Showing posts with label Bashar al-Assad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bashar al-Assad. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

LATEST: More Trump Tower presidential extortion


WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2019 NEWS BYTES

More lining of the trump pocketbook... 

Trump Tower Istanbul
Did you know there is a Trump Tower in Istanbul, Turkey? You may or may not know that after a scheduled phone call on Sunday afternoon between President Trump and Turkish President Erdogan, the Oval Office lunatic withdrew all American troops from Syria, in effect, abandoning the Kurds we have been supporting to certain defeat and death. Here's the scenario...
"Turkey has long considered the Kurdish militia in Syria to be a terrorist insurgency, despite the United States providing military and financial aid to the group in its fight against ISIS, the Islamic State militant group."
A National Security Council source said, "Donald Trump got 'rolled' by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan." Or, perhaps it was a conveniently planned accommodation to Erdogan in yet another conflict of interest to receive business favors for his Istanbul Trump Tower. You think? Newsweek says...
"Trump has promised to keep his business empire separate, handing over control of his commercial operations to sons Eric and Donald Jr. for the duration of his time in office. Trump has refused to fully divest from his empire, in what critics have said was a violation of the Constitution's emoluments clause."
And...
"Multiple investigations and reports allege that Trump has been personally profiting from the presidency, using the office to bolster income at his resorts, hotels and other businesses. Foreign officials, for example, have been spending huge sums at his properties, in an effort to ingratiate themselves with his administration."
Ret. Army Lt. Colonel Ralph Peters laughs in Trump's face...(MUST SEE)


Although Trump did not endorse any Turkish military operation against Kurdish Forces, according to Newsweek, he also did not threaten economic sanctions if Turkey took action against them. Ryan Lizza, Politico's chief Washington correspondent explained on Twitter that situations like this "is why presidents divest," adding...
"It is crazy that a president is making national security decisions like the one tonight when he has lucrative business relationships at stake in the country that will benefit."
Here's more...
"John Sipher, who spent 28 years working for the CIA, expressed his frustration at Trump's announcement. 'At least the Trump Administration is consistent,' he said on Twitter. 'We are about screwing our allies, partners and friends. Don't trust America, even if you shed blood on their behalf. If you want favors build a Trump tower.'"
We are entering an era in the United States where the concept of democracy has been diminished to the extent that it takes at least second place to the greed of a maniacal tyrant who took the oath of office for the presidency of this country for the sole purpose of lining his pockets and the pockets of his family. In the interim, the people of the U.S. have witnessed this nation become the laughing stock of the world, as Trump supporters help bring it down.

Ivanka Trump was heavily linked to the Trump Towers project, for which the Trump family has no ownership but just receives a fee for the name. Newsweek reports...
"The towers have previously served as a pressure point for Erdogan's efforts to influence White House policy. Following Trump's proposal to ban all Muslim immigrants from entering the U.S., for example, Erdogan called for the president's name to be taken off the building.
But when Trump expressed support for Erdogan's post-coup crackdown and subsequent mass arrests, Erdogan stopped calling for the towers' name to be changed."
Kurds cut deal with Assad's Syria putting Turkey behind the 8 ball...


In an opinion piece for the Chicago Tribune, Rex Huppke chides Republican lawmakers who look the other way from Donald Trump's "whack-a-doodle decisions, tweets or out-loud admissions of wrongdoing," by reference of what this moron just did to the Syrian Kurds. His point is that as what Trump just did to the Kurds, he will do to all his supporters, desert them if it is convenient for him. The man has no loyalty other than to himself.

Huppke reports that the Kurds had successfully defeated ISIS in Northern Syria, and many of President Trump’s staunchest GOP supporters are calling his recent decision a betrayal. The Tribune writer commented...
"I’m sure it was an absolutely perfect phone call, much like the absolutely perfect phone call between Trump and the Ukrainian president now at the center of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.
I’d like to say it has nothing whatsoever to do with Trump’s odd affinity for dictatorial strongmen like Erdogan or with the fact that there’s a fancy Trump Tower making him money in Turkey."
Huppke finishes with, "So he’s done with them [the Kurds]. And you should be warned that, as soon as it benefits him, he’ll be done with you as well."

