made Americans think that they are exceptional and privileged. Unaware of the inhumane threat to all life that is embodied in the neoconservative claim that Americans are exceptional and indispensable, the self-satisfied American public is unaware of the consequences of such hubris. Hubris is leading them, and the entire world, to slaughter in thermo-nuclear war.

The neoconservative claim of American exceptionalism is the identical claim made for Germans by Hitler. If Americans are indispensable, everyone else is dispensable and can be “bombed into the stone age” as one US government official put it, or nuked as Washington intends to do to Russia and China. The claim of American exceptionalism is not accepted by Russia and China. Therefore, the insane, crazed monsters who rule over the West in Washington are bringing life on earth to an end.

And there are no protests. The idiot British, the idiot Germans, the idiot French, Italians, Austrians, Canadians, Australians, Belgians, Greeks, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, rally behind the insanity that is Washington.

And so apparently do the American people, a population stupid beyond all belief.

On the sad occasion of the fiftieth year of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, I will be writing a series of articles that will propose a number of peaceful people-to-people measures—which have been largely missing—that Israelis and Palestinians must take to bring an end to the occupation. This is the first article that addresses the critical role of Israeli and Palestinian women.

Historically, women have played a critical role in solving major violent conflicts that have lasted for years, if not decades. Although Israeli and Palestinian women have protested in the past against the occupation, it was on a small scale and their voices were drowned by the intense resistance of the powerful settlement movement. While there is a majority of Israelis and Palestinians who consistently want an end to the conflict, neither the Netanyahu government nor the Palestinian Authority have pursued policies consistent with the requirements to reach a peace agreement. It is time for Israeli and Palestinian women to raise their voices en masse and demand peace now, and be prepared to resort to any peaceful measure to that end, regardless of how taxing and long this process may be.

The role of women in ending global conflicts offers a vivid picture of how women can impact the course of events. In Northern Ireland, the organization Peace People was instrumental in increasing solidarity across sectarian divides, delegitimizing violence, and providing the momentum for peace. The group organized marches, culminating in a 10,000+ strong rally in London, and further engaged in facilitating peace in local areas. The Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition ultimately gained representation in the Northern Ireland Forum (which led to the Good Friday Agreement) and provided a critical voice in the peace process.

A number of women’s organizations were active during the conflicts in the Balkans, each providing its own voice to end the conflict. The Belgrade branch of Women in Black began organizing weekly silent vigils to protest Serbian atrocities in the region and supported the creation of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Today, they continue their work through ongoing vigils and protests, along with supporting refugees and displaced persons from the conflict, and partnering with a Kosovar women’s organization to create bridges between Serbia and Kosovo.

Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace was critical in facilitating the end of the second Liberian Civil War. Women involved with this group engaged in protests in their own communities (publicized initially by Catholic Church-owned radio stations, which later spread to other domestic and international news organization) and subsequently traveled to peace talks in Ghana, blocking all entrances and exits from the building where negotiations took place until there was a resolution.

Perhaps one of the most famous women-led peace organizations in the world is Madres de Plaza de Mayo, which was formed in 1977 by mothers of the “disappeared” during Argentina’s Dirty War. Their weekly protests prompted the civilian government starting in 1984 to investigate and prosecute those involved in the atrocities. A related organization, Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, was instrumental in the foundation of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team and the National Genetic Data Bank, which have located and identified the bodies of those disappeared, as well as their still-living children who were clandestinely and illegally adopted.

In Israel, civil society should support current efforts by groups such as Women in Black and Women Wage Peace to use their challenging power and make their voices heard. Women in Black have hosted vigils every Friday night in Jerusalem starting in 1988 to protest the Israeli occupation, and have in fact inspired a number of branches across the globe (including in Serbia, as previously mentioned).

Women Wage Peace has engaged in a number of activities, including a prominent hunger strike during 2014’s Operation Protective Edge, which led to a meeting with Netanyahu and his promise that he would meet with Abbas at any time without preconditions. Other programs included country-wide screenings of Pray the Devil Back to Hell, a documentary about Liberia’s peace movement, in Hebrew, Arabic, and Russian, to foster interest in peace and demonstrate how successful such movements can be.

Whereas all of these activities were absolutely necessary, they were limited in scope and failed to engender wide-spread public support – reflecting the overall complacency of Israeli society – and force the hands of the Israeli and Palestinians governments to commit to peace rather than pay lip-service by calling for peace but taking no concrete actions to demonstrate that commitment.

There are a number of joint civic actions that should be spearheaded by Israeli and Palestinian women that could change the dynamic of the conflict in a similar way to the examples cited above. To succeed, Israeli and Palestinian women should undertake multiple activities, remain consistent, and escalate these activities should their respective governments fail to respond to their demands.

Mass protests should be organized by the tens of thousands, and they must signal their intention to follow these protests with regular weekly demonstrations, on a relatively smaller-scale. These demonstrations should take place in different parts of the country to voice their opposition to their government’s policies, and demand an immediate shift by beginning a process of reconciliation to mitigate hatred and distrust between the two sides.

Should there be no official positive response or movement from the government, this is where escalation can begin—i.e. moving toward civil disobedience provided that violence in any shape or form is prevented.

Civil disobedience should include, but is not limited to, mass crowding of public spaces (airports, city squares, malls, etc.), as the general society needs to feel the tangible effects of these protests in real time. Many of the demonstrators can expect to be arrested; they should not resist arrest but welcome it, making it impossible for the authorities to cope with hundreds if not thousands of detainees.

Sit-ins at military checkpoints on both sides will greatly hinder security personnel from processing the movement of Israelis and Palestinians from one side to the other, making it especially difficult for Palestinian laborers to work in Israel where they are needed. This not only has an impact on Palestinian laborers, but negatively impacts the Israeli industries in which they work.

Protests at the separation wall will make it all but abundantly clear that peace will not rest on separation between the two sides, but on collaboration and full cooperation on all civilian and security interactions.

