Open Thread - 1 June 2017

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Comments

[ex-PFC Chuck]

John Helmer, who had been on the White House staff of President Carter and who since early this century has been an independent journalist based in Moscow, has put two scathing posts up about what he regards as the malicious influence and impact the recently departed Zbigniew Brzezinski had on his president, on others on that administrations tean, and thereby on US foreign policy. The give the reader a whole different perspective on that administration. The posts appeared in the order of the links below:

http://johnhelmer.net/zbigniew-brzezinski-the-svengali-of-jimmy-carters-presidency-is-dead-but-the-evil-lives-on/

http://johnhelmer.net/the-presidents-inferiority-complex-his-advisors-russia-hating-obsession-and-the-putsch-plotter-with-the-itchy-trigger-finger/

[Clonal Antibody]

Anyone have any comments on Syria shooting down an Israeli warplane?

Syria has confirmed that it shot down an Israeli plane suspected of helping ISIS which had been flying over Syrian territory, tasked with bombing innocent civilians.

Just one week after Israeli officials confirmed they were building up to a war with Hezbollah, the Israeli Air Force launched airstrikes against Syria, under the guise of targeting an alleged weapons convoy belonging to the Lebanese militia.

Syria responded by activating their anti-aircraft missile defence system against the Israeli jets, successfully taking one down and hitting another.

Activistpost.com reports:

The jet crashed in Israeli territory, however, as the planes were back over Israeli soil by the time the missile was able to connect.

The Israeli operation and the missile firing were both confirmed by the Syrian and Israeli governments. Israel would not confirm that a plane had actually been shot down, however. This is typical of Israel who tends not to acknowledge any military defeats or setbacks publicly.

[walrus]

I note that President Trump has just pulled America out of the Paris climate treaty. This is a retrograde action on so many levels. Its going to be tragic for America.

[FB Ali]

The pitchforks etc in the picture above seem an appropriate symbol for this pretty strong anti-Trump rant in a Der Spiegel editorial recently:

http://tinyurl.com/ya3xh2t2

I wonder how representative it is of opinion in Germany - or Europe (I wouldn't be surprised if spoilt-child Macron held such views!).

[kooshy]

FYI, a very hot summer is forming up on Iraqi Syrian border

"U.S. hikes 'combat power' in Syria, with eye on Iran-backed militia"

The U.S. military said on Thursday it had bolstered its "combat power" in southern Syria, warning that it viewed Iran-backed fighters in the area as a threat to nearby coalition troops fighting Islamic State.

The remarks by a Baghdad-based spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition battling Islamic State was the latest sign of tension in the region, where the United States has forces at the base around the Syrian town of At Tanf supporting local fighters."
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-usa-syria-idUSKBN18S6A9

[Lee A. Arnold]

Trump's climate decision may reduce U.S. jobs in the future because other nations won't buy U.S. alternative energy technologies. So there could be long-term economic disaster, on top of this moral failure and global embarrassment.

After that big iceberg breaks off Antarctica there may not be a Republican President or Congress elected for the next 50 years.

[mauisurfer]

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Lyman Lemnitzer, met with President Kennedy and his National Security Council on July 20, 1961, just as the East-West crisis over Berlin threatened to explode into immediate hot war in Europe. Lemnitzer presented his plan for a surprise, preemptive nuclear attack on the Soviet Union, to take place in 1963. This was Churchill’s Operation Unthinkable, updated for thermonuclear use.

Lemnitzer cautioned that if all-out nuclear war were begun a year earlier, it would not be as effective in utterly annihilating Russia; he said that only by 1963 would the United States have absolute superiority in delivery systems, at which point the Soviets would possess no real ability to retaliate. The President asked Lemnitzer how long Americans would have to remain in fallout shelters after the rival country was exterminated. A Lemnitzer aide replied that about two weeks should be sufficient. Kennedy concluded the meeting by directing that “no member in attendance at the meeting disclose even the subject of the meeting.”

A memorandum with notes of this meeting was declassified only in June of 1993. Professor James Galbraith, son of JFK’s trusted strategic advisor John Kenneth Galbraith, discovered this declassified memo and immediately brought it to the attention of the public.[43] His article received virtually no attention in the corporate media.

McGeorge Bundy recalled that “In the summer of 1961 [Kennedy] went through a formal briefing on the net assessment of a general nuclear war between the two superpowers, and he expressed his own reaction to [Secretary of State] Dean Rusk as they walked from the cabinet room to the Oval Office for a private meeting on other subjects: ‘And we call ourselves the human race.’”[44]

On March 13, 1962, Joint Chiefs Chairman Lyman Lemnitzer gave Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara a plan for the United States to carry out terror attacks against its own armed forces and civilians, to be blamed on the Castro regime as “pretexts which would provide justification for US military intervention in Cuba.” Known as Operation Northwoods, the plan would remain secret until declassified in the 1990s. It is now available online.[45]

The state of mind discernable behind Northwoods comes straight out of the history of the British Empire. “False flag” terror had been the British specialty in Africa, India, and Ireland, and through synthetic Muslim movements in the Mideast. During and after the Cold War, it has been the trademark of the MI6 and Special Air Services that have instructed and guided NATO strategy.

