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SOTT Focus: Oil Tycoon, CIA Chief, President: George H.W. Bush Was The Epitome of American Empire

Robert Bridge
RT
Tue, 04 Dec 2018 21:46 UTC
george bush CIA
The late US President George H.W. Bush, a luminary of America's most powerful family, was the personification of a nation addicted to oil, obsessed with secrecy and war, and self-assured of its exceptional qualities.

When considering the life and times of George Herbert Walker Bush, one is forced to enter into a well-guarded mansion that is steeped in so many accumulated layers of wealth, power and secrecy that just scratching the surface requires a pickaxe and dynamite. For here we are dealing with no ordinary politician, but rather the scion of a dynastic clan who had a profound hand in shaping America into the country it is today.

George H.W. Bush was not necessarily predestined for a life of politics in the same way that career politicians, like John F. Kennedy, for example, or Bill Clinton were. Conquering a chunk of the global monopoly board took priority in the Bush household; political power came - like an after-dinner mint - more as a complement to the wealth obtained, and perhaps as a way to acquire more.

George's father, Prescott Sheldon Bush, went on to become, among other things, the vice president of the investment bank A. Harriman & Co. At the age of 60, after making a respectable fortune, he tossed his hat into the political ring and was elected Senator from Connecticut.

Comment: See also: Bush and the JFK hit

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Star of David

Haaretz's Gideon Levy tells it like it is: 'In US media, Israel is untouchable'

Gideon Levy
If Americans Knew Blog
Tue, 04 Dec 2018 02:18 UTC
Gideon Levi
© IndependentGideon Levi
Gideon Levy, in Israel's Ha'aretz newspaper, calls out American media's cowardice. He highlights the double standard in which Palestinians can only be villainized, but Israel can only be defended, and the misuse of the term "anti-Semitism." How is it that an Israeli newspaper can publish this, but in the US, CNN is required to fire Marc Lamont Hill?

Marc Lamont Hill is an American writer and lecturer in communications at Temple University in Philadelphia, and also an analyst with CNN. In a speech last week at a United Nations conference he called for "international action that will give us what justice requires and that is a free Palestine from the river to the sea."

In a matter of hours, the skies collapsed into well-orchestrated hysteria. Seth Mandel, editor of the Washington Examiner, accused Hill of having called for Jewish genocide; Ben Shapiro, an analyst on Fox News, called it an anti-Semitic speech; Consul Dani Dayan tweeted that Hill's remarks were like a "swastika painted in red," the Anti-Defamation League said they were tantamount to calling for Israel to be wiped off the map. The inevitable outcome was not long in coming and CNN fired the rebel analyst on the very same day.

Comment: The influence and clout of the Jewish global network has accomplished its programming: well-entrenched triggers for instant recriminations and ostracization. Hill didn't stand a chance.
See also:


For more on Mark Lamont Hill's speech:
Marc Lamont Hill's call for justice - a free Palestine 'from river to sea' - has consequences

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Snakes in Suits

Trump's foreign policy: Do the same thing but expect a different result

Ron Paul
Ron Paul Institute
Mon, 03 Dec 2018 00:00 UTC
Poroshenko/Obama
© Reuters/Larry Downing
After a week of insisting that a meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Argentina was going to happen, President Trump at the last minute sent out a Tweet explaining that due to a Russia/Ukraine dispute in the Sea of Azov he would no longer be willing to meet his Russian counterpart.

According to Trump, the meeting had to be cancelled because the Russians seized three Ukrainian naval vessels in Russian waters that refused to follow instructions from the Russian military. But as Pat Buchanan wrote in a recent column: how is this little dispute thousands of miles away any of our business?

Unfortunately it is "our business" because of President Obama's foolish idea to overthrow a democratically-elected, pro-Russia government in Ukraine in favor of what his Administration believed would be a "pro-Western" and "pro-NATO" replacement. In short, the Obama Administration did openly to Ukraine what his Democratic Party claims without proof the Russians did to the United States: meddled in a vote.

