[this analysis was written for the Unz Review]
An Iranian official has announced that the UK-flagged tanker Stena Impero was free to leave. Remember the Stena Impero? This is the tanker the IRGC arrested after the Empire committed an act of piracy on the high seas and seized the Iranian tanker Grace 1. Col Cassad posted a good summary of this info-battle, blow by blow (corrected machine translation):
- Britain, at the instigation of the US, seizes the Iranian tanker Grace 1 and demands from Iran guarantees that it in any case does not go to Syria.
- Iran, in response, captures the British tanker Stena Impero and says it will not retreat until the British releases Grace 1. British ships that guarded merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz were warned that they would be destroyed if they interfered with the IRGC’s actions.
- After 2 months, Britain officially releases Grace 1, which is renamed Adrian Darya 1. It raised the Iranian flag and changed the crew.
- The British government says the tanker is released under Iran’s obligations not to unload the tanker at the Syrian port of Banias or anywhere else in Syria. Iran denies this.
- The US officially requires Britain and Gibraltar to arrest Adrian Darya 1 and not let him into Syria, as it violates the sanctions regime. Britain and Gibraltar refuse the US.
- Adrian Darya 1 reaches the coast of Syria and after a few days on the beam of Banias, unloads its cargo in Syria. The Iranian government says it has not made any commitments to anyone.
- After Adrian Darya 1 left Syria, Iran announced that it was ready to release the British tanker. The goal has been achieved.
This is truly an amazing series of steps, really!
The USA is the undisputed maritime hyper-power, not only because of its huge fleet, but because of its network of bases all over the planet (700-1000 depending on how you count) and, possibly even more importantly, a network of so-called “allies”, “friends”, “partners” and “willing coalition members” (aka de facto US colonies) worldwide. In comparison, Iran is a tiny dwarf, at least in maritime terms. But, as the US expression goes, “it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog” which decides the outcome.
And then there is the (provisional) outcome of the Houthi strike on the Saudi oil installations. The Saudis appeared to be pushing for war against Iran, as did Pompeo, but Trump apparently decided otherwise:
Some have focused on the fact that Trump said that it was “easy” to attack Iran. Others have ridiculed Trump for his silly bragging about how US military gear would operate in spite of the dismal failure of both US cruise missile attacks (on Syria) and the Patriot SAMs (in the KSA). But all that bragging is simply obligatory verbal flag-waving; this is what the current political culture in the USA demands from all politicians. But I think that the key part of his comments is when he says that to simply attack would be “easy” (at least for him it would) but that this would not show strength. I also notice that Trump referred to those who predicted that he would start a war and said that they were wrong about him. Trump also acknowledged that a lot of people are happy that he does not strike (while others deplored that, of course, beginning with the entire US pseudo-liberal & pseudo-Left media and politicians). The one exception has been, again, Tulsi Gabbard who posted this after Trump declared that the US was “locked and loaded”:
Whatever may be the case, this time again, Trump seemed to have taken a last minute decision to scrap the attack the Neocons have been dreaming about for decades.
I think that I made my opinion about Trump pretty clear, yet I also have to repeat that all these “climbdowns” by Trump are, just by themselves, a good enough reason to justify a vote for Trump. Simply put; since Trump came to power we saw a lot of hubris, nonsense, ignorance and stupidity. But we did NOT see a war, especially not a major one. I will never be able to prove that, but I strongly believe that if Hillary had won, the Middle-East would have already exploded (most likely after a US attempt at imposing a no-fly zone over Syria).
We are also very lucky that, at least in this case, the rapid every four year Presidential election in the USA contributes to keep Trump (and his Neocon masters) in check: Trump probably figured out that a blockade of Venezuela or, even more so, a strike on Iran would severely compromise his chances of being re-elected, especially since neither theater offers the US any exit strategy.
Still, following these immensely embarrassing defeats, Trump and his advisors had to come up with something “manly” (which they confuse with “macho”) and make some loud statements about sending more forces to the Persian Gulf and beefing up the Saudi air defenses. This will change nothing. Iran is already the most over-sanctioned country on the planet and we have seen what US air defense can, and cannot do. Truth be told, this is all about face-saving and I don’t mind any face-saving inanities as long as they make it possible to avoid a real shooting war.