Protests at the Israeli Knesset and the Palestinian Authority’s headquarters in Ramallah will send a clear message to legislators and those in a position to shape policy that the current deadlock cannot and must not continue, as there is no alternative to coexistence and peace.

Any and all symbols of the occupation need to be specifically targeted (e.g. separation wall, settlements) – possibly creating works of art on the wall that highlights the irony that Israel is in fact building a prison for itself while acting as prison guards against the Palestinians under siege.

To ensure peaceful marches, organizers should have a clear plan of action about any of the civil disobedience activity, have contingency plans on hand, and enlist volunteers to act as ‘crowd control’ to prevent any confrontation with police officers.

Israeli and Palestinian women should use their formidable power to demand an end to the conflict. They will have far greater sway than men if they join hands, go out in force, and remain consistent with the message to end the occupation.

After 70 years, the tragedy of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must come to an end. Israeli and Palestinian women have the power to raise the banner of peaceful revolt, and ought to use it now to bring peace to the land that both sides must inevitably share.

The Desert Hawks Brigade (or Liwa Suqur al-Sahara) was established in 2013 when Al-Qaeda’s presence in the Syrian-Iraqi deserts became a major threat. The force was established as a private security force to protect oil and gas wells in the Syrian desert from ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra (now known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham) terrorist groups. Legislative Decree № 55 allowing private companies to get government contracts to protect oil and petroleum infrastructure against militant attacks issued in August of the same year was the legal basis for the creation of the brigade. Decree № 55 was part of a broader government effort to boost security of the energy sector and to replenish the Syrian Arab Army’s manpower problem emerged as a result of desertions, conscription evasion and casualties after two years of the war.

Syrian businessman Ayman Jaber founded the Desert Hawks. He delegated its leadership to his brother Mohammad Jaber. Both businessmen had broad contacts in the energy, iron, steel and concrete industries in Syria.

The Desert Hawks Brigade numbers about 5,000 fighters, most of whom are from Latakia and Homs. Former military officers and veterans and former members of other pro-government militias are a core of the Desert Hawks. They mainly own two bases: one is a part of the T4 Airbase while the other is in Jableh’s countryside. The majority of their financing comes from Ayman Jaber and the Ministry of Oil and Mineral Reserves, as well as the Syrian Ministry of Defense. The force is a part of the Syrian Military Intelligence, which directs their operations through a number of field commanders.

At the outset of 2013, the Desert Hawks launched two types of operations. The first of which was the protection of oil wells in the Syrian Desert between Deir Ezzor and Palmyra from continued attacks by ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra. Those terrorist groups would launch dozens of attacks during as they focused on the Syrian oil and gas infrastructure. The second assignment of the Desert Hawks was ensuring the safety of the oil convoys during their passage between different oil wells and facilities in addition to their trips to Iraq and vice versa. Even with the loss of a number of oil wells, the Syrian economy was able to survive due to oil activity and trade in the Syrian Desert even with its crippled rate of production. The Iranian help also plays an important role in resolving the Syrian energy crisis.

By the end of 2013, and with the rise of ISIS as the main power in the Syrian Desert, the pressure increased exponentially on the Desert Hawks who were unable to protect many of Deir Ezzor’s important oil and gas fields. At the outset of the 2014, ISIS launched a major offensive in an attempt to capture all the Syrian oil and gas fields, however the Desert Hawks managed to successfully protect and recapture most of the wells that were lost in the previous year. The Al-Mahr fields, Jazal fields, Al-Sha’er fields, and Arak remained operational and productive even during late 2014 when ISIS was at the peak of its power.

Following the success and experience accumulated from the battles they were engaged in and with the launch of the Russian intervention, the decision was taken to expand the Desert Hawks operational duties beyond protecting the oil wells to supporting offensive operations launched by the Syrian Armed Forces. At the same time, Russia began a massive armament and retraining operation at the beginning of 2016 to empower pro-government forces and bolster its number.

The Latakian countryside witnessed the first Desert Hawk participation in a non-desert operation. The Desert Hawks would support the newly formed Syrian Marines in capturing over 90% of Latakia’s northern countryside including the rebel strongholds of Salma, Kinsabba, and Rabi’ah.

Soon after the Latakia offensive, the Desert Hawks would shift their focus on Palmyra in the spring of 2016. Special forces belonging to the Desert Hawks would be the spearheading force storming the ancient city following weeks of brutal warfare.

Perhaps the largest of the Desert Hawks’ setbacks was the failed attempt at reaching Tabqa’s Military Airbase. After a swift advance that had them capture over 30 km of the Khanasser-Tabqa Highway, they were countered by a surprise ISIS offensive with dozens of VBIEDs leading to significant losses in equipment. Though, the unparalleled experience of the Desert Hawks fighters prevented an equally massive casualties count, as they were able to retreat with non-critical losses in the manpower.

As for their most significant contribution, it was their participation in Operation Dawn of Victory battle that liberated Syria’s largest city and industrial capital, Aleppo. The Desert Hawks helped the Syrian Army in repelling Jabhat al-Nusra’s and the Free Syrian Army’s joint offensive in southwestern Aleppo and re-enforced the siege through the Ramouseh district. The Desert Hawks would then repel countless assaults by Ahrar al-Sham and Jabhat al-Nusra during their second offensive on the city from the northern sector. In the end, fighters from the Desert Hawks played an important role in storming the remaining rebel-held districts in eastern Aleppo from the Sheikh Lutfi direction.

The Desert Hawks are considered some of the best military forces in the Syrian conflict as they operate a variety of vehicles. Some of them are locally enhanced by installing protective armors on pick-up trucks and adding 14.5, 23, or 57 mm guns.

The Desert Hawks’ anti-tank missile operators who use Konkurs ATGMs are some of the best gunners in Syria as they had proven their worth in the Latakia battles.

