LTC Alexander Vindman, an Army Borgist

(Dutch Harbor)

"When I joined the NSC in July 2018, I began implementing the administration’s policy on Ukraine. In the Spring of 2019, I became aware of outside influencers promoting a false narrative of Ukraine inconsistent with the consensus views of the interagency. This narrative was harmful to U.S. government policy.While my interagency colleagues and I were becoming increasingly optimistic on Ukraine’s prospects, this alternative narrative undermined U.S. government efforts to expand cooperation with Ukraine."  Vindman

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The US Army sends too many officers to graduate schools to study Political Science and International Relations.  These subjects are pseudo sciences based on the 19th Century yearnings of some European scholars for a paradigm change in human affairs that would relieve them of their minority status.   Sadly, these disciplines also create a mentality in officer students that gives inculcates them with the idea that they are members of a kind of fraternity that dominates or should dominate the American foreign policy establishment.  I call that establishment The Borg. 

The Army lent Vindman to the NSC staff, much as the marines lent Oliver North to the White House staff long ago.   In an NSC staff led by the arch neocon John Bolton he must have felt quite at home.  Last Summer he was given the task of listening (with several others) to Trump's conversation with Zelensky.  This is a routine precaution taken to avoid misunderstandings as to what is said.

Vindman says that the president holds views inconsistent "with the consensus views of the interagency." (the Borg)  LTC Vindman has evidently been seduced by the idea that the president of the US is obligated to accept the consensus of The Borg or to tell them the truth about his intentions as he directs US foreign policy.  Vindman is wrong about that.  He, and all the other Borgists are staff, not partners.

Vindman has evidently been returned to the Army.  As a serving Army officer he can only be ejected from the officer corps for legal cause.  IMO it is likely that the Army will be deeply offended by his rejection of his assigned role as a staff officer to the president and his preferred loyalty to The Borg and will find a comfortable place for him in a basement or on a distant island.  (not Hawaii)

I should say that there is nothing wrong with the Army sending officers for study of useful subject but poly sci/ IR are not among them.  pl

https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/read-the-document-opening-statement-of-lieutenant-colonel-alexander-s-vindman/2573a183-18ee-4036-9638-939677a1b9d6/

Comments

[srw]

Is the "policy" you're referring to; 'withholding bipartisan funding for Ukraine until Zelenski investigates the Bidens'?

[turcopolier]

srw

Any policy. As an Army officer detailed to the president's staff he had no right to independent action. the ethical action on his part would have been to ask the Army to remove him form the WH. He then could have done whatever he thought best.

[fanto]

Catherine, I listened today to an interview by NYT correspondent in Moscow, (forgot his name, it was the Fresh Air show of Terry Gross, but she was not the interviewer) - and he mentioned the connection of Zelenskyj with the oligarch Kolomoiskji - and I was somewhat pleasantly surprised that the correspondent of NYT was very carful not to praise Zelenskij to heaven, but was reserving judgment. It seems that the Jewish diaspora, which came from Ukraine and neighboring Moldova (as Ms. Nuland), is quite adamant on regime change in Ukraine; Crimea would be a plum to get, if Russia could be persuaded. The dream of "California in Crimea" was described Pavel Sudoplatov in his autobiography "Special Tasks". Thanks for the explanation to my earlier question about position of AIPAC in current impeachment probe.

[Factotum]

Gaia apparently replaced chain of command in the military. And the workplace and now Congress too.

Gaia weeps - chaos and selfishness was not her original intent. Universal peace and love drives Gaia. At least that is what they claim in LaLaLand.

[Factotum]

One could endlessly parse just that one statement:

"... it is my sacred duty and honor to advance and defend OUR country, irrespective of party or politics." (The Lt Col sez)

Let's just start with his definition of ..... OUR country. I guess his country tosses out the US Constitution and puts himself truly into the position of Commander in Chief.

[Factotum]

Some extra credit reading for you Lt Col Vindman about OUR country:

United States Constitution Section 2

The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

[Factotum]

Trick or Treat? (Red State) - In praise of the deep state say Brennen and McLaughlin:

...."McLaughlin’s response was more than a little disturbing as he in fact confirmed that yes, indeed there was a cadre of folks doing exactly that. “Thank God for the ‘Deep State,'” he said to cheers in the liberal friendly audience.

What he said was truly stunning. Because they didn’t like what Trump was doing, they were going to try to take him out.

“With all of the people who knew what was going on here, it took an intelligence officer to step forward and say something about it, which was the trigger that then unleashed everything else,” McLaughlin said.

He went on to praise the intelligence community. “This is the institution within the U.S. government — that with all of its flaws, and it makes mistakes — is institutionally committed to objectivity and telling the truth,” he said.

“It is one of the few institutions in Washington that is not in a chain of command that makes or implements policy. Its whole job is to speak the truth — it’s engraved in marble in the lobby.”......"

[Lewis A. Ballard]

Colonel Lang, thank you for this site, sir. It is a never ending source of information, and I greatly appreciate your patience in keeping it up and running.

[turcopolier]

factotum

“It is one of the few institutions in Washington that is not in a chain of command that makes or implements policy. Its whole job is to speak the truth — it’s engraved in marble in the lobby.” John Mclaughlin I have known for many years. He is a bootlicking servant of the "collective" at CIA. That is how he became Deputy Director out there at Langley. CIA IS NOT outside the policy world. The operations part of CIA has a legislated role in covert action as well as in clandestine HUMINT. This makes CIA an advocacy group for covert actions that it favors and is carrying out. He either lies in this statement or is deluded.