Still, the closer we get to the next US election, the more Trump should not only carefully filter what he says, he would be well advised to give some clear and strict instructions to his entire Administration about what they can say and what they cannot say. Of course, in the case of a rabid megalomaniac like Pompeo, no such “talking points” will be enough: Trump needs to fire this psychopath ASAP and appoint a real diplomat as Secretary of State. After all, Pompeo belongs in the same padded room as Bolton.
Now if we look at the situation from the Iranian point of view, it is most interesting. First, for context, I recommend the recent articles posted by Iranian analysts on the blog, especially the following ones:
- “War Gaming the Persian Gulf Conflict” by Black Archer Williams
- “Karbala, The Path of Most Resistance” by Mansoureh Tadjik
- “Resistance report: Syrian Army takes the initiative in Idlib while Washington blames its failures on Iran again” by Aram Mirzaei
I also recommend my recent interview with Professor Marandi.
I recommend all these Iranian voices because they are so totally absent from the political discussions on the Middle-East, at least in western media. Williams, Tadjik, Mirzaei and Marandi are very different people, they also have different point of views and focuses of interest, but when you read them you realize how confident and determined Iranians are. I am in contact with Iranians abroad and in Iran and all of them, with no exception, share that calm determination. It seems that, just like Russians, Iranians most certainly don’t want war, but they are ready for it.
The Iranian preferred strategy is also clear: just the way Hezbollah keeps Israel in check so will the Houthis with the KSA. The Houthis, who are now in a very strong negotiation position, have offered to stop striking the KSA if the Saudis do likewise. Now, the Saudis, just like the Israelis, are too weak to accept any such offer, that is paradoxical but true: if the Saudis officially took the deal, that would “seal” their defeat in the eyes of their own public opinion. Having said that, I can’t believe that the Saudis believe their own propaganda about war against Iran. No matter how delusional and arrogant the Saudi leaders are, surely they must realize what a war against Iran would mean for the House of Saud (although when I read this I wonder)! It is one thing to murder defenseless Shias in the KSA, Bahrain or Yemen and quite another to take on “the country which trained Hezbollah”.
Speaking of delusional behavior, the Europeans finally did fall in line behind their AngloZionist overlords and agreed to blame Iran for the attack under what I call the “Skripal rules of evidence” aka “highly likely“. The more things change, the more they remain the same I suppose…
It is pretty clear that all the members of the Axis of Kindness (USA, KSA, Israel) are in deep trouble on the internal front: Trump is busy with the “Zelensky vs Biden” scandal, especially now since the Dems are opening impeachment procedures, the latest elections failed to deliver the result Bibi wanted, as for the Saudis, after pushing for war they now have to settle for more sanctions and radars, hardly a winning combination.
The Saudis are too weak, clueless and obese (physically and mentally) to get anything done by themselves. But the USA and Israel are now in a dire need to show some kind of “victory” over, well, somebody. Anybody will do. Thus the US have just denied visas 10 members of the Russian delegation to the United Nations (thereby violating yet another US obligation under international law, but nobody in the US cares about such minor trivialities as international law); and just to show how amazingly powerful the Empire is, the Iranian delegation to the UN received the same “punished bad boys” treatment: truly, a triumph worthy of a superpower! Last minute update: the US is now revoking Iranian student visas and denying entry to Venezuelan diplomats.
This “war of visas” is the US equivalent of the “war on statues” the Ukrainians, Balts and the Poles have been waging to try to distract their population from the comprador policies of their governments.
As for the Israelis, I now expect the Israelis to strike some empty building in Syria (or even in Gaza!).
Conclusion: facts don’t really matter anymore, and neither does logic
Ten years ago Chris Hedges wrote a book called “Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle ” and, a full decade later, this title is still an extremely accurate diagnostic. What Hedges politely called the “end of literacy” can be observed in all its facets, listening to US political and military leaders. While most of them are, indeed, morally bankrupt and even psychopaths, it is their level of ignorance and incompetence which is the most amazing. First, the Russians spoke of “non-agreement-capable” “partners” but eventually Putin quipped that it was hard to work with “people who confuse Austria and Australia“. This all, by the way, applies as much to the Obama Administration as it does to the Trump Administration: their common motto could have been “illusions über alles” or something similar. Once a political culture fully enters into the realm of illusions and delusions the end is near because no real-world problem ever gets tackled: it only gets obfuscated, denied and drowned into an ocean of triumphalist back-slapping and other forms of self-worship.