US interventionism in Ukraine led to the 2014 coup and many dead Ukrainians. Crimea's majority-Russian population held a referendum and decided to re-join Russia rather than remain in a "pro-West" Ukraine that immediately began discriminating against them. Why would anyone object to people opting out of abusive relationships?


Comment: Because it is never an option granted by the abuser.


What is most disappointing about President Trump's foreign policy is that it didn't have to be this way. He ran on a platform of America first, ending foreign wars, NATO skepticism, and better relations with Russia. Americans voted for this policy. He had a mandate, a rejection of Obama's destructive interventionism. But he lost his nerve.

Comment: Wars begin with 'little disputes'. Little disputes begin with meddling. And meddling begins with a plan. (One the Russians never had.)

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Arrow Down

UK: PM May's government loses contempt vote over Brexit legal advice

Kylie MacLellan
Reuters
Tue, 04 Dec 2018 07:17 UTC
Theresa May
© Paul Ellis/WPA Pool/Getty ImagesPrime Minister Theresa May
British Prime Minister Theresa May's government was found in contempt of parliament on Tuesday for refusing to release its full legal advice on Brexit, underlining the depth of opposition among lawmakers to her deal on leaving the European Union.

The row threatened to overshadow the start of five days of debate in parliament on May's Brexit deal ahead of a crucial vote on Dec. 11, when lawmakers will be asked to approve it.

Opposition parties and the small Northern Irish party that props up May's minority government are furious that it only provided an outline of the legal basis for its Brexit deal after parliament voted to be given the full advice.

They put forward a motion, which was backed by 311-293 in a vote on Tuesday, that found ministers in contempt of parliament and ordered the immediate publication of the advice.

"Today's finding of contempt is a badge of shame for this government. It is of huge constitutional and political significance," Keir Starmer, the opposition Labour Party's Brexit spokesman, said after the vote. "Never before has the House of Commons found ministers in contempt of parliament."

Comment: More from CBC:
The development comes after the European Union's highest court advised Tuesday that Britain can unilaterally change its mind about leaving the European Union, boosting hopes among to pro-EU campaigners in the U.K. that Brexit can be stopped.

May's government insists it will never reverse the decision to leave, but May faces a tough battle to win backing in Parliament before lawmakers vote next week on whether to accept or reject the divorce agreement negotiated with the bloc. Defeat would leave the U.K. facing a chaotic "no deal" Brexit and could topple the prime minister, her government, or both.


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Blue Planet

Pompeo: China, Iran, Russia are causing global instability


RFE/RL
Tue, 04 Dec 2018 11:16 UTC
Pompeo
© unknownU.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at a conference of the German Marshall Fund in Brussels on December 4.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has criticized China, Iran, and Russia for violating numerous treaties and multistate agreements.

In a foreign policy speech to the German Marshall Fund in Brussels on December 4 ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, Pompeo said recent moves by the three countries have caused instability in the world.

Pompeo said the United States would continue to lead by calling out "bad actors" that have exploited loopholes within international institutions for their own gain. He also rejected critics who suggest that President Donald Trump's administration is acting unilaterally on key international issues.
"In the finest traditions of our great democracy, we are rallying the noble nations to build a new liberal order that prevents war and achieves greater prosperity. Under President Trump, we are not abandoning international leadership or our friends in the international system. We are acting to preserve, protect, and advance an open, just, transparent, and free world of sovereign states," Pompeo said.

"This project will require actual, not pretend, restoration of the liberal order among nations. It will require an assertive America and leadership from not only my country, but of democracies around the world."

Comment: Pompeo failed to mention US' role as a massive and fundamental part of the problem.

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Attention

Rouhani: The US can't stop Iranian oil exports, Persian Gulf will shut down if they try


RT
Tue, 04 Dec 2018 13:54 UTC
Iranianwgun
© Reuters/Hamed JafarnejadIranian military personnel near Strait of Hormuz in southern Iran
The US is incapable of preventing Iran from exporting its oil and any attempt to stop oil tankers from passing through the Persian Gulf will result in the vital waterway being shut down, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has said.

In a televised address on Tuesday, Rouhani dismissed Washington's stated desire to reduce Tehran's oil exports to zero, and said that Iran would take retaliatory action against any efforts to do so.

