Guest Post by Pat Buchanan
Did President Donald Trump approve of this? …If it is not Trump pushing for confrontation and war with Iran, who is?
Last week, it was Venezuela in America’s gun sights.
“While a peaceful solution is desirable, military action is possible,” thundered Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “If that’s what is required, that’s what the United States will do.”
John Bolton tutored Vladimir Putin on the meaning of the Monroe Doctrine: “This is our hemisphere. It’s not where the Russians ought to be interfering.”
After Venezuela’s army decided not to rise up and overthrow Nicholas Maduro, by Sunday night, it was Iran that was in our gun sights.
Bolton ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln, its carrier battle group and a bomber force to the Mideast “to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force.”
What “attack” was Bolton talking about?
According to Axios, Israel had alerted Bolton that an Iranian strike on U.S. interests in Iraq was imminent.
Flying to Finland, Pompeo echoed Bolton’s warning:
“We’ve seen escalatory actions from the Iranians, and … we will hold the Iranians accountable for attacks on American interests. … (If) these actions take place, if they do by some third-party proxy, whether that’s a Shia militia group or the Houthis or Hezbollah, we will hold the … Iranian leadership directly accountable for that.”
Taken together, the Bolton-Pompeo threats add up to an ultimatum that any attack by Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, or Iran-backed militias — on Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE or U.S. forces in Iraq, Syria or the Gulf states — will bring a U.S. retaliatory response on Iran itself.
Did President Donald Trump approve of this? For he appears to be going along. He has pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal and re-imposed sanctions. Last week, he canceled waivers he had given eight nations to let them continue buying Iranian oil.
Purpose: Reduce Iran’s oil exports, 40% of GDP, to zero, to deepen an economic crisis that is already expected to cut Iran’s GDP this year by 6%.
Trump has also designated Iran a terrorist state and the Republican Guard a terrorist organization, the first time we have done that with the armed forces of a foreign nation. We don’t even do that with North Korea.
Iran responded last Tuesday by naming the U.S. a state sponsor of terror and designating U.S. forces in the Middle East as terrorists.
Iran has also warned that if we choke off its oil exports that exit the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, the Strait could be closed to other nations. As 30% of the world’s oil shipments transit the Strait, closing it could cause a global crash.
In 1973, when President Nixon rescued Israel in the Yom Kippur War, the OPEC Arabs imposed an oil embargo. Gas prices spiked so high Nixon considered taking a train to Florida for Christmas vacation.
The gas price surge so damaged Nixon’s standing with the public that it became a contributing factor in the drive for impeachment.
Today, Trump’s approval rating in the Gallup Poll has reached an all-time high, 46%, a level surely related to the astonishing performance of the U.S. economy following Trump’s tax cuts and sweeping deregulation.
While a Gulf war with Iran might be popular at the outset, what would it do for the U.S. economy or our ability to exit the forever war of the Middle East, as Trump has pledged to do?
In late April, in an interview with Fox News, Iran’s foreign minister identified those he believes truly want a U.S.-Iranian war.
Asked if Trump was seeking the confrontation and the “regime change” that Bolton championed before becoming his national security adviser, Mohammad Javad Zarif said no. “I do not believe President Trump wants to do that. I believe President Trump ran on a campaign promise of not bringing the United States into another war.
“President Trump himself has said that the U.S. spent $7 trillion in our region … and the only outcome of that was that we have more terror, we have more insecurity, and we have more instability.
“People in our region are making the determination that the presence of the United States is inherently destabilizing. I think President Trump agrees with that.”
But if it is not Trump pushing for confrontation and war with Iran, who is?
Said Zarif, “I believe ‘the B-team’ wants to actually push the United States, lure President Trump, into a confrontation that he doesn’t want.”
And who makes up “the B-team”?
Zarif identifies them: Bolton, Benjamin Netanyahu, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed.
Should the B-team succeed in its ambitions — it will be Trump’s war, and Trump’s presidency will pay the price.
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Trump is just one guy, there are always little fiefdoms and other oligarchs in government and outside it pushing the US’s foreign policy. So its not surprising, Obama was the ‘anti-war’ candidate as well and we continued all our forever wars under him as well. Drone bombimg became just another daily/weekly event under Obama. I don’t want to see the US go to war with Iran, but there are groups in Iran that are warmongers and hate the US. Iran isn’t some honorable country doing no harm either, they have their hands in supporting terror groups all over the place.