Post scriptum: the US goes crazy but Trump just might survive after all
So the Dems decided to try to impeach Trump. While I always expected the Neocons to treat Trump as the “disposable President” which they would try to use to do all the stuff they don’t want to be blamed for directly, and then toss him away once they squeezed him for everything he could give them, I am still appalled by the nerve, the arrogance and the total dishonesty of the Dems (see my rant here).
My gut feeling is that Trump just might beat this one for the very same reason he won the first time around: because the other side is even worse (except Tulsi Gabbard, of course).
Of course, an attack on Iran would be a welcome distraction à la “wag the dog” and Trump might be tempted. Hopefully, the Dems will self-destruct fast enough for Trump not to have to consider this.
The Saker
You can add to the circus the US calls policy, Pompeo’s charge again that the Syrians used chemical weapons in May.
Pompus really has his very fat head up his cavernous buttocks, the spacious womb of all his ideas and pronouncements.
But this is 2019 in the USA. A madness has settled over the society and political arena. The world should be on notice that a wounded beast is in desperate condition.
The CIA has virtually announced its Deep State takedown of the Presidency of “45” is now public.
We saw this develop with Russiagate, using the FBI and DOJ, and I predicted as much in 2016, “Fear and Loathing Inside the Deep State”
/fear-and-loathing-inside-the-deep-state/
It has always been a CIA thing to “get Trump”. General Flynn warned him of their treachery. He had fought it from 2010 on the battlefield where their poor work providing the JSOC with Intel had led to many disasters in Afghanistan and Iraq. And Flynn judged their Daily Briefings as a pack of lies to misdirect the President-elect and then the President. They got rid of him in 34 days as head of National Security Council (and the reorganizational plan he had written to minimize Langley’s influence on Trump’s policies.)
Whether Trump is a free actor or captive is no longer a matter of debate. He has never had full Presidential powers. He senses that beyond a very limited missile strike, he cannot trust any military plan, much more an operation that would suck him into a war, like Bush was in Iraq.
So, Trump has a war of his own directed at him in the Oval Office. This whistleblower case will be maneuvered for most of the rest of the year, for what it is worth. The problem for the Dems is it exposes them, again, and the Ukies tied in deep corruption. It also empowers the runaway candidacy of Elizabeth Warren, who may lead them to a catastrophic loss next year.
The entire public scene in the US is a Cuckoo’s Nest. All the pathologies are at play. It’s past time for the nurse to bring the pills. But, Nurse Ratched left town long ago.
Its another sign of congressional political desperation, and desperate people do desperate things. They will sacrifice their political party in a desperate attempt to prove a selective interpretation.
The morally wounded party lives on while the morally dead politician(s), do not.
Yes, it’s been confirmed the “whistleblower” is a CIA officer. “Six ways from Sunday” to quote Schumer indeed.
See: https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/09/surprise-whistleblower-is-cia-officer-detailed-to-work-at-white-house-and-has-since-returned-to-the-cia/
“The Deep State whistleblower is a CIA officer who was detailed to work at the White House, according to a new report by the New York Times.
“Little is known about this ‘whistleblower’ but the Times reported that he has since returned to the CIA.”
Unfortunately it’s McMurphy that left the town. Nurse Ratched is still running the asylum.
McMurphy is dead.
Why don’t you write something of your own instead of pissing on my comment, getting the symbols wrong?
You don’t understand but you try to be clever.
You’re not.
(Lots of folks like to attach on to my comments and some are irrelevant as a reply to what I write. Treat yourself to your own comment. Relevance matters in my world.)
For those who have something relevant or even challenging, go for it. Those replies I welcome. I often learn a lot from some of them.
McMurphy left with Chief.
I generally like your comments, but this metaphor struck me as inappropriate.
Sorry if that upset you.
McMurphy is suffocated by Chief Bromden, who then escapes. Thus the title, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”.
Your best bet is to rent the film and watch it to the ending.
I’d recommend reading the novel, but that is clearly not your sweet spot.
You can stop pissing. Don’t be telling me about my metaphoric uses.
I’ve got better things to do than educate such a bozo.
The movie made a mess of the story told by the book. Such is the nature of the Hollywood information (propaganda) machine.
The movie was not ever going to be a version of the book in cinematic form. No book of worth doesn’t get transformed in filmic version. That’s the great challenge of bringing the “story” to film.
