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Chess

Trump's Syria 'pullout' is a reconfiguration of forces with an aim towards toppling Iran

Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture Foundation
Sat, 09 Feb 2019 00:00 UTC
Pompeo
© Flickr
US President Donald Trump again this week portrayed his plan to pull troops out of Syria as a "victory homecoming" and "an end to endless wars". Then, in stepped Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to clarify what's really going on: it's a "tactical change" to put Iran in the crosshairs.

The purported pullout is not a return of US military from the Middle East, as Trump has been trumpeting with self-congratulations. It's more a reconfiguration of American military power in the strategically vital region, and in particular for greater aggressive leverage on Iran.

In his State of the Union speech to Congress this week, Trump talked about giving a "warm welcome home to our brave warriors" from Syria. Supposedly it was "mission accomplished" for the US in defeating the ISIS terror group in that country.

It should be pointed out that ISIS would not have been in Syria or Iraq if it were not for criminal American military interventions, covert and overt, in those countries.

Comment: Between Trump's letting the dogs loose on Venezuela and this recent re-definition of the Syria pullout, one wonders just how far gone he's gone to the neo-con camp - or what kinds of pressure they're putting on him to behave like a lunatic.

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Jet2

US tries to weasel out of non-compliance with INF: 'Drones aren't missiles, they are re-usable'


RT
Sat, 09 Feb 2019 20:25 UTC
US drone model
© Reuters / Carlo AllegriReaper drone model seen during a protest in Times Square in New York.
The US military has rejected Russian accusations of violating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, arguing that its drones can't be seen as missiles and Tomahawk-compatible 'defensive' launchers can't be used offensively.

The lengthy statement, drawn up to refute Russian accusations, was issued by the US mission to NATO on Friday. The US argued that the controversial 'target' missiles were in compliance with the treaty, while Aegis Ashore was capable of launching solely 'defensive' missiles. While the US military admitted that its missile defense system was largely based on naval MK.41 vertical launchers - capable of firing cruise missiles - it claimed the land-based versions were totally different.

Comment:

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Eagle

The Syria withdrawal is happening: Trump's 'eye-to-eye' orders to US generals

Mark Perry
The American Conservative
Thu, 07 Feb 2019 18:01 UTC
trump bolton reporters
© Official White House Photo by Shealah CraigheadPresident Donald J. Trump speaks with reporters during a briefing with military leadership members Wednesday, December 26, 2018, at the Al-Asad Airbase in Iraq.
Few other foreign policy decisions of this administration have sparked more criticism than Donald Trump's announcement that he will remove U.S. troops from Syria. Even as he declared last night during his State of the Union address that "as a candidate for president, I loudly pledged a new approach.... Great nations do not fight endless wars," he drew a tepid response from Congress. The planned applause line fell discernibly flat.

Perhaps that's not a surprise, given that the withdrawal has been condemned by leaders from across the political spectrum - including from Trump's own party. South Carolina's Lindsey Graham called keeping troops in Syria "vital to our national security interests." Senator Marco Rubio described the decision as "a major blunder." Nebraskan Ben Sasse said that Iran, ISIS, and Hezbollah were "high-fiving" the move. Finally, last Thursday, Republican leader Mitch McConnell orchestrated a resolution condemning the withdrawal - which passed the Senate in a lopsided vote.

Graham, Rubio, Sasse, and McConnell have been joined in their condemnation by a host of establishment heavyweights. Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, called the withdrawal "a bad idea" that constituted a "strategic defeat" for the U.S. Neocon penitent and Washington Post columnist Max Boot said the decision was a betrayal of America's Kurdish allies - comparing it to America's serial betrayals of "the South Vietnamese in the 1970s, the Afghans in the 1990s, and the Iraqis after 2011." A bevy of retired military types joined the chorus, including MSNBC regular General Barry McCaffrey and former Army vice chief of staff Jack Keane, not to mention former Marine General James Mattis, who announced his resignation as secretary of defense following the announcement.
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Apple Red

Hypocrisy and Politics of Bezos Sex Scandal: Trump, Amazon and Surveillance agencies

Glenn Greenwald
The Intercept
Fri, 08 Feb 2019 00:00 UTC
Bezos Lauren Sanchez
THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER HAS engaged in behavior so lowly and unscrupulous that it created a seemingly impossible storyline: the world's richest billionaire and a notorious labor abuser, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, as a sympathetic victim.

