Wednesday, January 08, 2020

What the hell is going on?

I don't claim to know what's going on right now. But it looks to me as though there was collusion between the Americans and the Iranians, allowing Iran to appease their own populace without inflicting too much actual damage on the Americans.
The Iranian missile strike on American locations in Iraq on Tuesday was a calibrated event intended to cause minimal American casualties, give the Iranians a face-saving measure and provide an opportunity for both sides to step back from the brink of war, according to senior U.S. officials in Washington and the Middle East.
If Iran and DC are secretly working together to keep this conflict from blowing up into war -- what about the Bolton factor? That's what matters, in terms of the politics of impeachment. In this situation -- a situation in which everyone lies -- only one thing is certain: Bolton wants regime change in Tehran. And he's willing to whatever it takes to accomplish that goal.

But perhaps Bolton is realistic enough to understand that the goal is best achieved after Trump wins in 2020. (Which he will.)

It's now being reported on CNN that the strike on Soleimani was done to appease Pompeo, who has been somewhat obsessed with the guy for years.

Maybe. But there has to be something else going on here -- a factor which everyone is missing.

Meanwhile...


For more, see here.
"It was probably the worst briefing I've seen at least on a military issue in the nine years I've served in the United States Senate," Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said.

Lee said he left the briefing "somewhat unsatisfied" with the information given "outlining the legal, factual and moral justification for the attack."

"I find this insulting and demeaning," Lee added, saying that he now plans to vote in favor of a new war powers resolution from Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia. "That briefing changed my mind," Lee said.
Rand Paul shares this view. Something is afoot behind the scenes: As bad as the briefing no doubt was, I think that this has to do with a split within the Trump faction. One side wants to give Bolton and the neocons what they desire: War with Iran. The other does not.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did Putin direct this to help Khamenei? The Iranian revolt appears to be over, they were shooting people in the streets last week. The storming of the embassy ended quickly instead of intensifying after the assassination. If the situation had escalated this theory doesn't work, but the situation appears to be over.

Anonymous said...

Wasn't there an incident in Kenya maybe a week or so a go where many Americans were killed? Or was I imagining things. Also I heard it was blamed on some radical Somali group maybe(or not) associated with Iran. If it's true why no one talking about it. I have to admit I heard about it from someone.

fred said...

Qasem Soleimani was not the only target. On the same day the US tried -- and failed -- to assassinate Abdul Reza Shahlai, another senior Iran military leader located in Yemen, suggesting a broader US confrontation was in play.

Following the Soleimani killing the Iraq parliament voted for an exit of US forces from Iraq. PM Adel Abdul-Mahdi asked Pompeo to send a delegation to formulate the mechanism for the troop withdrawal. Pompeo dismissed the request as an Iranian plot and not reflective of popular Iraqi sentiment. He also threatened US sanctions should Iraq proceed with this demand. It's beyond a joke, isn't it. Just brazen mafia thuggery.

And remember, Pompeo sees a war on Islam as an End Times conflict between Good and Evil with Trump appointed by God. He's a Christofascist nut job.