So, again, like Z, you fail on the basis of knowledge.
The movie, by the way, was a huge success with the public.
It spoke loudly for the mentally-emotionally challenged, the individualist, the panoply of people who struggle to be free and normal on their own rights.
It was an artistic and entertainment success. An award-winner. It launched the careers of half-dozen of the actors.
Facts escape you. Here are a few you should know:
“Considered by some to be one of the greatest films ever made, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is No. 33 on the American Film Institute’s 100 Years… 100 Movies list. The film was the second to win all five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Actor in Lead Role, Actress in Lead Role, Director and Screenplay) following It Happened One Night in 1934, an accomplishment not repeated until 1991 with The Silence of the Lambs. It also won numerous Golden Globe and BAFTA Awards. In 1993, the film was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the United States Library of Congress, and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.”
It cost $3 million and made $109 million. Quite a mess!
ad hominem comment removed … mod
As for the movie, the facts from Wikipedia are awesome, but you are still missing the key fact that prompted me to comment in the first place. The crazies in this movie are the “good guys” and nurse Ratched is the baddie.
Warren has a far greater chance than dementing Joe Biden, Hillary redux, Trump’s dream opponent. And the Ukrainegate fiasco only draws attention to Biden and his son’s corruption.
Insightful comment
Thanks
I wonder what exactly the Iranian Diplomat said to the UK Foreign Office when he was called in by them because they had said Iran had broken their promise to not deliver to Syria…..no further news who planted the mines on several ships Gulf Hormuz……..but most importantly how has the Iranian presentation at UNGA re the “Hope” proposals been recieved and gone down and wondering how does this relate to Russian proposals….similar…tacitly superceded the Russian one maybe……? Can it work….?
Very lucid. I agree. I believe that internally one might say now, in a que, that there’s no law, only what they say -say that and people would nod. I have heard this myself. So the delusional system seems to be heterogeneous…the powerful hallucinating and the nutzlosen er, “deplorables” less so… Still delusional though… Nevertheless I see signs of a dialectical process in rural parts…and the legislature refuses to meet with rancher-constituents…they’ll start thinking about basic assumptions…and then? Well, you know.
I see that the US Ready Reserve Fleet activation was unusually large – largest since gulfwar. It went not so well. Still, it’s interesting in itself…given the brass a good reason to not try to invade Iran, eh?
And on board the glorious USS G Bush …3 suicides this last week… Great fighting force…maybe their morale is tempered by the thought of Iranian weapons? Well…
Anyway, another reason to avoid war, eh?
For many years before he threw his hat in the presidential race, Donald Trump was a regular contributor — usually by telephone — on multiple TV and Radio news shows and consistently spoke against US interventions in the Middle East. He sang that same song during his primary and general election races.
Come to Washington, President Trump discovered that his government appointees needed approval by a Deep State hopelessly entangled with globalism, neocons & MIC. So President Trump focused his must-haves on Treasury, Commerce and Trade and for the last 2.5 years he has backed his personnel choices as they attacked internal and external globalism with a vengeance.
Regarding the Department of State, Intelligence, National Security Advisor and such, President Trump negotiated, if generally failed, to acquire the personnel he wanted, but once these were installed, he proceeded to:
1. Ostensibly support them noisily, while
2. Privately challenging their advice, then
3. Failing to release the troops / funds needed for their proposed adventures.
Hence the ‘revolving door’ pattern of these unsuitable advisors.
We come to Iran. President Trump has no wish to open a war with Iran, since he knows the US can’t even move troops and materiel to the region without the assistance of Iran’s ally Russia. *** When Senator Graham proposed such a war, President Trump publicly asked how it could even be initiated? Then again, President Trump, a developer of quality condominiums, rentals and golf courses, actually believes he should honor contracts and agreements, especially election promises. Furthermore, he knows his ‘deplorable’ lower middle and working class American supporters consider such wars pointless 1% enrichment games.
It may not be naive to believe that President Trump will avoid a war with Iran at all cost — knowing as he does that Iran does not wish to engage him in a war either.
*** Each of our $ 6.5 Billion carriers, with $ 3.5 Billion in planes and 4,500 seamen would be sunk by three $1.5 million Iranian missiles within 1,000 miles of Hormuz — a reality explained to him during the North Korea standoff, when three of our carriers hurriedly sailed south of Australia on the launch of one NoKo missile.
