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21 October 2017

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ashpool

Both M K Bhadrakumar at Indian Punchline and T Meissan at Voltaire.net are of the opinion that the DJT line on Iran needs to be taken' with a pinch of salt'.
And their arguments are reasoned; not like the MSM rubbish that we are supposed to read.
Thank you Sir for your work on this indespensable blog.

Phodges

Chaos in the Middle East is US policy.

https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=i6jrWZf7B8OP0wKI1YaIDQ&q=brzezinski+arc+of+chaos

Richardstevenhack

"Try to think past the MIC cult belief and the absurd conception of a US Deep State."

That's going to be really hard. The notion that the US is the only country in the world WITHOUT a Deep State, still less a military-industrial complex we were warned against by a sitting US President sixty years ago, is rather challenging.

However, the rest of the recap is spot on.

turcopolier

richardstevenhack


" ... the only country in the world WITHOUT a Deep State, still less a military-industrial complex" you should get out more, go to family picnics, love someone. Does Canada have a Deep State and an MIC? Eisenhower was in many ways an odd man. Marshall should have gotten rid of him before D-Day. pl

kooshy

Colonel Lang, as ever, you are spot on with your policy review, after this I wonder if you will receive your next pension check.

thank you and have a great one

turcopolier

Kooshy

a country of laws remember? It would take a long involved legal process to do that. This is not Lyttenburgh's beloved USSR. Much easier to throw me off the internet. pl

b

As the White House press secretary yesterday said:
"if you want to get into a debate with a four-star Marine general, I think that that's something highly inappropriate."

So whatever the Junta generals in the White House do or say, even when they openly lie, it is "highly inappropriate" to question them.

The next step then is to question if "highly inappropriate" content should be condoned on the internets. It should, maybe, be cut off and prohibited? Together with fake-news and "Russian influence"?

kooshy

of course I know sir, and you know I am kidding

turcopolier

b

So,you question John Kelly's motives. Why am I not surprised? pl

Babak Makkinejad

Iran does not have a deep state, that was quite evident that a man fighting in Syria proceeded to organize the sacking of Saudi Embassy in Tehran and the Saudi Consulate in Mashad - embarrassing and harming the state.

Ramojus

Eisenhower was in many ways an odd man. Marshall should have gotten rid of him before D-Day. pl

I would be most interested in hearing more detail regarding this subject. Perhaps a separate post in the near future Colonel? Or, a recommended biography on Ike?

Swamp Yankee

Colonel Lang,

I was very curious to see if you could expand on your comment re: Marshall and Eisenhower. I would love to hear your views on the matter more fully. Thank you.

Respectfully,

Swamp Yankee

Tel

"The Saudi princelings are not worth the effort being put into keeping them happy."

Agree, but not only is the USA eager to sell them weapons, Russia also wants to ship their wares, knowing perfectly well what that kit will be used for. Money talks, and the arms trade is amoral.

Q: What do you sell to the man who already has everything?

A: A gun, so he can keep everything he has.


Q: What do you sell to the man who already has everything and a gun?

A: A bigger gun, because you just sold some more guns to the other guys down the road... and if you hadn't done that, well, someone else would do.

FourthAndLong

za big thinker.

Anna

An interesting angle on the French deciders: "A closer look at the Sarkozy and Lafarge cases," by Serge Marchand: http://www.voltairenet.org/article198468.html
"The quantity of cement that Lafarge produced at Jalabiyeh and sent back to the jihadists is equal to what the German Reich used to build the Seigfried line. ... In 2013, Daesh had still not taken the form of an unrecognized State. The jihadists were divided and dispersed in many groups. However, their military operations were under the de facto coordination of the Nato Land Forces (LandCom) Command Centre at Izmir (Turkey). This meant that they could benefit from advice of Nato engineers to build these installations. Laurent Fabius was evidently an actor in this operation."
More on Fabius: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurent_Fabius:
"Laurent Fabius is a French Socialist politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 17 July 1984 to 20 March 1986. His mandate had three milestones:
1. he didn't want to negotiate with President Assad to defeat what became ISIL,
2. he supported Syrian rebel groups, and
3. he reckoned that "Al-Nosra was doing a good job".
Fabius parents were from Ashkenazi Jewish families who converted to Catholicism"

r whitman

It is interesting to note that none of the Generals mentioned have ever won a war. The last US General to do that was Norman Schwartzkopf.

ISL

Dear Colonel,

Will the Kurds be in part 2? They seem about ready to be F-ed again. McGurk clearly had a sip of the koolaid....The SDF will cede territory - why take on a fight they will lose? They had best be nimble if there is to be any negotiating value....

I have heard that Turkey has started attempting to damage control (to allah) their spawn in Idlib so they cannot make it back to cause mayhem at home.

Re: Abrogating the Iran deal, the main problem IMO, is that it shows the US is not agreement capable. The ramifications of that will be wide and deep.

