Sunday, January 22, 2017

Terror is coming -- then war

I had not intended to top the preceding post so early in the day, but this can't wait. In his weird speech to the CIA, Trump -- as is his wont -- blurted out more than intended:
And he said about Iraq, "We should have kept the oil. Maybe we'll have another chance."
American's won't tolerate another Iraq war unless there's another 9/11. When the next "Big Wedding" hits, the official, Trump-approved storyline will have the blessing of Alex Jones, the king of America's "conspiracy culture." Thus, neither the mainstream media nor the right-wing fake newsers will challenge the lie.

The left had best get over its aversion to "conspiracy theory" pronto, because we're about to be hit hard by the most devious stratagem in American history. Trump needs to stage a terror event; his presidency cannot long survive without one.

During the election, any number of dimwits said that Trump was an antidote to the neocons. Bullshit. He is placing his entire military/national security establishment in the hands of Michael Flynn, the partner of Michael Ledeen, the neocon-to-end-all-neocons. He is an apostle of Ares who believes in war as an ultimate good and an end-in-itself.
In 2016, Ledeen co-authored The Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and Its Allies with Lt. Gen. (ret.) Michael Flynn, who would be soon be designated as Donald Trump's National Security Adviser. This book laid out an updated version of Ledeen's conspiracy theories of nearly forty years earlier, arguing that Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, al Qaeda, and ISIS were all working together in an “international alliance of evil countries and movements that is working to destroy” the United States.

When then-candidate Donald Trump was asked in the summer of 2016 whether he'd trust the information he received in intelligence briefings, he responded, “Not so much from the people that have been doing it for our country. I won’t use them because they’ve made such bad decisions.” Coupled with his almost complete lack of interest in receiving briefings since the election, and the explanation by his staff that he relies on other sources, it seems probable that the Haig-Ledeen playbook is back in action and will be used to justify a hard-line foreign policy along with a crackdown on domestic dissent.
Ledeen is still listing Russia as part of the axis of evil, even as Flynn's own dealings with Russia are well-known. If you know how to explain that, please share your thoughts with the rest of the class!

11 comments:

Alessandro Machi said...

I think North Korea is the oddity in all of this. Nobody seems to be able to stop their R & D and they seem to making missiles that travel farther and farther. Although were North Korea to launch a missile that reached a Hawaiian Island and destroyed it, it seems like the rest of the world would align together against North Korea, no?

Alessandro Machi said...

The Pro Israel, Pro Russia stance is contradictory for sure.

Anonymous said...

Joseph,
I know that you have praised Kelly Anne Conway in the past, so I hope you do not take offense in what I am about to say.
I truly can not stand that bitch. She is as much of a bully and as big a lier as Trump himself. I am not sure I can stomach her every Sunday on TV.
I am not much of a TV watcher during the week, but I do try to catch the sunday shows just to take the pulse of cable networks. It was right down painful watching her today.
M

Joseph Cannon said...

Oh, I agree, M. She is a horror. I can barely stand to watch her myself.

But you do have to admire her abilities.

Anonymous said...

Joseph,
But I don't admire her abilities to lie and bully. The same way that I don't admire Trump's abilities to win a presidential race by lying and cheating and promising things he has no way of delivering.
I guess I don't admire people that win at any cost and by breaking every rule.
M

Anonymous said...

Are you guys aware of a movie called (Trump stole it ) or something like that? It's talking about the machines that didn't record Hillary's vote and some other stuff. Tom Hartman believes that some of wasn't done for trump 's benefit necessarily, it was done for whoever the republican nominee happen to be. Because it seems it was done before he became the nominee.

b said...

"Trump needs to stage a terror event; his presidency cannot long survive without one."

I reached the same conclusion. Something like how he lied against widely known evidence about the relative crowd sizes for his inauguration and the protest demonstration can happen a few times now he's president. It can happen 10 times. But when it starts happening every two or three days, then within a month or two the returns will diminish. At breakfast tables all over the US and the world, it will be "What crazy shit is that whackball in the White House saying this morning? What obvious truth is he denying, denouncing as made up against him by his enemies?"

That's what it will be like for 90% of the population, including senior figures in the administration. Down in East Deliverance where the Trumpers hold on to their guns and imagine murdering Hillary Clinton when they take a shit, it won't be like that. But everywhere else, it will. Something's got to change. He needs a Reichstag Fire. He needs to change the face of the CIA, FBI, and DHS. He needs an SS. He needs mass internment. He needs war.

This is him, before the election, promising to "bomb the shit" out of "ISIS" and to ally himself with Exxon to steal the oil and stop anyone from getting it back. With Exxon, the company where Rex Tillerson was the CEO.

It's possible he will try something with North Korea, which would mean bye bye Seoul.

An armed confrontation with Russia is also possible. (I expected this to happen before the election.)

The Argentinian government was encouraged by the British government to take the Falklands in 1982. There was no antagonism between the regimes. The many rich scumbag Brits in Argentina were mostly highly supportive of the torture state in that country. Arms sales between Britain and Argentina resumed the year after the war.

Such a scenario today could be nuclear. Bad news if you live in the Ukraine, or in Turkey or Syria or wherever else gets it.

@Alessandro - Why is the pro-Russian pro-Israeli stance contradictory? The large majority of "Russian" oligarchs are Jewish.

bennie said...

Forestalling an impeachment -- let me count the ways.

Even if the public and the Dems demand an impeachment the Republicans can (if they so desire) avoid those proceedings by refusing to attend and provide a quorum for Congress.

The Continuity of Government provisions are activated by US presidential directive and the executive has overall control of its implementation (something legal scholars argue is unconstitutional).

Also, according to the Constitution, Congress can only meet at the Capitol Building.

So Trump's best bet for avoiding impeachment is to: first start a conflict with a foreign power. Then, conduct a nuclear incident against the Capitol building forcing its evacuation. Blame the foreign power for the attack. Finally, activate and administer COG.

Who can argue back at that point?

Amelie D'bunquerre said...

I watched the swearing in, Trump's address, and Obama's departure on NBC, the commentators remaining invisible (except for the split-screen of Doris Kearns Goodwin), so I don't know who expressed woeful dismay about Trump's saying he would eliminate "... radical Islamist extremists", while Trump actually said he would eliminate "Radical Islamist terrorists". I realize that corporate news card-carrying journalists cannot say or write "terrorists" or "terrorism" because it's a term of art, and of law to a great extent, but in that instance such rules of the game wouldn't apply. It just reaffirms that nobody knows what they're talking about and can't go off message.

It reminded me of MSNBC's pre-game coverage of Obama's announcement of the killing of bin Laden, when pre-shamed Brian Williams was reviewing for the babies just born the history since September 11, 2001. He stated as fact that the U.S invaded Afghanistan and then Iraq to oust Al-Qaeda. In a TV second, we saw David Gregory again, who had to revise the Williams error about Al Qaeda, which had no presence in Iraq until after the U.S. occupied the country. It was obvious that he was listening to instructions through his earpiece, re-reporting haltingly.

Q: Why has Trump bought so many exclusive golf clubs?
A: No exclusive golf club would accept him as a member.

lastlemming said...

Well, for a truly great terrorist experience wouldn't control of the state apparatus be necessary? Trump seems to barely be clinging on by his short, stubby little fingers.

CambridgeKnitter said...

Did you see the Reuters report a few days ago that a State Department official they identified as Toria Nuland was among the small group of higher-level people asked to stay but who refused? What do you make of that?