The petrel is flying hi and fine. Thanks for your enlightening comment. I hope to stumble on your writing again.
I Concur.
Sounds like a rational explanation to me. The idiocy of the Dims with the Ukraine issue may allow him to take a bite out of the war party.
The writer should not forget that the Iranian tanker arrested by Royal Marine pirates at Gibraltar had first requested spare parts to effect repairs.
Gibraltar maritime authorities agreed to allow the tanker to take on the spare parts and food requested, agreeing to the tanker’s safe passage once the repairs had been carried out.
Then the duplicitous Gibraltar authorities broke their word and illegally arrested the Iranian tanker.
Everyone seems to have forgotten this lie that Gibraltar used to entrap the tanker. This whole episode began with despicable behaviour by the UK and its servants.
While Trump pushed the spineless UK PM May in to action, May actually has form for locking up child abuse whistleblowers in the UK. She and Amber Rudd are the biggest argument against women in parliament as they are both utterly corrupt and despicable types. No doubt they’ll soon be in the House of Lords.
May, like trump, is a self serving coward who thinks bullying is a sign of strength.
Unfortunately for the US it looks like you’ve got another 5 years of having a spineless bullying coward in charge.
Here in the UK we’ve exchanged one spineless coward for a two faced back stabbing self serving speaker of terminological inexactitudes.
Mind you Corbyn has betrayed not only his own working class supporters but also the electorate, so the alternative to Boris is even worse.
And then there is Ken Clarke as possibly the next unelected PM. He makes an earthworm seem charismatic by comparison.
Anyway, merry Christmas and a happy new year to all my followers. xxx
Regarding Corbyn..
http://www.unz.com/gatzmon/a-great-day-for-zion/
Teresa May a Blairite-who would have thought?
Anybody will do? They could always try and invade Grenada again. The Mad Hatters tea party gets more surreal, and more delusional indeed.
Speaking of ‘partners’ Australian politicians must rank as among the most delusional on the planet, for they are fully blind to the writing on the wall, and continuously bend over backwards in utterly cringeworthy attempts to prove how loyal they are to…. ‘The international rules based order’. In other words; the Empire.
This is one of the few independent sites on the internet where we can here non western points of view, such as Professor Marandi, Ghassan Kadi, Hassan Nasrallah and others, for it is vital to hear such viewpoints. Especially with the Empire falling apart before our eyes.
Grenada was a bit tricky. The Cuban airfield construction workers proved a bit tricky for the Merkin ‘warriors’, who got so pissed off they busted into the Cuban Embassy and smeared the walls with their faeces, just like the IDF do in West Bank schools. The creme de la creme. Better it be like Panama City where ‘obliterating’ 3000 or so poor, black, unpersons in slums, while testing nasty new weapons seems to me to be the epitome of Merkin ‘martial valour’.
So imagine the brave ‘Merkin warriors coming face to face with Revolutionary Guards. Quaking in their boots at the very least, while the deranged chickenhawks sit in Washington screeching orders.
I remember at the time the Cuban workers putting up quite a fight. Not long out of high school, but kept thinking: Why would such a huge country invade a tiny Island? Of course: the threat of a good example. Its why they had to get rid of the Sandinista’s as well. Reagan & co didn’t want ordinary Americans to get any funny idea about socialism or anything.
America – land of the power crazed greed driven Neocons who will probably blow us all up.
GP, perhaps because it’s close to Venezuela?
Someone said, that “one does not need floating airfields when one has an Island”.
Anonius: was being a bit sarcastic when I said they could try invading Grenada again, as despite the countless billions spent by the Pentagon, they would struggle to fight their way out of a paper bag imo. When was the last time United States actually won a war? The Yanks would be pummelled if it was a conventional war against either Iran or Venezuela.
Saker,
Re: “I think that I made my opinion about Trump pretty clear, yet I also have to repeat that all these “climbdowns” by Trump are, just by themselves, a good enough reason to justify a vote for Trump”.
I wonder what Iranians, Afghans, Syrians, etc. think of your opinion. More importantly, I wonder how the Russians and Chinese view Trump or any Western leader.
You really think that Iranian, Afgans, Syrians, Russians or the Chinse would prefer a full-scale war on the DPRK, Iran, Syria and Venezuela?!