On Thursday, Bezos published emails in which the Enquirer's parent company explicitly threatened to publish intimate photographs of Bezos and his mistress, which were apparently exchanged between the two through their iPhones, unless Bezos agreed to a series of demands involving silence about the company's conduct.

In a perfect world, none of the sexually salacious material the Enquirer was threatening to release would be incriminating or embarrassing to Bezos: it involves consensual sex between adults that is the business of nobody other than those involved and their spouses. But that's not the world in which we live: few news events generate moralizing interest like sex scandals, especially among the media.
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Bad Guys

'Faux-cahontas' launches 2020 bid with call to ignore 'cowards' who call change 'radical'

Alex Seitz-Wald
NBC News
Sat, 09 Feb 2019 18:49 UTC
Elizabeth Warren
© Scott Eisen / Getty ImagesSen. Elizabeth Warren, announces her official bid for President in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on Feb. 9, 2019.
Elizabeth Warren formally launched her presidential campaign Saturday with a call for "fundamental change," even if the "cowards and armchair critics" call it "extreme or radical."

"Because the man in the White House is not the cause of what's broken, he's just the latest - and most extreme - symptom of what's gone wrong in America," Warren said of President Donald Trump at an outdoor rally on a chilly, but sunny winter day.

"It won't be enough to just undo the terrible acts of this administration," Warren continued. "We can't afford to just tinker around the edges - a tax credit here, a regulation there. Our fight is for big, structural change."

Comment: Elizabeth Warren has gotten a lot of air time for her views on banks, working class conditions, etc. Would she be able to put them into action, or are they just words for public consumption? Given Trump's woes, even if she was sincere, it's not likely. Also, she has shown herself a party loyalist, endorsing Killary in the face of the blatant rigging of the DNC primary. Then there's her problematic support for Israel, as she bends the knee to AIPAC.

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Black Cat

Veiled threat: Venezuela's pretend president Guaido says 'we will do what is necessary'


Channel News Asia
Sat, 09 Feb 2019 17:20 UTC
guaido
© Agence France-Presse/Yuri CortezThe president of Venezuela's National Assembly and self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido during an interview with AFP in Caracas
Opposition leader Juan Guaido is challenging President Nicolas Maduro for control of crisis-hit Venezuela, a country plagued by hyperinflation, shortages of basic necessities and rampant violence.

Guaido has declared himself interim president and has been recognised as such by dozens of countries, but Maduro, buoyed by support from the armed forces, has declined to step aside.

In an interview, Guaido discusses the entry of foreign aid, contact with the military and whether he would be willing to allow the highly-controversial step of foreign military intervention.
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Russian Flag

US envoy admits positive Russian role in Afghan peace process


RT
Fri, 08 Feb 2019 17:50 UTC
US troops in Afghanistan
© US Army/1st Lt. Verniccia FordUS troops in Afghanistan, January 2019
US envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad expressed hope that a peace treaty might be concluded this year and said Russia played a "positive role" in the talks, as US generals who fought there conceded the war was lost long ago.

Speaking at the US Institute for Peace (USIP) on Friday, Khalilzad said it would be best for Afghanistan if a peace agreement is reached before the elections, which are scheduled for July. He expressed cautious optimism, but warned that there is "a lot of work" to do still.

"We want a peace agreement in Afghanistan. We want to see the war end. We want to see the war end this year," said Khalilzad, who was appointed peace envoy by the Trump administration in September 2018, and has already met with Taliban officials to negotiate peace.


Comment: See also:

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Pirates

US-backed SDF prepares and launches final op against ISIS in Syria


Sputnik
Sat, 09 Feb 2019 17:19 UTC
sdf syria
© Reuters / Rodi Said
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are preparing for their final offensive against Daesh, which is cornered in a tiny sliver of territory along the Syrian border with Iraq.

Daesh lost its last town of any importance, the town of Hajin, back in November, and on Thursday, the SDF captured two Daesh-controlled villages east of the Euphrates River: al-Marashidah and Arqoub, al-Masdar News reported. With that, the so-called "caliphate" ruled by Daesh was reduced to a couple of square miles around the town of al-Baghuz Fawqani.