READ MORE: "Republicans deliver rare rebuke of Trump, slamming his Syria withdrawal decision"

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

God forbid I would agree with Donald Trump


Thanks to President Bashar al-Assad
If President Bashar al-Assad gassed his people in Syria, there is no doubt that he deserves to be drawn and quartered. IF. Then President Barack Obama in 2013, was in the same position as was Trump recently when he called the strike on the Syrian government. Obama backed off because of intelligence from James Clapper, of his national security team, that indicated the Assad government did not cause the attacks. Trump acted once again on visuals that portrayed the gassing, but did not wait for the follow-up intelligence to corroborate the strikes. The kind of thing that could start war.

The Huffington Post criticizes the general media, particularly CNN for relying on handouts from government sources for confirmations and not digging deeper to uncover sidebars that could change the direction of the investigation. Like the fact that where the gas was released, Khan Sheikhoun, was "...ground zero for the Islamic jihadists who have been at the center of the anti-Assad movement in Syria since 2011." The catch here is...
"Up until February 2017, Khan Sheikhoun was occupied by a pro-ISIS group known as Liwa al-Aqsa that was engaged in an oftentimes-violent struggle with its competitor organization, Al Nusra Front (which later morphed into Tahrir al-Sham, but under any name functioning as Al Qaeda’s arm in Syria) for resources and political influence among the local population."
The question arises, was Donald Trump, in his quick reaction, duped by Al Qaeda? It seems to be Donald John's MO to make his decisions based on visuals, and not always those that can be verified. And the experts are asking why would Assad "...risk everything by using chemical weapons against a target of zero military value, at a time when the strategic balance of power had shifted strongly in his favor." But there have been so many instances of gas attacks in the past, that it is hard for one to determine where to place the blame. Particularly including ISIS, Al Qaeda and all their factions.

The U.S. so far has placed the blame clearly on the Syrian government, along with Russia and Iran. During the Syrian War that has been going for about six years, the Syrian government has used chlorine gas regularly and along with chemical attacks some 1,100 Syrians have been killed. There are reports that ISIS has used mustard gas in the country. So, with so many different political coalitions at work, at the same time, in the same place, is there any way to determine who is responsible? Or is this exactly what Bashar al-Assad wants? The perfect cover.

So, what should be the strategy? Iraq had a dictator and George W. Bush captured him and later he was executed for similar atrocities. Russia was also involved in that country, and the U.S. still proceeded. If anyone could pull off another GWB in Syria, it would be Donald Trump. The big question is, would he do it right? To do that would require getting some sound advice, and to do that would probably mean going outside the current administration advisers. That wouldn't happen, but no problem, DT would just order satellite photos and take it from there.

HP's opinion of general media reportage...
"...outlets like CNN embrace at face value anything they are told by official American sources, including a particularly preposterous insinuation that Russia actually colluded in the chemical weapons attack; the aforementioned presence of Russian officers at Al Shayrat air base has been cited as evidence that Russia had to have known about Syria’s chemical warfare capability, and yet did nothing to prevent the attack."
And where does the final blame lie?...
"The real culprits here are the Trump administration, and President Trump himself. The president’s record of placing more weight on what he sees on television than the intelligence briefings he may or may not be getting, and his lack of intellectual curiosity and unfamiliarity with the nuances and complexities of both foreign and national security policy, created the conditions where the imagery of the Khan Sheikhoun victims that had been disseminated by pro-Al Nusra (i.e., Al Qaeda) outlets could influence critical life-or-death decisions."
Just how far are we from WWIII? 