I doubt it!
The Saker
Others far more articulate than me are debating this globally. Many of them would respectfully disagree with your conclusions.
At the personal level, I do not believe elections have any meaning, even at the local level. Rather than complain, I simply ignore “the freak show” for what it is.
MS
You know I do not think this.
If you think I am naive, I can accept that.
Re: “You really think that Iranian, Afgans, Syrians, Russians or the Chinse would prefer a full-scale war on the DPRK, Iran, Syria and Venezuela?!
I doubt it!”
The Saker
One example of a friendly respectful debate.
PC Roberts re-posted a 2018 essay a few weeks ago.
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2019/09/17/can-nuclear-war-be-avoided/
He asks, “Are Lavrov and Putin finally getting the message that it is self-defeating to appeal to facts and law when the West has no respect for either and regards recourse to facts and law as signs of weakness and fear”?
One paragraph quotes others to make his point.
I have pointed out that the Russian government’s factual, diplomatic, and legal responses actually produce more provocations and insults.
See, for example, https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2018/03/17/war-is-on-the-horizon/
Stephen Lendman agrees (http://stephenlendman.org/2018/03/russia-expelling-23-uk-diplomats-way-inadequate/ )
and so does Peter Koenig /russias-reaction-to-the-insults-of-the-west-is-political-suicide/.
I am a simple idiot watching people debate the issues.
MS
dear MS – On that 4 specific location mentioned, I am with Saker – NEVER!
and now it can (almost) be confirmed – IMPOSSIBLE! (for the west anyway – even if they stupidly choose to deploy the hotstuff they wont last till the 3rd second on the clock when its return to sender)
Not sure if Saker agree with me on the below though…
On other locations, even in USSA, maybe. FULL SCALE!
Our dear friend, Saker, and many others knows a whole lot more than what can be shared here… If one can pick apart the underlying warnings out of the rant, it could potentially be life-saving in its truest value. For those who is blissfully innocent or wilfully ignorant or decidedly choose not to activate the thinking function, fate and/or luck will be your handler.
p/s I think the houthis ‘success’ could be due to the shale boys diggin in w the oil boys behind the v thick curtains… its a deep (state) crack from the inside….
I think the houthis ‘success’ could be due to the shale boys diggin in w the oil boys behind the v thick curtains… its a deep (state) crack from the inside….
The same thought occurred to me. Those four big pressure cookers had identical damage at the same location on each tank. Perhaps the easiest spot to reach with a ladder? And later in pictures of the repair effort, the damaged sections had simple holes blown in them, with no evidence of explosion or fire inside the cooker — in other words they were empty.
Therefore, it: 1) is a cover for Twilight in the Desert; 2) helps the shale frackers out of their financial thicket; 3) gives another excuse to the war propaganda machine. All at a minimal cost because the refinery was not busy anyway.
Empty tanks? That would be built in system redundancy in the event a full tank needs repairs. That it was four empty tanks that were hit avoids a huge ecological disaster and sends the exact same message.
an even more powerful message : it reveals the attacker has very good intelligence, knowing exactly which where empty…
Endeed, seeing that image of neat holes is more terrifying than widespread full blown.
You cannot warn off Evil psychopaths like MBS and the Wahhabist head-loppers and brothel-hoppers. You simply have no choice but to hit them hard, while avoiding civilian casualties if possible, the exact opposite of their approach.
Even at $100 a barrel the fracking scam is unprofitable. And they have used up most of the sweet spots already, and the depletion rate isn’t pretty. The fugitive emissions of methane, that will leak for decades, make the climate destabilisation Doomsday that much more imminent.
Follow International Law while arming yourselves to the teeth. If Gorbachov was just a dupe, his greatest idiocy was trusting the word of the Thanatopian psychopaths. And he had 200 years plus of US duplicity, treachery and thuggery to learn from. A mistake Xi and Putin won’t make. From the way things are rolling, the US will be in civil war, soon, in any case.
The climbdowns are necessary because of the outcome: humiliation for the US military. Without having necessarily to lift a finger, Russia and China would see the world change for good after a debacle in a “full scale war” with the DPRK, Iran, Syria or Venezuela. The attempt to hide US military weakness is common across all controlled alternative media.
