Guest Post by Paul Craig Roberts
President Trump says he wants the US to have better relations with Russia and to halt military operations against Muslim countries. But he is being undermined by the Pentagon.
The commander of US forces in Europe, General Ben Hodges, has lined up tanks on Poland’s border with Russia and fired salvos that the general says are a message to Russia, not a training exercise. http://russia-insider.com/en/us-tanks-fire-salvos-poland-warning-against-russia/ri18767
How is Trump going to normalize relations with Russia when the commander of US forces in Europe is threatening Russia with words and deeds?
The Pentagon has also sent armored vehicles to “moderate rebels” in Syria, according to Penagon spokesman Col. John Dorrian. Unable to prevent Russia and Syria from winning the war against ISIS, the Pentagon is busy at work derailing the peace negotiations.
The military/security complex is using its puppets-on-a-string in the House and Senate to generate renewed conflict with Iran and to continue threats against China.
Clearly, Trump is not in control of the most important part of his agenda—peace with the thermo-nuclear powers and cessation of interference in the affairs of other countries.
Trump cannot simultaneously make peace with Russia and make war on Iran and China. The Russian government is not stupid. It will not sell out China and Iran for a deal with the West. Iran is a buffer against jihadism spilling into Muslim populations in the Russian Federation. China is Russia’s most important military and economic strategic ally against a renewal of US hostility toward Russia by Trump’s successor, assuming Trump succeeds in reducing US/Russian tensions. The neoconservatives with their agenda of US world hegemony and their alliance with the military-security complex will outlast the Trump administration.
Moreover, China is rising, while the corrupt and dehumanized West is failing. A deal with the West is worth nothing. Countries that make deals with the West are exposed to financial and political exploitation. They become vassals. There are no exceptions.
Russia’s desire to be part of the West is perplexing. Russia should build its security on relations with China and Asia, and let the West, desirous of participating in this success, come to Russia to ask for a deal.
Why be a supplicant when you can be the decider?
Order General Ben Hodges home ASAP but let him layover for some R&R in a padded room at Hotel Guantanamo a couple years. Send his regards to the Russian People % Putin
Tell “Mad Dog” to leash his puppy – or send him (the puppy) to patrol the front lines.
Makes you wonder who is running this country? While Trump is issuing directives on immigration and federal regs, the military-industrial complex continues its warring ways.
I’m beginning to fear a situation similar to Obama. During the campaign Obama talked a good game about reducing wars, etc. But once in office nothing changed. We had more wars and more friction with other world powers.
It is like the Deep State had a talk with Obama on Day 1 in office. They probably told him that he could do all the domestic stuff he wanted, but don’t mess with the war machine or he’d be taking an open limousine ride thru Dallas.
If Trump avoids dealing with our war machine, keeps sending weapons to “moderate” Syrian rebels, and maintains the sanctions on Russia, then the Deep State is truly in charge no matter who we elect.
I hope I’m wrong.
http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/german-reich-occupies-lithuania-protect-deter-russian-aggression/ri18773
God, I thought all the crazy hypocriteswere Leftists. How many US tanks are in Poland, thousands? Or are there maybe forty? Yeah the Putins of the world are shaken to their core by a few dozen tanks in Poland, by the way does the author realize the number of tanks Poland has?
Which does any normal person think represents the greater threat to Russia.
As for the Pentagon sabotaging Trump, I believe there is a land rush business to turn in the Obamaistas that are left over and in need of purging. In fact I believe throughout the government the white hats are pointing out the Barney Frank fans and Pelosi chumps to the new authorities. Maybe Trump can get rid of the hacks. I doubt few many want the politization of our government agencies to continue.
“Russia’s desire to be part of the West is perplexing.” —– article
No, it’s not perplexing. Russia and China have a long history of enmity. Russia is nationalist. Russia is white. Their culture shares FAR more with the west, than the east.
“Russia should build its security on relations with China …”
The main reason for the current Russian-Chink deals and relationships is because they both majorly distrust the USA. As they should. It’s a shaky thing to build upon.
I didn’t know Russia was begging to become part of the west. I thought they were constructing their own bank of international settlements.
Stuck,
I think Paul goofed on this. Russia has to be peaceful, as we all
do, so there is a chance for everyone to get on with some rebuilding.
There are some people that need to be put out of business as they
are not trustworthy. Ben Hodges has a chance to retire gracefully,
or be publicly disgraced. MHO
“You’re fired!” is my response.
War Drums: Trump’s National Security Advisor Threatens Iran
Daniel McAdams Posted on February 1, 2017
It wasn’t hard to see this coming. President Trump’s National Security Advisor, Gen. Michael Flynn, delivered a clear threat to the government of Iran today, ominously stating that “as of this day, we are officially putting Iran on notice.” What is less clear is the the General’s rationale for issuing the threat.
Flynn cites two justifications for bringing the US on war footing against Iran. Both are dubious. First, he blames Iran for a recent attack on a Saudi naval vessel carried out by Houthi forces in Yemen. According to Flynn, because the Houthis are backed by Iran – itself a specious claim – it is Iran that is actually responsible for the attack.
Even if it were true that the Houthis are Iranian proxies, this kind of guilt-by-association reasoning gets quite awkward when considering what some US-backed rebels in Syria have done with US-provided weapons and training. Like beheading young boys.
What Flynn fails to mention is that Saudi Arabia has been attacking neighboring Yemen since 2015, with US assistance, leaving tens of thousands killed and injured and the Middle East’s poorest country in the midst of devastating famine. Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen was unprovoked, initiated only to force Riyadh’s preferred leader onto its southern neighbor. Under Flynn’s logic, it is perfectly fine for Saudi Arabia to initiate a genocidal war of aggression against another country. But the victim of the attack had better not fight back or the United States will blame yet a third country that has nothing to do with it.
And these are the experts?
The second reason for putting Iran at the top of Flynn’s hit list: Over the weekend Iran tested a medium-range ballistic missile which Flynn claims violates the P5+1 negotiated and UN-backed Iran nuclear deal. UN Security Council Resolution 2231 “calls on” Iran to not undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, but this section has been interpreted as a request rather than a prohibition. There are no specific provisions in the nuclear deal that explicitly prevent Iran from testing a missile.
In fact, Iran has tested several ballistic missiles since the nuclear agreement was signed but this time the US reaction is far different. Iran has been “emboldened,” said General Flynn, by an Obama Administration that was “weak and ineffective” in its dealings with Iran. He went on to lament that Iran has not been “thankful to the United States for these agreements.”
Flynn’s subordinates have long complained of his aggressive style, including a demand after the 2012 Benghazi attack on a CIA facility that analysts find some link to Iran. This pressure to “stove-pipe” intelligence to suit a predetermined policy is eerily reminiscent of the methods used to push the 2003 Iraq war. He was fired from his previous job as Defense Intelligence Agency chief for, reportedly, his extremely hostile views toward Iran.
Adding together President Trump’s call to the Saudi king, where they discussed Iran’s “destabilizing” actions, and a preemptive war authorization bill languishing in the US House, the current danger of a US strike on Iran is just an accident – or a false flag – away.
Daniel McAdams is director of the The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity. Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.
Thanks for the summary.
Remember what Trump has repeatedly said about the military showing its’ hand before making a move. If Trump is half who I think he is, this wayward general is already on his way home. Watch and see in the next few days.
The absolute thing Trump must do is follow the money.Big oil? Saudis?Soros?All three?There he will find his traitors and can deal with them accordingly.
The Pentagon,State,Justice and EPA. Fire the bastards that don’t get into line. Don’t replace them and save the money.