Monday, August 20, 2012

Gun owners get religion when in the pew…and other gun rights nausea

Yet another poll was taken after the recent Aurora, Colo. and Sikh temple shootings focusing on the attitudes of religious groups.  Released on August 15, and taken by the Public Religion Research Institute conducted in partnership with Religion News Service, there was hands-down agreement: no guns in church.  76% said no to concealed weapons there compared to only 20% who wanted them.  So what happens to the fanatical gun nuts when they go to pray?


One determined gun bubba
In my mind, this is the epitome of hypocrisy since it is the goal of the National Rifle Assn. (NRA), and its members, to make guns available to anyone who wants them, and make it legal for them to take them anywhere they want to.  Not once have I heard from NRA head, Wayne LaPierre, that he wants an open carry policy on firearms, except, of course, when you go to church.  That would mean capitulation, something the NRA has absolutely no appetite for.

In the religious study 54% of these households own one or more guns, compared to the fact that 76% of church-goers who want no weapons in their church.  But this is not so in evangelical congregations; only 35% are in favor of gun control, compared to 52% of all Americans.  Overall, less than one-third of U.S. households own a gun, a figure that has been regularly dropping over the years.

On the other hand, 62% of Catholics and 60% of those unaffiliated believe in gun control.  The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest, thinks he knows why Catholics lean toward gun control, the most obvious reason being that many of them live in urban areas where a lot of the gun violence takes place.  He also surmises that in Catholics, “…there might be a slightly greater appreciation for the notion of the common good, which is enshrined in Catholic social teaching, in addition to individual rights.”

Idiot pastor encourages members to bring guns to church:

The urban concept reappears when looking at Black Protestants who definitely favor more gun control by 71%.  White mainline Protestants drop to only 42% for more gun control, possibly due to the fact that 54% of this group lives in a household with a gun.  But those households without a gun prefer more gun restrictions.  According to the Economic Times, part of the problem for these fanatical gun owners is the mythology that surrounds the issue.

And that, in turn, is supported in the “madness” of the trumpeted legal foundation of the 2nd Amendment, says Bennett Voyles in the ET.

Eliot Spitzer, former New York attorney general and governor, says in a recent Miami Herald article, the government can limit guns immediately.  He adds that New York mayor Michael Bloomberg could do the same.  And he explains clearly how it could be done.  Use the government’s power in the marketplace.  As the largest purchaser of guns, the feds can say to gun manufacturers that they would not:

“…buy any weapons or ammunition from companies that do not agree to pull semi-automatics from their stock and refuse to produce magazines with more than 10 rounds other than for sale to the government.

To begin with, that would show gun companies that the feds are in control of the firearms market, not the National Rifle Assn, (NRA).  Secondly, it would prove that the NRA does not have the power over gun rights that they claim to have and might curb some of the financial support weapons manufacturers provide the organization.  Left with only its members’ dues to exist on, the NRA would soon be out of business or at least left ineffective.

Would John Wayne carry his gun to church?
Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, a Democrat, doesn’t think Congress or the White House will do anything about gun violence before November.  In an article, “Everyone looks at the United States as uncivilized,” Markell takes credit for standing up to the NRA and then beating them at their own game passing gun regulations in Delaware.  He agrees with other studies that say the gun lobby’s influence over Congress is exaggerated.

But let’s return to the title of the article Markell appears in, the part about everyone looking at the U.S. as uncivilized.  “Everyone,” of course, means the rest of the world, and the overall opinion is that America loves its guns over human life.  As an example, the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria has slaughtered thousands; UN estimates number between 17,000 and 20,000.  If you have followed media coverage, you know that the world is calling Assad uncivilized.

I did a post last week, “Why is the NRA so much like Al Qaeda?” which points out the comparison between Osama bin Laden and the NRA’s head, Wayne LaPierre.  Bin Laden wanted to kill as many Americans as possible, no matter what.  LaPierre wants to sell as many guns as possible, no matter what, which is indirectly responsible for 31,347 firearm deaths a year equaling 10.2 deaths per 100,000 population. 

The similarities are frightening which further confirms why America is being called uncivilized by much of the world.

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