A full scale war with the genocidal thugs of the USA means heavy civilian casualties. Leaving aside the millions of victims in Indochina, Korea, Iraq etc, they slaughtered 40,000 alone ‘liberating’ Mosul from their own Daash thugs.
Report from the Western Front
The War of America against America
there are no happy campers in the land of class war denial
in the land of junk food, cheap drugs and the phony smile
Deep State Coup
Part Two
Only firewall is Mr. Public, John Q
as leaders have nary a clue
people reject the lies spewed
knowing deep state must be broke
but hoping against hope
it will be easy to do
Avoiding the task ahead
fearing – horror with dread
brother-blood will be shed
as social contract is shred.
UK-Flagged Oil Tanker Stena Impero Departs Iran’s Bandar Abbas Port – Report
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201909271076901033-uk-flagged-oil-tanker-steno-impero-departs-from-iranian-port-bandar-abbas—report/
“Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said earlier that Tehran had completed the necessary legal procedures for releasing the tanker Stena Impero.
The Stena Impero cast off its moorings early on Friday and left Iran’s Bandar Abbas port, Reuters said, adding that the cargo vessel has changed its destination course from Saudi Arabia’s Jubail port to Port Rashid in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).”
Friend was in California. American host, at party in San Jose, inquires as where he was from. ‘Australia’, came the reply. ‘How did you get here?’. Being a little shickered, he replies, ‘We drove’. Host digs further-‘What do you drive?’ ‘A Dodge’, keeping up the charade.’Hey, Mabel-this guy drove from Australia-in a Dodge. I told you we should get a Dodge!’ Nuff said, really.
LOL
MM, I think you might enjoy this video of people on the street interviews:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LVz4VweMqFE
The title is an understatement.
S,
Excellent article. I would like to add couple of videos of Rouhani in New York in the last few days.
You have to love his rection to the blatant lies Wallace throws at him. Also, I love his decision to not to use English in his replays.
Check the title ” Wallace presses Iran’s president on Middle East tension, relations with US”
What does “presses” mean. Well I know the “BS”. As you can see this was posted on Sept. 24th, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMUBCfcmaOU
Also, watch Rouhani’s speech at UN
🇮🇷 Iran – President Addresses General Debate, 74th Session
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgABuHc-B9E
S, I agree with you that there is no logical thinking left in the West.
Via uprisingtoday
“Yemen Press Agency has obtained exclusive information that the crimes committed during the past two days in the governorates of Hodeidah, Amran and Dhalea were carried out by Israeli and British warplanes.
Informed military sources in the southern provinces revealed to “Yemen Press Agency” that Israel and Britain participated actively to support the coalition of aggression against Yemen through air raids on the provinces of Hodeidah, Amran and Dhalea, which killed dozens of civilian casualties.
The sources added that the warplanes of the Zionist entity and Britain launched from the British Royal Air Base in the Bahraini capital Manama and were refueled by air through American fuel planes launched from the American warships in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab.
Civilian homes in Dhalea al-Hodeida and Amran provinces have been hit by dozens of air strikes in the past two days, killing more than 26 civilians, mostly women and childrren”
https://www.uprising.today/report-israeli-and-british-planes-take-direct-part-in-bombing-yemen/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
Can be verified?
Trump is wavering (sensibly) on war with Iran, for such a conflict would have huge repercussions beyond the region, threatening to engulf the whole world. He must not delude himself, ignore the signs of history, otherwise he could face the very war he seeks to avoid: annihilation.
I think it’s appropriate that the red and blue, the colors used to distinguish our two parties, are the same as the ones used by the Bloods and the Crips. There are about as many real differences between the Republicans and Democrats as there are between the Bloods and the Crips.
I suspect this is the main reason why Trump is so hated: he threatens to create a real difference between them, however small it may be.
“But all that bragging is simply obligatory verbal flag-waving”
“just by themselves, a good enough reason to justify a vote for Trump.”
Yup, the trump re[s]election campaign is upon us, it’s trump no matter what. In 2016, it was clear what a clinton regime would work for, but it wasn’t clear what trump would do. Well, the mystery about what a trump regime would try has now been solved. Essentially the same aggressive behaviour a clinton regime would engage in.
‘Bolton held me back!’ Trump says he’s a bigger hawk on Venezuela & Cuba than fired adviser
https://www.rt.com/news/468716-trump-bigger-hawk-bolton/
“Piggybacking on a tweet from Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) on Thursday, the president affirmed that any “policy changes” post-Bolton would be headed in a more hostile direction, noting that his views on Venezuela and Cuba “were far stronger than those of John Bolton,” and that “he was holding me back!”