So Buchanan’s end game may be correct, but Iran isn’t some pacifistic country by a long shot. I would love for us to pull back 80% of our troops from foreign lands and focus mostly on the Pacific/Atlantic and defensive postures. But I also seriously doubt if the US quits patrolling key waterways that it will be some libertarian utopia. Russia, China, Iran etc will quickly fill the void and I’m not so sure that works out well either. Likely Iran and Saudi’s start shooting at eachother again as well. It’s a big mess over there, but key waterways allow for oil the lifeblood of the modern world, at least until the cow genocide and the magical solar cells allow us to starve and freeze in our environmentally friendly Fema trailers (all provided ‘free’ of course.)
Trump is “the decider” as W said. No matter how much Pompeo and Bolton bluster, I expect Trump to decide against war. I sure hope I’m right.
“The fuse will surely fizzle out before it reaches the dynamite. I’m sure hope I’m right!”
ME TOO!
(Now, thats a movement that makes sense).
Doh!
Lol. Fair enough.
So far…..
I fear so…Pompeo and Bolton both.
I wonder if Mr. T knows Bolton is CFR? So is Condi Rice. Condi sponsored Heidi Cruz into the CFR. Mrs. Ted Cruz resigned just before Ted ran for prez. How many know that about Heidi?
Ever cruz [pun? absolutely!] through the CFR membership roster? Go get some surprises there.
https://www.dcclothesline.com/2015/04/04/can-you-handle-the-truth-ted-heidi-cruz-and-the-north-american-union/
Didja know Ted was calling oh read it here at Natural News.
https://www.naturalnews.com/053315_Ted_Cruz_Monsanto_anti-science_zealots.html
SamFox
Good to see Mr. Buchanan has access to intelligence that the rest of us plebes don’t have.
The news reports said israel had uncovered an Iranian plot to attack america. I thought: How bone stupid do you have to be to believe that?
We turn once again to Father Carlin: “Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.”
more likely, the Mossad listening in on Iranians troops, stationed in Syria, talking on cell phones to their cousins in Lebanon, saying things like “we should just nuke those racist bastards who harass our sister in-laws stuck in Gaza”
That is about how intelligence is acquired and analyzed by our friendly red sea pedestrians.
It is then packaged with an official looking document, and sent directly to the Walrus, who pulls on Trumps coat sleeve and says “I have some very disturbing news”
No Iranians have sisters in law in Gaza. Wrong denomination. Just saying.
“sisters-in-law”
“sisters-in-sharia-law”
CCRider:
? I don’t know ?
annuit coeptis novus ordo seclorum- I do know the petro dollar is ‘in danger’. The IMF may have decided it’s time to pull the plug? Iran been sellin that oil to rubles and yuan.
“While a Gulf war with Iran might be popular at the outset…”
Popular with who???
Chip
“Popular with who???”
Chicken Hawks and Neocons
“‘Here’s the paper from the Office of the Secretary of Defense [then Donald Rumsfeld] outlining the strategy. We’re going to take out seven countries in five years.’ And he named them, starting with Iraq and Syria and ending with Iran.”
The beast told us what it was going to do. No one really did much because NO ONE can control this beast that has been built up and unleashed. NO ONE.
This beast controls itself and has 10,000 heads all jockeying for control at once, and like any beast its goal is to grow and survive regardless of the wants of any others.
The fact that the beast “eats” in a strategic order presents a false picture of control. It’s not control, it’s just correlation.
At some point, the beast will eat its tail.
A gulf war with Iran would NOT be popular even at its outset
Same even with Venezuela. Trump knows he’d lose 1/2 his base instantly. This is the guy who went to pro-military South Carolina and told Jeb that his brother lied us into Iraq. The establishment crowd in the venue booed, but Trump won the SC primary. He knows his base and he knows that Pompeo and Bolton ain’t it.
If you want to stop this war-making insanity, you need to do two things.
1st: reinstitute the draft.
2nd: Put Bolton, Pompeo, and the other neo-cons in the front line of troops marching into Iran.
If only the 2016 anti-war candidate Trump was able to choose his cabinet…
I expected him to be assassinated by April 2017. It’s almost like he’s had a plan to keep his opponents off balance. It’s hilarious that Bolton thinks Trump’s the dumb one.
“Is Bolton Steering Trump Into War with Iran?”
“Is the Pope Catholic? Thank God these people are so hopelessly stupid!”
From waaay back, say 3000 years ago, since before Cyrus the Great, Persia (Iran) and Babylon (Iraq) have been bitter enemies. They’ve always competed to be the big dogs in their neighborhood.
The last, 8-year Iran-Iraq war ended 20 years ago with heavy losses on both sides. The generations that fought that war are now in charge, with every reason to hate each other and continue fighting.