The group received a large number of advanced Russian weaponry and equipment throughout 2015 and 2016 when they were given a load of T72B1 and T-90 battle tanks before the start of the Battle for Aleppo in addition to BMP-2s.

The Desert Hawks also use some multiple launch rocket systems, which mainly depend on locally manufactured heavy Burkan rockets. They are also the first forces that have started using small drones for reconnaissance tasks during the war.

In battles in the desert, the Desert Hawks’ predominantly used mobile units with “technicals”, relying on speed and firepower. However, this approach was limiting their capabilities in holding ground. This is why the Desert Hawks were working jointly with Syrian Arab Army units during large-scale operations, receiving artillery and air support from them. During the advance on Palmyra, the group was also actively receiving support from the Russian Aerospace Forces and Special Operations Forces.

The Desert Hawks Brigade’ ability to operate in desert, mountainous and urban environments allowed to consider it as one of the most successful supporting forces to the Syrian Arab Army. The Desert Hawks’ rapid deployment capabilities were another reason the group’s success across Syria. The Desert Hawks attracted a large number of volunteers and achieved important victories in missions assigned to them in Latakia, Palmyra, and Aleppo. In the recent years, the Desert Hawks as well as the Tiger Forces and other elite formations were operating as a kind of armed fire brigades. They were rushing across Syria, putting out terrorist offensives and leading offensive operations in key areas.

In late 2016 and early 2017, the Desert Hawks brigade disappeared from the media coverage of the war and were not involved in major operations like the second advance on Palmyra or the battle in northern Hama. Pre-conditions that have led to this situation are not clear. However, this took place on the background of formation of the Syrian Arab Army’s 5th Assault Corps, the move described by experts as a first step in a larger government effort to merge at least a part of semi-independent pro-government groups and to set up a joint command over them. It is not known however to what extent, if at all, the Desert Hawks are affected by this.

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Namhee Lee, a UCLA Associate Professor of Modern Korean History, said, “many South Koreans think that the deployment of THAAD is actually to deter China and not North Korea.”

Namhee Lee was a signatory of the Women Cross DMZ group’s letter to President Donald Trump on Wednesday calling on him to defuse military tensions and start negotiating for peace to prevent war from erupting on the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea’s missiles are short-range SCUDs with a range of 500 km (300 miles), medium-range Rodong 1s with a range of 1,300km (780 miles) whereas THAAD is most effect for long range and high altitude missiles, the professor said.

“THAAD is not effective against the SCUD missile. THAAD is effective against the Rodong 1, but this missile is not developed to aim against South Korea, rather it is aimed against Okinawa,” she said.

As to the question why the US military was deploying THAAD in South Korea, Lee said,

“Because it is aimed against China and Russia; to collect information, which is why China and Russia are upset about the deployment of THAAD.”

Namhee Lee noted the X-bend radar that is integrated with a THAAD system is able to detect missiles at a range of 1,000-5,000 km (600 miles to 3,000 miles).

“Many of China’s missiles can be detected by THAAD’s X-bend radar,” she stated.

Deploying THAAD’s radars also posed health hazards for the people of South Korea, the historian explained.

“Many are also afraid for the health and safety of people living nearby, especially from exposure to radiation from the systems’ powerful radar emissions. Especially Seongju residents who feel that the decision to deploy THAAD was made without their input and without independent health assessments,” she also remarked.

Radar emissions coming from THAAD will cause a great deal of harm to people living close by.

“Those who live within the radius of 100 meters would face the danger of losing lives, and those living within the radius of 3.6 km (six miles) would experience dizziness and vomiting,” she noted.

The protest is the last resort for the Koreans to show that they are opposed to the government’s decision to deploy the THAAD system, she observed.

University of Illinois International Law Professor Francis Boyle told Sputnik he was deeply concerned about the danger of war breaking out on the Korean Peninsula.

“Right now, I am seriously worried that Trump is going to launch a criminal and catastrophic war against North Korea,” he said.

Such a conflict would violate the UN Charter, the War Powers Clause of the US Constitution and Congress’s 1973 War Powers Resolution, Boyle added.

This article first published in July 2013 is the transcript of my keynote address at the 60th anniversary commemoration of the end of the Korean war, Seoul, South Korea, July 26, 2013. 

North Korea is not a threat to global security. The threat of nuclear war largely emanates from the US under the doctrine of pre-emptive nuclear war (self-defense) against both nuclear and non-nuclear states.

This article provides an indepth understanding of both the historical background as well as the nature of US nuclear doctrine.

It is important to address the recent threats of the Trump administration against North Korea in a broader context. 

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the unspoken victim of US military aggression, has been incessantly portrayed as a war mongering nation, a menace to the American Homeland and a  “threat to World peace”. These stylized accusations have become part of a media consensus.

These continuous threats and actions of latent aggression directed against the DPRK should also be understood as part of the broader US military agenda in East Asia, directed against both China and Russia.

Michel Chossudovsky, April 28, 2017

*      *      *

While the Western media portrays North Korea’s nuclear weapons program as a threat to Global Security, it fails to acknowledge that the US has being threatening North Korea with a nuclear attack for more than half a century.

On July 27, 2013, Armistice Day, Koreans in the North and the South will be commemorating the end of the Korean war (1950-53). Unknown to the broader public, the US had envisaged the use of nuclear weapons against North Korea at the very outset of the Korean War in 1950. In the immediate wake of the war, the US deployed nuclear weapons in South Korea for use on a pre-emptive basis against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in violation of the July 1953 Armistice Agreement. 

  Michel Chossudovsky’s keynote address at the 60th anniversary commemoration of the end of the Korean war, Seoul, South Korea, July 26, 2013 

“The Hiroshima Doctrine” applied to North Korea

US nuclear doctrine pertaining to Korea was established following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, which were largely directed against civilians.