He repeated those claims to reporters outside the White House on Thursday evening, adding that “it’s going to be a very interesting period of time” when it comes to the forthcoming US actions in Venezuela. He did not elaborate what those might entail.”
Back to Saker’s piece:
“But we did not see a war, especially not a major one.”
This is due to the usa not being ready, both physically and psychologically, to successfully prosecute a new war on the scale of Iraq 2003. Not because trump is less “hawkish”. It is policy based upon reality, not personality or election politics.
While in 2016, there was legit justification for a trump preference as prez, due to differences in what he and clinton said they would do, that justification no longer applies. Especially right now when it is still trump vs “the democrats” (an amorphous blob of pure evil, as opposed to those much less evil republicans…ja, ja, ja), when who trump will be up against remains unknown, along with their policy views.
‘We’ll Catch Trump, Put Him on Trial’ – Top Iran Official Mocks POTUS, US Gulf Policies
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201909291076913803-well-catch-trump-put-him-on-trial–top-iran-official-mocks-potus-us-gulf-policies/
“Iranian Secretary of the Expediency Council, Mohsen Rezaei, in an interview with Iran’s Channel 2, mocked US President Donald Trump and what he says is Washington’s inability to respond to the downing of a US drone earlier this year.
“When the Americans are incapable of retaliating against Iran for the downing of their ultra-secret plane, would they be able to help Saudi Arabia? They cannot defend themselves, so how would they defend Saudi Arabia? Everybody has received that message,” he said, according to The Times of Israel.
“Mr. Trump has already played all his cards,” Rezaei said. “He has already fired all his bullets. Now he is standing in front of us with no bullets, and the world is laughing at him. In the future, it will be even worse.”
In other words, the pindos can’t effectively attack Iran militarily, so they use a hybrid and economic war strategy instead.
Playing hostage game like a pro: US demands release of prisoner before Iranian FM can visit cancer-stricken ambassador
https://www.rt.com/news/469817-iran-ambassador-hospital-hostage/
“Washington won’t allow the Iranian foreign minister to visit his country’s envoy to the UN at a US hospital unless one of the American citizens detained by Iran is released first.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is currently in New York for the UN General Assembly. He was denied permission to visit Iran’s representative to the United Nations, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, who is currently undergoing cancer treatment at a Manhattan hospital.
The medical facility is located just outside a small zone in which Zarif and other members of the Iranian delegation are permitted to travel. If an Iranian delegate wishes to venture outside the zone, they must notify the US State Department and seek permission, which was not granted in this case.”
Yup, change we can believe in, mk. 3.*
One can’t get much more neocon drama queen gay than this. This is the reality of israel’s trump quislings and all the lame excuses used to distance trump from this reality he is an intimate part of wont change that.
* Mk.1 was obama, mk. 2 was trump 2016.
Great article, Saker. A very insightful poster at Moon Of Alabama has said this impeachment situation is similar to what happened with the last time a POTUS was impeached; a sort of “Wag the Dog” in reverse. The distraction was the impeachment; the main event / goal was the wanton destruction of Yugoslavia (and the accompanying establishment of terrorist safe havens in Eastern Europe, right in time for Chechnya 2.0).
This time around, we’re getting something eerily similar, and now’s the time to really pay attention to what the usual scumbags are actually plotting (my guess is more action against Iran and/or Syria). Think about it; did anyone in the ’90s US really care about Yugoslavians being blown to bits by NATO bombs? As far as I can remember, more attention was given to Lewinsky’s dress. And because so many people are now obsessed with removing Trump, who’s really going to give 2 sheises about still more dark skinned Muslims being blown to bits by their “tax dollars at work…?”
Again, great article; many thanks for posting.
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201909291076914155-yemeni-ferry-with-55-aboard-missing-in-indian-ocean—report/
The next false flag has apparently artived
Re point 7
The Adrian Darya 1 is still in the Baniyas anchorage, by the Russian military naval port; moreover recent satellite imagery show still carrying a full cargo. No STS, no cargo unloaded. As she sits low in water, here draft doesn’t allow discharge of cargo to Baniyas terminal.
Stuck in limbo, unable to go anywhere.