Our (non-stop) idiocy has made these countries, for the first time ever, friends.
America has no friends in the Levant. Not one.
It has only one enemy there. Israel
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1125861155967094784.html
“[Our Intelligence Agencies] are the ones exploiting the impoverishment of Venezuela to ignite a destabilizing civil conflict and humanitarian catastrophe on our doorstep. They’re also behind the Hamas rocket attacks, and the increased threat from Iran – a country under their control.”
1st sentence-2nd sentence = Yeaaaaa-NO.
Iran is an Islamic “Republic”, represented and governed by Ayatollahs and Mullahs. They aren’t open to CIA persuasion any more than I am. If the CIA has any influence in Iran, it’s gained the old-fashion way. Bribery, blackmail, and kidnapping children. Surely the CIA has effective operations in Iran to make the population restive for more liberties (destabilize), but Iran’s population, overall, doesn’t trust the US.
Nor does any country except one founded by criminals, Australia. They need a Godfather.
Iran’s laws aren’t draconian, like our head-chopping, woman-stoning buddies in Saudi. Iranian women aren’t harnessed by Sharia and they are equally as educated as the men.
Iran under the control of the CIA or some shadowy consortium? Bhhhhpppltt.
If that were so, Israel would’ve dislocated the CIA’s arm, twisting Iran’s steering wheel into a bridge abutment. Years ago.
Your commentary is sound.
The part about Australia…well, it would just be bad form to not chip in:
“Iocane comes from Australia,as everyone knows. And Australia is entirely peopled with criminals. And criminals are used to having people not trust them,as you are not trusted by me, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.”
You’ve a fine form, mate. Only wankers choose wine.
Whiskey, please.
Somebody is steering somebody else into something, whatever war we can do, wherever we can do it, and what seems to be the primary problem – neocons gonna neocon and “covet” resources, after all – is that WE, the citizens, always end up with mud on our faces from the problems THEY cause. WE have to pay for it for generations to come. WE get raped at the airport for “security purposes”. WE have all of our papers copied, saved, databased for use at a later time to see what thought crimes we have committed. Most of WE are slaves to the machine, doing all we can do just to survive and keep a roof over our heads, and these assh*les are always pushing, pushing, pushing for more of our blood, sweat, tears, and taxes. Anybody with college-aged kids should be real nervous, because if this foreign policy does not change, WE will pay with more lives, too, fed into the same system that has done nothing but steal, kill, and destroy.
I wonder what this country would be like if we just minded our own damn business a little more.
So yeah, Bolton is steering all of US to war. And since we didn’t vote him in, he could give a damn about OUR opinion on the matter, which is even worse.
Bolton is too dangerous to have around.
I just heard that Bolton calls Venezuela part of the Troika of Tyranny. Google it. Seriously. Apparently he is impervious to irony. Reminds me of this classic:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=CEKjTNqmFjw
“Classics” are racist, ’cause Twain called Big Jim a nigger.
Fixed that, the same way your proffered video was nixed.
The first nigger a southern boy ever considers liking is Big Jim. What boy doesn’t appreciate a gentle giant backing him up.
So maybe there’s a decent tradeoff after all.
A false flag will ensure another U.S. conflict becomes ‘popular’ with the American people. They are just that gullible. I’m amazed when I hear readers of this website say … ‘Trump will do this. Trump won’t stand for that.’ I would have thought by now readers would have realized politicians are lapdogs for those who actually control matters … on a global basis. The evidence is overwhelming. As an aside … where’s ‘Q’ along with his brilliant prophecies???
The total fraud that is bolton is evident when he “orders” the carrier group to the mid east to send a signal; the truth is that the carrier group was scheduled to go to the mid east as part of a rotational program. It was announced in early april.
but why would he be different from the other ziocon israel firsters-they are all total frauds and make it up as they go along.
The only war America needs to concern itself with is the one being waged against the American people by government at all levels . Local , State and National . As for any American troops stationed anywhere in the world , close the base and bring all the men women materials and equipment home . Now retire all those close to the point 2 years or less and put everybody else on that sieve we call a southern border !
Somebody’s steering somebody !
Starting with the re-election of Nut-n-yahoo, this video flows with a series of news clips/ speech exerts. The last 5 min. is Hollywood/reality? (kind of a ‘movies in your mind’):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ipn7cJTo9s
annuit coeptis novus ordo seclorum<<<<
Maybe Trump reads TBP?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-frustrated-trump-questions-his-administrations-venezuela-strategy/2019/05/08/ad51561a-71a7-11e9-9f06-5fc2ee80027a_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.43ef18cdf0fa