I hope it does not lead to war that (IMO) will allow to China leap frog the US economy. The implications are scary, but I can easily imagine micro assassin drones (that cannot be easily traced back to their origin) to truly mess with US politics. It also will greatly accelerate the One Belt One Road integration, which already is moving at breakneck speed (and largely ignored in the West).

Bandolero

pl

You asked" "Do we intend to hold Raqqa forever and to what purpose?" Let me try to answer.

Raqqa is famous for making the best falafel of the world. Since the US is dominated by a powerful falafel lobby it's only natural that the US wants to protect that treasury of global cuisine forever.

But there is a little problem with the famous falafel city of Raqqa: it's landlocked and surrounded by the forces of the vicious "dictators" Assad, Erdogan, Abadi and Khamenei. So the only way for the US to hold the famous falafel city of Raqqa against the immenent attacks of these falafel hating dicators is to fight free a land corridor currently occupied by forces of dicator Assad and his buddies Khamenei and Putin from Raqqa to the US base in Tanf, which is just a little bit less than 200 miles south of Raqqa and close to the border of Jordan. After a short fight against the small forces of Assad, Khamenei and Putin the way would be free for the US to build a highway and a high speed railway from Jordan to Raqqa to please world's falafel lovers, and to supply US troops protecting Raqqa. I could not imagine any better place where the US could build a highway and a high speed railway, if not from Jordan to Raqqa.

That is because having Jordan as a start point for a US LOC to the world's falafel capital of Raqqa would also give the US troops in Jordan a sense. What, if not for saving the start point of an LOC to the world's capital of falafel cuisine Raqqa could be the purpose of US troops in Jordan?

Yes, I know, some people say it's all about resources, but I doubt the famous Jordan sands and rocks are worth the US military efforts there. I think it's all senseless if it's not all about falafel.

Babak Makkinejad

These ARE the interests of the United States, as defined by her representative government and, furthermore, are filly endorsed by her allies in UK and in EU.

mike

Good points all. Your last point about DJT's flawed decision being based on too many military men at the top of the government is true. But it is also undeniably true that it was Trump who put them there, another flawed decision on his part IMO.

Just out of curiosity, when and where did McGurk make such a statement regarding Raqqa? Source? I'm not a fan of McGurk, it was his statements against the KRG Referendum that emboldened Baghdad and the Hashd al-Shaabi to react in Kirkuk. But I would like to read the full statement.

By the way, at the risk of being labelled another dippelscheisser, I need to clarify that McGurk is the Presidential Special Envoy for the Global anti-Daesh Coalition whether they (Daeshis) are in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, the Maghreb, Afghanistan or wherever - not just Syria.

blue peacock

Col. Lang,

Is it possible for the US political system to extricate itself from its ME policy dogma which is clearly destructive to US national interests?

Yeah, Right

In fairness to b, he didn't say that he "questions John Kelly's motives".

What he pointed out was that Kelly's own spokesman said that nobody is entitled to question the General's motives.

That's an altogether different proposition, and a highly offensive one.

res

Can you include Bahrain in part 2? Even it is part of Saudi in effect....

Grazhdanochka

Colonel,

Respectfully I would suggest that many mistake the development and manifestation of Organisational Culture and shared Interests with more Hollywood-esque conspiratorial Agendas...

Many I do not think quite consider how many such Organisations Develop a Culture unconciously and all to naturally.

If I may let us start with an Organisation - Eg: Professional Military but many types.

Those whom choose this Occupation will often likely be those predisposed to it (Belief System, Family History, Personal Interests). Coming in to an organisation with their own World View, they have passed the first form of Selection that takes place - Application.

Here on out they are subject to further Environmental Influences - Training, Co Workers, Management, Situational/Experience..

Those whom carry on with this Career likely will be selected for Promotion in part by certain measure of conforming to the Beliefs and Notions expected or acceptance by ones Peers and Superiors.
As often occurs they subsequently either carry on their Career in Management often practicing a similar form of Selection upon new Candidates conciously or not...

If they do not do this often they may indeed take their new found Qualifications and Experience and use it in another Sector (Eg: Media, Educational Institutions, Think Tanks)
Subsequently they can pass on the Institutional Culture and Experience to Audiences whom are still considering that first Stage of Selection - Application or not.
It becomes Cyclic - The Consumers of this Media or Education and somewhat screened by willing consumption to become future Applicants and the Process repeats itself.

That these Worlds Interconnect (Between say Media and Industry 'Professionals' and Political Advocates) confuses many People to think there is some greater conspiracy at place when simple shared Cycles of Production and Consumption of Information and Culture.

I apologize if my Wording is not as clear as I would like..

ex-PFC Chuck
"Eisenhower was in many ways an odd man. Marshall should have gotten rid of him before D-Day."
I hope someday you write about why you make this statement, and also who you suggest Roosevelt and Churchill should have put in command of Overlord in his stead.

Thank you for this concise situation assessment.

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