The strategic objective of a nuclear attack under the “Hiroshima doctrine” was to trigger a “massive casualty producing event” resulting in tens of thousands of deaths. The objective was to terrorize an entire nation, as a means of military conquest. Military targets were not the main objective: the notion of “collateral damage” was used as a justification for the mass killing of civilians, under the official pretence that Hiroshima was “a military base” and that civilians were not the target.

In the words of President Harry Truman:

“We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world. … This weapon is to be used against Japan … [We] will use it so that military objectives and soldiers and sailors are the target and not women and children. Even if the Japs are savages, ruthless, merciless and fanatic, we as the leader of the world for the common welfare cannot drop that terrible bomb on the old capital or the new. …  The target will be a purely military one… It seems to be the most terrible thing ever discovered, but it can be made the most useful.” (President Harry S. Truman, Diary, July 25, 1945)

“The World will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima a military base. That was because we wished in this first attack to avoid, insofar as possible, the killing of civilians..” (President Harry S. Truman in a radio speech to the Nation, August 9, 1945).

[Note: the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945; the Second on Nagasaki, on August 9, on the same day as Truman’s radio speech to the Nation]

Nobody within the upper echelons of the US government and military believed that Hiroshima was a military base, Truman was lying to himself and to the American public. To this day the use of nuclear weapons against Japan is justified as a necessary cost for bringing the war to an end and ultimately “saving lives”.

US Nuclear Weapons Stockpiled and Deployed in South Korea

Barely a few years after the end of the Korean War, the US initiated its deployment of nuclear warheads in South Korea. This deployment in Uijongbu and Anyang-Ni had been envisaged as early as 1956.

It is worth noting that the US decision to bring nuclear warheads to South Korea was in blatant violation of  Paragraph 13(d) of the Armistice Agreement which prohibited the warring factions from introducing new weapons into Korea.

The actual deployment of nuclear warheads started in January 1958, four and a half years after the end of the Korean War, “with the introduction of five nuclear weapon systems: the Honest John surface-to-surface missile, the Matador cruise missile, the Atomic-Demolition Munition (ADM) nuclear landmine, and the 280-mm gun and 8-inch (203mm) howitzer.” (See The nuclear information project: US Nuclear Weapons in Korea)

The Davy Crockett projectile was deployed in South Korea between July 1962 and June 1968. The warhead had selective yields up to 0.25 kilotons. The projectile weighed only 34.5 kg (76 lbs). Nuclear bombs for fighter bombers arrived in March 1958, followed by three surface-to-surface missile systems (Lacrosse, Davy Crockett, and Sergeant) between July 1960 and September 1963. The dual-mission Nike Hercules anti-air and surface-to-surface missile arrived in January 1961, and finally the 155-mm Howitzer arrived in October 1964. At the peak of this build-up, nearly 950 warheads were deployed in South Korea.

Four of the weapon types only remained deployed for a few years, while the others stayed for decades. The 8-inch Howitzer stayed until late 1991, the only weapon to be deployed throughout the entire 33-year period of U.S. nuclear weapons deployment to South Korea. The other weapons that stayed till the end were the air delivered bombs (several different bomb types were deployed over the years, ending with the B61) and the 155-mm Howitzer nuclear artillery. (Ibid)

Officially the US deployment of nuclear weapons in South Korea lasted for 33 years. The deployment was targeted against North Korea as well as China and the Soviet Union.

This composite image shows the LGM-30G Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) (L) and the LG-118A Peacekeeper missile(R). (AFP Photo/US DoD)

South Korea’s Nuclear Weapons Program

Concurrent and in coordination with the US deployment of nuclear warheads in South Korea, the ROK had initiated its own nuclear weapons program in the early 1970s. The official story is that the US exerted pressure on Seoul to abandon their nuclear weapons program and “sign the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in April 1975 before it had produced any fissile material.” (Daniel A. Pinkston, “South Korea’s Nuclear Experiments,” CNS Research Story, 9 November 2004, http://cns.miis.edu.]

The ROK’s nuclear initiative was from the outset in the early 1970s under the supervision of the US and was developed as a component part of the US deployment of nuclear weapons, with a view to threatening North Korea.

Moreover, while this program was officially ended in 1978, the US promoted scientific expertise as well as training of the ROK military in the use of nuclear weapons. And bear in mind: under the ROK-US CFC agreement, all operational units of the ROK are under joint command headed by a US General. This means that all the military facilities and bases established by the Korean military are de facto joint facilities. There are a total of 27 US military facilities in the ROK (See List of United States Army installations in South Korea – Wikipedia)

The Planning of Nuclear Attacks against North Korea from the Continental US and from Strategic US Submarines

According to military sources, the removal of US nuclear weapons from South Korea was initiated in the mid 1970s. It was completed in 1991:

The nuclear weapons storage site at Osan Air base was deactivated in late 1977. This reduction continued over the following years and resulted in the number of nuclear weapons in South Korea dropping from some 540 in 1976 to approximately 150 artillery shells and bombs in 1985. By the time of the Presidential Nuclear Initiative in 1991, roughly 100 warheads remained, all of which had been withdrawn by December 1991. (The nuclear information project: withdrawal of US nuclear weapons from South Korea)

According to official statements, the US withdrew its nuclear weapons from South Korea in December 1991.

This withdrawal from Korea did not in any way modify the US threat of nuclear war directed against the DPRK. On the contrary: it was tied to changes in US military strategy with regard to the deployment of nuclear warheads. Major North Korean cities were to be targeted with nuclear warheads from US continental locations and from US strategic submarines (SSBN)  rather than military facilities in South Korea:

After the withdrawal of [US] nuclear weapons from South Korea in December 1991, the 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base has been tasked with nuclear strike planning against North Korea. Since then, strike planning against North Korea with non-strategic nuclear weapons has been the responsibility of fighter wings based in the continental United States. One of these is the 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina. …

“We simulated fighting a war in Korea, using a Korean scenario. … The scenario…simulated a decision by the National Command Authority about considering using nuclear weapons….We identified aircraft, crews, and [weapon] loaders to load up tactical nuclear weapons onto our aircraft….