Among Lemnitzer’s proposals were these:

Bomb the U.S. base at Guantanamo, Cuba, and destroy U.S. ships—“Lob mortar shells from outside of base into base…. Blow up ammunition inside the base; start fires. Burn aircraft on air base (sabotage). Sabotage ship in harbor; large fires—naphthalene. Sink ship near harbor entrance. Conduct funerals for mock-victims…. We could blow up a drone (unmanned) vessel anywhere in the Cuban waters…. The presence of Cuban planes or ships merely investigating the intent of the vessel could be fairly compelling evidence that the ship was taken under attack.”

Lie to news media—“[After] an air/sea rescue operation … to ‘evacuate’ remaining members of the non-existent crew … [c]asualty lists in US newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation.”

Conduct terror atrocities inside the United States—“We could develop a Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington. The terror campaign could be pointed at Cuban refugees seeking haven in the United States. We could sink a boatload of Cubans en route to Florida (real or simulated). We could foster attempts on lives of Cuban refugees in the United States even to the extent of wounding in instances to be widely publicized. Exploding a few plastic bombs in carefully chosen spots ….”

A military attack to “be simulated against a neighboring Caribbean nation….”

An “incident which will demonstrate convincingly that a Cuban aircraft has attacked and shot down a chartered civil airliner en route from the United States…. [The] aircraft [used in the fake attack] … could be painted and numbered as an exact duplicate for a civil registered aircraft belonging to a CIA proprietary organization in the Miami area….”

“Hijacking attempts against civil air and surface craft….”

Make it “appear that Communist Cuban MIGs have destroyed a USAF aircraft over international waters in an unprovoked attack.”
Kennedy dismissed the Northwoods proposal. About a month later, Lemnitzer simply demanded that the United States stage a full-scale military invasion of Cuba, without provocation, on the presumption that the Soviets would not react.

http://thesaker.is/the-coup-then-and-now-the-enemies-of-humanity-try-to-give-trump-the-jfk-treatment/?inmoderation

[Liza]

Former CIA director John Brennan is apparently now working for Kissinger Associates. An interesting hire since Kissinger has long advocated a rapprochement with Russia and Brennan has accused the Trump campaign of collusion with Russia.

Note Brennan's name in the alphabetical list of attendees:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-06-01/bilderberg-2017-agenda-trump-administration-progress-report

[Matt]

Dear America,

I'm not sure how to put this so I wrote you a song,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSUIQgEVDM4

regards

The Rest of the World

P.S. get well soon x

[Pundita]

From Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megan_Leavey_(film)
BEGIN QUOTES
"Megan Leavey" is ... scheduled to be released on June 9, 2017, by Bleecker Street.

Based on the true life story of a young Marine corporal whose unique discipline and bond with her military combat dog saved many lives during their deployment in Iraq.
Megan Leavey is a former US Marine corporal who served as a Military Police K9 handler. She grew up in Valley Cottage, New York. Leavey enlisted in the Marines in 2003 and was stationed at Camp Pendleton, California, where she was paired with military working dog Rex.

The pair served two deployments in Iraq together. They were first deployed to Fallujah in 2005, and then to Ramadi in 2006, where they were both wounded by an Improvised explosive device. Leavey was awarded the Purple Heart and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with a "V" device denoting heroism in combat.

In 2012, Rex developed facial palsy, which ended his bomb-sniffing duties. Leavey later adopted him through the intervention of Senator Chuck Schumer. Rex died on December 22, 2012.
END QUOTES

TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGGcFbW__XI

[David E. Solomon]

I wonder if I am the only person who finds the Obama's 8.1 million dollar purchase of the Washington, DC home that they have been renting to be a little more than obscene?

As far as I have been able to ascertain, they made the purchase thorough a holding company and the person they purchased the house from was a former Bill Clinton press secretary.

When our politicians are so blatantly taking advantage of their political positions for self aggrandizement, is it any wonder that the population is losing patience with them.

Regards,

Dvaid

[David E. Solomon]

That has always been my favorite Jim Morrison song. I first heard a promotional copy in late 1966 or early 1967 before its actual commercial release.

Maybe if we are now approaching "The End" we can view its coming as a natural cleansing of the plane.

Regards,

David
PS: Thanks for the link, Matt.

[Fred]

Lee,

"...in the future because other nations won't buy U.S. alternative energy technologies."