Now, after weeks of slow and steady advance, the SDF has halted its assault.

"Currently, the SDF is advancing very cautiously to ensure the safety of civilians that ISIS [Daesh] is using as human shields," an SDF spokesperson told AFP Friday.

With the final push on Daesh's last stronghold only days away, the Kurds are looking to the future. US forces will leave Syria for good by the end of April, Sputnik reported Friday, noting the last pullout spot would be at-Tanf, a base very far from the Euphrates Valley and the SDF.

"We are seeking a political solution in Syria, which requires an agreement with the government in Damascus. We have chosen a political agreement with Damascus because we don't want secession from Syria," senior Kurdish official Badran Jia Kurdi told AFP.

Comment: Later today, after the above statements, the SDF reportedly launched their 'final push':
Speaking to Reuters, Mustafa Bali, the head of the SDF media office, described the campaign as the "last battle" and said that its goal will be to "eliminate the last remnants of the [Daesh] terrorist organisation".

Bali went on to note that over the last 10 days, the SDF had handled the battle "patiently" as residents of villages located near the Daesh enclave near Iraqi border were evacuated. He specified that more than 20,000 had been moved from the villages.


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Question

The Second Caribbean crisis in the making?

Lyle J. Goldstein
The National Interest
Fri, 08 Feb 2019 00:00 UTC
Venezuelanpolice
© Reuters
A Russian defense analyst conjures a U.S. military intervention scenario in Venezuela. It is not a pretty picture.

Russians refer to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, often considered the closest the planet has come to nuclear apocalypse, as the "Caribbean Crisis [Карибский кризис]." Is the table now set for a second "Caribbean Crisis?" President Donald Trump has said that "all options are on the table" in the current Venezuela situation and National Security Advisor John Bolton triggered rumors of an imminent U.S. ground force deployment to Columbia. Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin has sought to reassure Venezuela's embattled leader Nicolás Maduro, and reports suggest that Russian contract soldiers are already on the ground.

To be sure, this iteration seems to be much less dangerous. While Russian strategic bombers paid a visit to Venezuela only a couple of months ago, signs do not appear to point to the outbreak of a massive U.S.-Russia clash of arms over Venezuela. Still, it is worth noting that Russia's strategic forces were quite paltry back in 1962, compared to Moscow's contemporary nuclear firepower . It will, indeed, be important to track Russian perceptions of the evolving crisis, which were summarized by Alexander Yermakov in the Russian newspaper Izvestiya. His work appeared under the headline: "We are going to Maracaibo: will the US begin a military campaign against Venezuela [Мы идем на Маракайбо: начнут ли США военную кампанию против Венесуэлы]" in early February 2019.

Comment: See also: The forthcoming destruction of the 'Caribbean Basin'

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Target

Fierro: At stake in Venezuela is the 'concept and essence of democracy'


Sputnik
Thu, 07 Feb 2019 19:01 UTC
Caracas elections
© AP/Ariana CubillosCaracas elections
The decision of 19 EU member states to follow Washington's suit and support self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido undermines the bloc's authority in foreign affairs, Alejandro Fierro, a member of the Latin American Geopolitical Strategic Centre (CELAG) has told Sputnik.

It's the very concept and the essence of democracy that is at stake in Venezuela, says Alejandro Fierro:
"It is neither about chavism, nor supporting or rejecting [Juan] Guaido, it is the question of democracy. What about more than 9 million people who came to vote on 20 May [2018]? (...) People not only expressed their opinions, they put forward an absolutely legitimate demand".
He elaborated that the recognition of Guaido, who did not participate in the elections, contradicts the results of the vote "which should serve as an absolute mandate for all external and internal political players". To date, 19 EU countries have recognised self-proclaimed interim president of Venezuela Juan Guaido, de facto denying the results of the May election that re-elected Nicolas Maduro to another term as president.

On 4 February, the EU member states' eight-day ultimatum urging Caracas to kick off new presidential election expired. According to the scholar, the eight-day term put forward by European countries was "completely unprecedented", since it has only added to the ongoing political crisis.

Comment: See also:

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