With a capability to strike targets in less than 15 minutes, the Trident D5 sea-launched ballistic missile is a “mission critical system” for U.S. Forces Korea. Ballistic Missile Submarines and Long-Range Bombers

In addition to non-strategic air delivered bombs, sea-launched ballistic missiles onboard strategic Ohio-class submarines (SSBNs) patrolling in the Pacific appear also to have a mission against North Korea. A DOD General Inspector report from 1998 listed the Trident system as a “mission critical system” identified by U.S. Pacific Command and U.S. Forces Korea as “being of particular importance to them.”

Although the primary mission of the Trident system is directed against targets in Russia and China, a D5 missile launched in a low-trajectory flight provides a unique very short notice (12-13 minutes) strike capability against time-critical targets in North Korea. No other U.S. nuclear weapon system can get a warhead on target that fast. Two-three SSBNs are on “hard alert” in the Pacific at any given time, holding Russian, Chinese and North Korean targets at risk from designated patrol areas.

Long-range strategic bombers may also be assigned a nuclear strike role against North Korea although little specific is known. An Air Force map (see below) suggests a B-2 strike role against North Korea. As the designated carrier of the B61-11 earth penetrating nuclear bomb, the B-2 is a strong candidate for potential nuclear strike missions against North Korean deeply buried underground facilities.

As the designated carrier of the B61-11 earth penetrating nuclear bomb [with an explosive capacity between one third and six times a Hiroshima bomb] and a possible future Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, the B-2 stealth bomber could have an important role against targets in North Korea. Recent upgrades enable planning of a new B-2 nuclear strike mission in less than 8 hours. (Ibid)

“Although the South Korean government at the time confirmed the withdrawal, U.S. affirmations were not as clear. As a result, rumors persisted for a long time — particularly in North and South Korea — that nuclear weapons remained in South Korea. Yet the withdrawal was confirmed by Pacific Command in 1998 in a declassified portion of the CINCPAC Command History for 1991.” (The nuclear information project: withdrawal of US nuclear weapons from South Korea, emphasis added))

The Bush Administration’s 2001 Nuclear Posture Review: Pre-emptive Nuclear War

The Bush administration in its 2001 Nuclear Posture Review established the contours of a new post 9/11 “pre-emptive” nuclear war doctrine, namely that nuclear weapons could be used as an instrument of “self-defense” against non-nuclear states

“Requirements for U.S. nuclear strike capabilities” directed against North Korea were established as part of  a Global Strike mission under the helm of  US Strategic Command Headquarters in Omaha Nebraska, the so-called CONPLAN 8022, which was directed against a number of “rogue states” including North Korea as well as China and Russia.

On November 18, 2005, the new Space and Global Strike command became operational at STRATCOM after passing testing in a nuclear war exercise involving North Korea.

Current U.S. Nuclear strike planning against North Korea appears to serve three roles: The first is a vaguely defined traditional deterrence role intended to influence North Korean behavior prior to hostilities.

This role was broadened somewhat by the 2001 Nuclear Posture Review to not only deter but also dissuade North Korea from pursuing weapons of mass destruction.

Why, after five decades of confronting North Korea with nuclear weapons, the Bush administration believes that additional nuclear capabilities will somehow dissuade North Korea from pursuing weapons of mass destruction [nuclear weapons program] is a mystery. (Ibid, emphasis added)

Who is the Threat? North Korea or the United States?

The asymmetry of nuclear weapons capabilities between the US and the DPRK must be emphasised. According to ArmsControl.org (April 2013) the United States:

“possesses 5,113 nuclear warheads, including tactical, strategic, and non-deployed weapons.”

According to the latest official New START declaration, out of more than 5113 nuclear weapons,

“the US deploys 1,654 strategic nuclear warheads on 792 deployed ICBMs, SLBMs, and strategic bombers…” ArmsControl.org (April 2013).

Moreover, according to The Federation of American Scientists the U.S. possesses 500 tactical nuclear warheads. (ArmsControl.org April 2013)

In contrast  the DPRK, according to the same source:

 “has separated enough plutonium for roughly 4-8 nuclear warheads. North Korea unveiled a centrifuge facility in 2010, buts ability to produce highly-enriched uranium for weapons remains unclear.”

According to expert opinion:

“there is no evidence that North Korea has the means to lob a nuclear-armed missile at the United States or anyone else. So far, it has produced several atomic bombs and tested them, but it lacks the fuel and the technology to miniaturize a nuke and place it on a missile” ( North Korea: What’s really happening – Salon.com April 5, 2013)

According to Siegfried Hecker, one of America’s pre-eminent nuclear scientists:

“Despite its recent threats, North Korea does not yet have much of a nuclear arsenal because it lacks fissile materials and has limited nuclear testing experience,” (Ibid)

The threat of nuclear war does not emanate from the DPRK but from the US and its allies.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the unspoken victim of US military aggression, has been incessantly portrayed as a war mongering nation, a menace to the American Homeland and a  “threat to World peace”. These stylized accusations have become part of a media consensus.

Meanwhile, Washington is now implementing a $32 billion refurbishing of strategic nuclear weapons as well as a revamping of its tactical nuclear weapons, which according to a 2002 Senate decision “are harmless to the surrounding civilian population.”

These continuous threats and actions of latent aggression directed against the DPRK should also be understood as part of the broader US military agenda in East Asia, directed against China and Russia.

It is important that people across the land, in the US, Western countries, come to realize that the United States rather than North Korea or Iran is a threat to global security.

This article first published in July 2013 is the transcript of my keynote address at the 60th anniversary commemoration of the end of the Korean war, Seoul, South Korea, July 26, 2013. 

North Korea is not a threat to global security. The threat of nuclear war largely emanates from the US under the doctrine of pre-emptive nuclear war (self-defense) against both nuclear and non-nuclear states.