Which countries are buying that stuff right now? How many jobs are there in the US related to that, not including professors on college campuses and those subsidized with federal grant funding?

[eakens]

No. He went into office with relatively nothing, and somehow with a $400K salary, came out with a net worth of $30M.

[English Outsider]

Matt -

Sir Michael Fallon, UK Secretary of State for Defence, is considerably more hawkish than President Trump. Merkel and Macron don't sound good either. Even the impeccably progressive Norwegians are getting in on the act.

The neocon disease is a disease of the West, not solely of the United States. If other Western countries wished to do anything useful they'd be trying to stop the killing in Syria and in the Ukraine, not egging Trump on to do more.

That neocon disease is so advanced among the UK politicians that I'm considering voting for Corbyn, the ultimate snowflake but at least not a warmonger. The Germans have Die Linke, again a party that has no practicable domestic platform but that does seem to be against current German foreign policy. They even object to the deployment of neo-Nazis in the Ukraine, which puts them in a class of their own in German politics.

So we Europeans might do well to scour our own pots before reproaching the American kettle.

[Sam Peralta]

"This is a retrograde action..."

Why? Does the Paris Climate Treaty do much of anything? As I understand, it requires each of the 195 signatories to determine on their own by 2020 how much they would reduce their carbon emissions. There was no enforcement mechanism. And it gave a pass to China and India.

It seems this was just another typical "snowflake" feel good treaty for the Davos crowd with no real meat on it. When Al Gore & Barack Obama live like goat herders in the Steppe I'll take this climate change thingy seriously!

[Sam Peralta]

David

I don't begrudge Obama the hundreds of millions he will make.

But I seriously resent his hypocrisy! We have Obama flying into Milan on a private jet, with fighter escorts, and then transported to his hotel where he has two floors, in a 14 car convoy, to give a speech for which he got paid $3 million, and now lectures Trump about climate change.

What was the carbon footprint of Obama's trip? Or his cavorting with Richard Branson & David Geffen in the tropics? And, Al Gore's, Elon Musk's and Lloyd Blankfein's personal carbon footprint? Sheesh!! And we've got to listen to these guys bloviate.

[Joe100]

David -

Maybe the Obama's plan to pay for this out of their obscene $65 million book deal…

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/06/market-forces-behind-obamas-record-setting-book-deal.html

[Laura]

Lee -- I'm also puzzled by Trump's disregard of the Pentagon's acknowledgement and accommodations to climate change. They are PLANNING for it and making sure their bases are prepared. They are also gaming out the military/international problems it will present. How can the GOP and the President just "blow off" the Pentagon on such a big issue?

I really did thing that Trump would listen to his Defense Department on this.

[Laura]

I'm not sure paying 8 million dollars for a home is any more or less obscene if you are Obama or anyone else. Hopefully, it will be a good investment! (Of course, I'm from Santa Barbara, CA, where every home is over 1 million....so what do I know!)

[ISL]

walrus,

A better question is why? As what Trump did is pull out of an agreement that Obama fought hard to make voluntary - which allows everyone to cheat.

Meanwhile, atmospheric CO2 has followed exactly along the do nothing trend despite all the hard efforts of many nations around the world. or the cheating of many nations around the world. or the shifting their carbon production overseas. In any case, all the politicians hot air has not changed the reality one iota.

Was Obama excoriated for making the agreement toothless and guaranteed to (taking real world human behavior into account) have zero effect on anything climate (except helping various politicos re-elections around the world)?

I think he feels that the opprobrium of the world helps him with his base, and he is going to need them very soon if the borg is not to evict him.

[Laura]

David -- Regarding the "holding company," many, if not most, people with wealth use LLC's or Trusts to buy property. It is very common and not, on its face, indicative of anything at all....except $ and "wealth management."

[S.E.]

Not quite so harsh wording here in Norway, but the general tendency is the same. I was surprised by the very strong words in the Spiegel editorial (which seems to have been written two weeks ago - today, after the withdrawal from the Paris accord, it might have sound even harsher). MSM and politicians have taken their lead from Merkel´s comment that Europe must take its fate in its own hands. China is the new climate partner: "EU and China against Trump on climate". The leader of the world is not longer the leader, is what is being conveyed. MSM and politicians here have been strongly anti-Trump all the time, and the Paris withdrawal confirms their view of Trump as a rogue politician. Just like the US MSM. The deplorables can only be seen in the commentary sections, where Trump gets some support.
Some wants to start to discuss if we shall follow the US or Europe, as the split becomes larger. Since WW2, Norway has looked upon the US as its closest ally. Suddenly, this seems not so clear any more.

[Enrico Malatesta]

I think there would have been a good test of Lyman Lemnitzer's commitment to his NORTHWOODS style ideas - would he volunteer to have his work office and family home used as "false flag" targets?

[Mikey]

Yeah. I have a comment. It's a bullshit story.