[Keith Harbaugh]

Some links for McLauglin's comments:
"Former CIA Acting Director Praises ‘Deep State’ For Role In Trump Impeachment Push", Daily Caller 2019-10-31
also, a 1m30s video showing McLaughlin making the comment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89SC1xlQ_pw
I see several of Colonel Lang's best buds were at that conference :-)

[Keith Harbaugh]

Ah! Now I understand why the U.S. seems to be so unfathomably entangled in the affairs of the former Pale of Settlement:
"BEFORE CRIMEA WAS AN ETHNIC RUSSIAN STRONGHOLD,
IT WAS A POTENTIAL JEWISH HOMELAND"
"Jews have lived in the area since ancient times, and leaders from Catherine the Great to Stalin encouraged their settlement there"
That article, from Tablet magazine, is well worth reading. A sample:

The dream of building a Jewish republic in the Crimea remained alive
until the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941.

[catherine]

The Jews had a republic in Russia set up in 1934,a Jewish Autonomous Region with Birobidzhan as its capital.
It was about the size of Holland and Belgium combined. Was located near the China boarder with particularly fertile land and forest.
Stalin supplied it with food and some equipment for the first few years but it was a specular failure. Jews who moved there were not prepared to be farmers and gradually most slipped back into Moscow to pursue their former merchant trades. So there were only a few hundred Jews left there as time went on.

But what is interesting is that the Chinese struck a deal to move into and farm the land. They have turned it into a booming industrial and agricultural region and export its resources like minerals and timber to China.
This has led to renewed Jewish (and Israeli) interest in their only
other official 'Jewish state'outside of Israel.....so there is a movement of Jews returning.

[anon]

Some reality of russian hospitality

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krymchaks

[Factotum]

USN-Ret is not going to let some Army LtCol steal all the thunder taking down the duly elected Commander in Chief. Quoth the McRaven, Trump Nevermore

....."For the first time in 243 years, a 4-star decorated and retired US Navy admiral, Admiral William McRaven, violated the ethos of military professionalism by authoring an Op Ed for release in the New York Times. McRaven openly attacked the President of the United States and brayed for the removal of the President, stating it is time for a new person in the Oval Office— “the sooner, the better.”........ (RedState)

[catherine]

Not sure what your point is...but since your wiki article is only about Jews I assume you are saying Jews were persecuted in Russia despite the fact Russia at times tried to find a solution to their desire for self rule. Nothing new there...light bulb on, light bulb off is the way it has gone thru out the centuries.
Stalin persecuted all religious ...confiscated and burned down churches, mosques, killed clergy, basically outlawed religion and God.

[Goin' South]

"She has to in order to appease the big government employee unions who fund the Democrat party and provide the GOTV ground troops"

Maybe you should set your watch up 40 years to 2019. Those "big government employee unions" aren't capable of funding a primary candidate in a big state these days. The Democratic Party, since the Clintons, is funded by Wall Street.

[Factotum]

Goin' South: Wall Street does not walk precincts, monitor polling stations hauling in Democrats who have not yet dropped off their ballots nor does Wall Street send out vote-harvesters to Skid Row and Memory Care centers and fill out ballots and conduct same day voter registration.

Nope, it is the highly disciplined GOTV public sector unions who do all of this. The public sector unions have immediate existential skin in the game, which is hard to match by any other pervasive entity, even Wall Street.

In the final analysis, it is the actual votes that get counted. Not how much money is spent getting those votes. 200 teacher union members, government employee union members along with police and fire union members will always out vote 100 fat cat Wall Street bankers.

[Keith Harbaugh]

Colonel, I wonder if you have a reaction to this 2019-11-09 sundance column:
The “Coup” Against a Sitting U.S. President Became Official on October 29th, 2019…

It begins (with my added emphasis):

The word “coup” shifted to a new level of formalized meaning last week when
members of the political resistance showed up to remove President Trump wearing military uniforms.

Not only did U.S. military leadership remain silent to the optics and purpose, but in the testimony of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman
he admits to giving instructions to ignore the instructions from a sitting United States President.

In the absence of push-back from the Joint Chiefs, from this moment forth, the impression is
tacit U.S. military support for the Vindman objective.
...
To date there has been no visible comment from U.S. military sanctioning Lt. Col. Vindman for his decision; or correcting the impression represented by Vindman’s military appearance. The willful blindness is concerning, but it gets much worse.

Sundance continues with a very detailed look at Vindman's testimony, pointing out how one of Vindman's lawyers blocked a Congressman's questions. Then sundance prefaces his next analysis of the testimony with:

Congressman John Ratcliffe begins questioning Vindman from the perspective of an Article 92 violation,
coupled with an Article 88 violation.
President Trump, is Lt. Col Vindman’s superior.
President Trump sets the foreign policy.

Two weeks after President Trump has established an agreement with Ukraine President Zelenskyy, and established the policy direction therein,
Lt. Col. Vindman is now giving contrary instructions to the Ukranian government. Vindman’s lawyer recognizes where the questioning is going and goes absolutely bananas:

Very interesting -- do you have an opinion on this?
Does sundance have a point in this?

[turcopolier]

Keith Harbaugh

Vindman is a pompous, conceited ass who values his self esteem more than his constitutional office as a servant of the Republic. I do not think the military supports his insubordinatio. He is headed for the dustbin in the Army and will never make colonel, never go to the War College and will not be selected for command. The Army wants him to go away quietly.

[Hindsight Observer]

and so it shall be done...

National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien appeared on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday and talked about the major reduction in personnel at the NatSec Council moving forward.
Mr. O’Brien told CBS host Margaret Brennan that the agency became bloated under the Obama Administration and ballooned to over 236 people.

Robert O’Brien, who was just appointed as National Security Advisor in September of this year after John Bolton was forced out, said Alexander Vindman is scheduled to be rotated out of his post at the NatSec Council and sent back to the Department of Defense as he pares down the agency to about 100 people.