This article provides an indepth understanding of both the historical background as well as the nature of US nuclear doctrine.

It is important to address the recent threats of the Trump administration against North Korea in a broader context. 

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the unspoken victim of US military aggression, has been incessantly portrayed as a war mongering nation, a menace to the American Homeland and a  “threat to World peace”. These stylized accusations have become part of a media consensus.

These continuous threats and actions of latent aggression directed against the DPRK should also be understood as part of the broader US military agenda in East Asia, directed against both China and Russia.

Michel Chossudovsky, April 28, 2017

*      *      *

While the Western media portrays North Korea’s nuclear weapons program as a threat to Global Security, it fails to acknowledge that the US has being threatening North Korea with a nuclear attack for more than half a century.

On July 27, 2013, Armistice Day, Koreans in the North and the South will be commemorating the end of the Korean war (1950-53). Unknown to the broader public, the US had envisaged the use of nuclear weapons against North Korea at the very outset of the Korean War in 1950. In the immediate wake of the war, the US deployed nuclear weapons in South Korea for use on a pre-emptive basis against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in violation of the July 1953 Armistice Agreement. 

  Michel Chossudovsky’s keynote address at the 60th anniversary commemoration of the end of the Korean war, Seoul, South Korea, July 26, 2013 

“The Hiroshima Doctrine” applied to North Korea

US nuclear doctrine pertaining to Korea was established following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, which were largely directed against civilians.

The strategic objective of a nuclear attack under the “Hiroshima doctrine” was to trigger a “massive casualty producing event” resulting in tens of thousands of deaths. The objective was to terrorize an entire nation, as a means of military conquest. Military targets were not the main objective: the notion of “collateral damage” was used as a justification for the mass killing of civilians, under the official pretence that Hiroshima was “a military base” and that civilians were not the target.

In the words of President Harry Truman:

“We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world. … This weapon is to be used against Japan … [We] will use it so that military objectives and soldiers and sailors are the target and not women and children. Even if the Japs are savages, ruthless, merciless and fanatic, we as the leader of the world for the common welfare cannot drop that terrible bomb on the old capital or the new. …  The target will be a purely military one… It seems to be the most terrible thing ever discovered, but it can be made the most useful.” (President Harry S. Truman, Diary, July 25, 1945)

“The World will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima a military base. That was because we wished in this first attack to avoid, insofar as possible, the killing of civilians..” (President Harry S. Truman in a radio speech to the Nation, August 9, 1945).

[Note: the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945; the Second on Nagasaki, on August 9, on the same day as Truman’s radio speech to the Nation]

Nobody within the upper echelons of the US government and military believed that Hiroshima was a military base, Truman was lying to himself and to the American public. To this day the use of nuclear weapons against Japan is justified as a necessary cost for bringing the war to an end and ultimately “saving lives”.

US Nuclear Weapons Stockpiled and Deployed in South Korea

Barely a few years after the end of the Korean War, the US initiated its deployment of nuclear warheads in South Korea. This deployment in Uijongbu and Anyang-Ni had been envisaged as early as 1956.

It is worth noting that the US decision to bring nuclear warheads to South Korea was in blatant violation of  Paragraph 13(d) of the Armistice Agreement which prohibited the warring factions from introducing new weapons into Korea.

The actual deployment of nuclear warheads started in January 1958, four and a half years after the end of the Korean War, “with the introduction of five nuclear weapon systems: the Honest John surface-to-surface missile, the Matador cruise missile, the Atomic-Demolition Munition (ADM) nuclear landmine, and the 280-mm gun and 8-inch (203mm) howitzer.” (See The nuclear information project: US Nuclear Weapons in Korea)

The Davy Crockett projectile was deployed in South Korea between July 1962 and June 1968. The warhead had selective yields up to 0.25 kilotons. The projectile weighed only 34.5 kg (76 lbs). Nuclear bombs for fighter bombers arrived in March 1958, followed by three surface-to-surface missile systems (Lacrosse, Davy Crockett, and Sergeant) between July 1960 and September 1963. The dual-mission Nike Hercules anti-air and surface-to-surface missile arrived in January 1961, and finally the 155-mm Howitzer arrived in October 1964. At the peak of this build-up, nearly 950 warheads were deployed in South Korea.

Four of the weapon types only remained deployed for a few years, while the others stayed for decades. The 8-inch Howitzer stayed until late 1991, the only weapon to be deployed throughout the entire 33-year period of U.S. nuclear weapons deployment to South Korea. The other weapons that stayed till the end were the air delivered bombs (several different bomb types were deployed over the years, ending with the B61) and the 155-mm Howitzer nuclear artillery. (Ibid)

Officially the US deployment of nuclear weapons in South Korea lasted for 33 years. The deployment was targeted against North Korea as well as China and the Soviet Union.

This composite image shows the LGM-30G Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) (L) and the LG-118A Peacekeeper missile(R). (AFP Photo/US DoD)

South Korea’s Nuclear Weapons Program

Concurrent and in coordination with the US deployment of nuclear warheads in South Korea, the ROK had initiated its own nuclear weapons program in the early 1970s. The official story is that the US exerted pressure on Seoul to abandon their nuclear weapons program and “sign the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in April 1975 before it had produced any fissile material.” (Daniel A. Pinkston, “South Korea’s Nuclear Experiments,” CNS Research Story, 9 November 2004, http://cns.miis.edu.]

The ROK’s nuclear initiative was from the outset in the early 1970s under the supervision of the US and was developed as a component part of the US deployment of nuclear weapons, with a view to threatening North Korea.

Moreover, while this program was officially ended in 1978, the US promoted scientific expertise as well as training of the ROK military in the use of nuclear weapons. And bear in mind: under the ROK-US CFC agreement, all operational units of the ROK are under joint command headed by a US General. This means that all the military facilities and bases established by the Korean military are de facto joint facilities. There are a total of 27 US military facilities in the ROK (See List of United States Army installations in South Korea – Wikipedia)

The Planning of Nuclear Attacks against North Korea from the Continental US and from Strategic US Submarines

According to military sources, the removal of US nuclear weapons from South Korea was initiated in the mid 1970s. It was completed in 1991:

The nuclear weapons storage site at Osan Air base was deactivated in late 1977. This reduction continued over the following years and resulted in the number of nuclear weapons in South Korea dropping from some 540 in 1976 to approximately 150 artillery shells and bombs in 1985. By the time of the Presidential Nuclear Initiative in 1991, roughly 100 warheads remained, all of which had been withdrawn by December 1991. (The nuclear information project: withdrawal of US nuclear weapons from South Korea)

According to official statements, the US withdrew its nuclear weapons from South Korea in December 1991.

This withdrawal from Korea did not in any way modify the US threat of nuclear war directed against the DPRK. On the contrary: it was tied to changes in US military strategy with regard to the deployment of nuclear warheads. Major North Korean cities were to be targeted with nuclear warheads from US continental locations and from US strategic submarines (SSBN)  rather than military facilities in South Korea:

After the withdrawal of [US] nuclear weapons from South Korea in December 1991, the 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base has been tasked with nuclear strike planning against North Korea. Since then, strike planning against North Korea with non-strategic nuclear weapons has been the responsibility of fighter wings based in the continental United States. One of these is the 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina. …

“We simulated fighting a war in Korea, using a Korean scenario. … The scenario…simulated a decision by the National Command Authority about considering using nuclear weapons….We identified aircraft, crews, and [weapon] loaders to load up tactical nuclear weapons onto our aircraft….

With a capability to strike targets in less than 15 minutes, the Trident D5 sea-launched ballistic missile is a “mission critical system” for U.S. Forces Korea. Ballistic Missile Submarines and Long-Range Bombers

In addition to non-strategic air delivered bombs, sea-launched ballistic missiles onboard strategic Ohio-class submarines (SSBNs) patrolling in the Pacific appear also to have a mission against North Korea. A DOD General Inspector report from 1998 listed the Trident system as a “mission critical system” identified by U.S. Pacific Command and U.S. Forces Korea as “being of particular importance to them.”

Although the primary mission of the Trident system is directed against targets in Russia and China, a D5 missile launched in a low-trajectory flight provides a unique very short notice (12-13 minutes) strike capability against time-critical targets in North Korea. No other U.S. nuclear weapon system can get a warhead on target that fast. Two-three SSBNs are on “hard alert” in the Pacific at any given time, holding Russian, Chinese and North Korean targets at risk from designated patrol areas.

Long-range strategic bombers may also be assigned a nuclear strike role against North Korea although little specific is known. An Air Force map (see below) suggests a B-2 strike role against North Korea. As the designated carrier of the B61-11 earth penetrating nuclear bomb, the B-2 is a strong candidate for potential nuclear strike missions against North Korean deeply buried underground facilities.

As the designated carrier of the B61-11 earth penetrating nuclear bomb [with an explosive capacity between one third and six times a Hiroshima bomb] and a possible future Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, the B-2 stealth bomber could have an important role against targets in North Korea. Recent upgrades enable planning of a new B-2 nuclear strike mission in less than 8 hours. (Ibid)

“Although the South Korean government at the time confirmed the withdrawal, U.S. affirmations were not as clear. As a result, rumors persisted for a long time — particularly in North and South Korea — that nuclear weapons remained in South Korea. Yet the withdrawal was confirmed by Pacific Command in 1998 in a declassified portion of the CINCPAC Command History for 1991.” (The nuclear information project: withdrawal of US nuclear weapons from South Korea, emphasis added))

The Bush Administration’s 2001 Nuclear Posture Review: Pre-emptive Nuclear War

The Bush administration in its 2001 Nuclear Posture Review established the contours of a new post 9/11 “pre-emptive” nuclear war doctrine, namely that nuclear weapons could be used as an instrument of “self-defense” against non-nuclear states

“Requirements for U.S. nuclear strike capabilities” directed against North Korea were established as part of  a Global Strike mission under the helm of  US Strategic Command Headquarters in Omaha Nebraska, the so-called CONPLAN 8022, which was directed against a number of “rogue states” including North Korea as well as China and Russia.

On November 18, 2005, the new Space and Global Strike command became operational at STRATCOM after passing testing in a nuclear war exercise involving North Korea.

Current U.S. Nuclear strike planning against North Korea appears to serve three roles: The first is a vaguely defined traditional deterrence role intended to influence North Korean behavior prior to hostilities.

This role was broadened somewhat by the 2001 Nuclear Posture Review to not only deter but also dissuade North Korea from pursuing weapons of mass destruction.

Why, after five decades of confronting North Korea with nuclear weapons, the Bush administration believes that additional nuclear capabilities will somehow dissuade North Korea from pursuing weapons of mass destruction [nuclear weapons program] is a mystery. (Ibid, emphasis added)

Who is the Threat? North Korea or the United States?

The asymmetry of nuclear weapons capabilities between the US and the DPRK must be emphasised. According to ArmsControl.org (April 2013) the United States:

“possesses 5,113 nuclear warheads, including tactical, strategic, and non-deployed weapons.”

According to the latest official New START declaration, out of more than 5113 nuclear weapons,

“the US deploys 1,654 strategic nuclear warheads on 792 deployed ICBMs, SLBMs, and strategic bombers…” ArmsControl.org (April 2013).

Moreover, according to The Federation of American Scientists the U.S. possesses 500 tactical nuclear warheads. (ArmsControl.org April 2013)

In contrast  the DPRK, according to the same source:

 “has separated enough plutonium for roughly 4-8 nuclear warheads. North Korea unveiled a centrifuge facility in 2010, buts ability to produce highly-enriched uranium for weapons remains unclear.”

According to expert opinion:

“there is no evidence that North Korea has the means to lob a nuclear-armed missile at the United States or anyone else. So far, it has produced several atomic bombs and tested them, but it lacks the fuel and the technology to miniaturize a nuke and place it on a missile” ( North Korea: What’s really happening – Salon.com April 5, 2013)

According to Siegfried Hecker, one of America’s pre-eminent nuclear scientists:

“Despite its recent threats, North Korea does not yet have much of a nuclear arsenal because it lacks fissile materials and has limited nuclear testing experience,” (Ibid)

The threat of nuclear war does not emanate from the DPRK but from the US and its allies.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the unspoken victim of US military aggression, has been incessantly portrayed as a war mongering nation, a menace to the American Homeland and a  “threat to World peace”. These stylized accusations have become part of a media consensus.

Meanwhile, Washington is now implementing a $32 billion refurbishing of strategic nuclear weapons as well as a revamping of its tactical nuclear weapons, which according to a 2002 Senate decision “are harmless to the surrounding civilian population.”

These continuous threats and actions of latent aggression directed against the DPRK should also be understood as part of the broader US military agenda in East Asia, directed against China and Russia.

It is important that people across the land, in the US, Western countries, come to realize that the United States rather than North Korea or Iran is a threat to global security.

On Monday, April 25th, the AP headlined, “US general in Afghanistan suggests Russia arming the Taliban” and reported that U.S. Pentagon chief James “Mad Dog” Mattis was accusing Russia of violating the sovereignty of unnamed nation(s) and was supplying weapons to the Taliban in Afghanistan — the very same group that the U.S. back in 1979 had begun arming in Pakistan so that the Taliban would invade Afghanistan and lure Soviet forces into Afghanistan, so as to make the Soviets “bleed” there, as the U.S. itself had bled in its Vietnam War. The U.S. National Security Advisor at that time went to Pakistan and rallied the Taliban there by saying “Your cause is right, and God is on your side!”

Mattis was also quoted in this news-report as saying,

“We’re going to have to confront Russia where what they’re doing is contrary to international law or denying the sovereignty of other countries.”

The United States has, in fact, invaded Syria — routinely violating the sovereignty of that country. It’s aggression, in order to overthrow Syria’s President, Bashar al-Assad, who is allied with Russia. The U.S. also has been protecting any jihadist group in Syria that cooperates with Al Qaeda to overthrow Assad. (The U.S. never abandoned the Cold War, but Russia did; and, ever since Russia did, in 1991, the U.S. government has secretly had a plan in place to bring every country that was allied with or part of the Soviet Union, except for Russia itself, into NATO or otherwise under control by the American aristocracy, and finally to take over Russia itself.) The U.S. has even preferred to help ISIS defeat Assad, over helping Assad defeat ISIS. Syria consequently requested Russia to assist in defending the survival of its internationally-recognized-as-legal government, so as to prevent its downfall and replacement by the jihadist forces that the U.S. and its Saudi, Qatari and Turkish allies have been trying to replace by imposing a fundamentalist-Sunni, Al Qaeda approved, regime. Whereas the presence of Russia’s military in Syria was requested by the legal government and is therefore legal, America’s is not — the U.S. is instead officially an “invader” there — and yet Mattis is saying that the U.S. will impose international law against Russia, for vague allegations by Mattis of Russia’s “denying the sovereignty of other countries” — which the U.S. routinely does, and which it did excruciatingly in Iraq in 2003, Libya in 2011, and Syria since 2011, just to mention a few of the nations that the U.S. has recently destroyed. The U.S. government has long been in the regime-change business, especially to replace any ally of Russia, by an enemy of Russia.

However, Mattis, rabid as he is, is less rabid than is U.S. President Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor, H.R. McMaster. On April 13th, Eli Lake of Bloomberg News bannered “Trump Said No to Troops in Syria. His Aides Aren’t So Sure.” He reported that, 

“Trump’s top advisers have failed to reach consensus on the Islamic State strategy. The White House and administration officials say Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford and General Joseph Votel, who is in charge of U.S. Central Command, oppose sending more conventional forces into Syria. Meanwhile, White House senior strategist Stephen Bannon has derided McMaster to his colleagues as trying to start a new Iraq War, according to these sources. … Two sources told me one plan would envision sending up to 50,000 troops. … Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, opposed sending conventional forces into a complicated war zone, where they would be targets of al Qaeda, the Islamic State, Iran and Russia. In Flynn’s brief tenure, he supported a deal with Russia to work together against the Islamic State and al Qaeda’s Syria affiliate, similar to a bargain Obama’s secretary of state, John Kerry’s tried and failed to seal with Moscow.”

The reason that Kerry “failed to seal [the deal] with Moscow” is that the deal was reached on 9 September 2016 by Kerry and Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, but was destroyed by Obama eight days later by his bombing Syria’s army at Der Zor to allow ISIS to overrun the place.

Trump is taking over where Obama left off.

Russian Television reported (and U.S. ‘news’ media refused to report) U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, on April 6th, two days after the alleged sarin attack, as essentially demanding Putin’s capitulation, regarding the Syrian war:

“’It is very important that the Russian government consider carefully their support for Bashar al-Assad.’ Tillerson added. Asked if the US will lead a regime change effort in Syria, Tillerson said that ‘those steps are underway.’”

Russians got the message, even if Americans did not. In other words, they know that the Trump Administration is continuing what had originally been the Obama Administration’s objective, prior to Russia’s entry into the war on Assad’s side on 30 September 2015: regime-change in Syria. The Trump Administration is apparently willing to go to war against Russia in order to remove Assad and replace him with a leader who is supported by the U.S., Sauds, and America’s other allies in the war to replace Syria’s existing government.

It’s not only Mattis who is “rabid.” So is his President, Trump; and, if the even more rabid H.R. McMaster gets his way, so too will be the entire world.

Pleasing America’s “military-industrial complex” is hard to do, but Trump’s Administration is trying hard to out-do its predecessors, at that task.

Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of  They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of  CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.