"America should know that we are selling our oil and will continue to sell our oil and they are not able to stop our oil exports," he said. He went on to warn that "if one day they want to prevent the export of Iran's oil, then no oil will be exported from the Persian Gulf."


Comment: See also:

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Mail

Pakistan says Trump asked Khan to help bring Taliban to peace talks


RFE/RL
Mon, 03 Dec 2018 09:40 UTC
TrumpKhan
© AFP/ReutersPresident Donald Trump • Prime Minister Imran Khan
Pakistan said U.S. President Donald Trump has written a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan to ask for help with Afghan peace talks.

Pakistani Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said on December 3 that President Trump has "asked for Pakistan's cooperation to bring the Taliban into talks." Chaudhry said Trump's letter asked Pakistan to play a role in peace talks seeking to end the 17-year war in Afghanistan.

There was no immediate confirmation from the White House about Trump writing such a letter, which would be the first direct communication between the two leaders since Imran Khan came into power in August.

The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad also would not comment on Chaudhry's announcement.

Trump has consistently criticized Pakistan since he launched his South Asia and Afghanistan strategy, despite attempts by the two governments to fix problems that have damaged their relations.

Comment: More from Sputnik:
"US President Donald Trump, in his letter addressed to Prime Minister Imran Khan, has stated that his most important regional priority was achieving a negotiated settlement of the Afghan war. In this regard, he has sought Pakistan's support and facilitation. President Trump has also acknowledged that the war had cost both USA and Pakistan. He has emphasized that Pakistan and USA should explore opportunities to work together and renew partnership," the statement read.

Pakistan welcomes the US decision and reaffirms its commitment to "play a facilitation role in good faith," the ministry added.

"Peace and stability in Afghanistan remain a shared responsibility," the statement read.


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X

Putin's spokesman: Does Moscow control Trump? Nonsense, it's a 'witch hunt'


RT
Mon, 03 Dec 2018 20:52 UTC
Putintrump
© AFP/Alexander NemenovVladimir Putin and Donald Trump at the G20 summit in Argentina.
The claims that Russia has any influence on Donald Trump are absurd, Kremlin's press-secretary Dmitry Peskov said. He added that Moscow actually struggles to predict the actions of the US administration, which complicates ties.

Russiagate is "really a witch hunt" and those witches "don't exist," President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said as he met with MGIMO University students in Moscow. "Of course, it's nonsense that Russia has any influence on Trump," Peskov said, expanding on the Russian collusion accusations against the US leader.

On the contrary, Moscow has some real problems in forecasting the Trump administration's erratic moves, Peskov admitted. "One can say that certain unpredictability in the actions of the current [US] administration is obvious and it seriously complicates relations" between Moscow and Washington, he complained.

Comment: Dichotomy: The logical Kremlin perspective - clear and precise, in control of its processes and outcomes. The chaotic Trump perspective - messy and off-setting, pushing resets and ditching paradigms.

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Umbrella

Amnesty: Assad grants pardon to more than 14,500 Syrian deserters


Sputnik
Tue, 04 Dec 2018 00:53 UTC
Damascus
© AP/Sergei GritsDamascus, Syria, August 13, 2018
More than 14,500 Syrians who evaded the duties of military service, including among refugees and former members of illegal armed groups, were granted amnesty in Syria as of December 2, head of the Russian Defense Ministry's Center for Syrian reconciliation Lt. Gen. Sergei Solomatin said on Sunday.
"As part of the implementation of the decree of the President of the Syrian Arab Republic B. Assad dated November 9, 2018, the Syrian authorities continue to work on amnesty for those who evade from military service, including those among refugees and former members of illegal armed groups. As for December 2, 2018, in total 14,522 were granted amnesty," the statement says.
Solomatin also said that one ceasefire violation had been registered in the Idlib de-escalation zone over the past 24 hours, adding that militants attacked the village of Hifsin in the province of Hama.

The center calls on the commanders of the illegal armed groups to abandon armed provocations and take the path of peaceful settlement in the areas under their control, he added.

Comment: A beneficent move by President Assad to heal his country.

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Newspaper

US Senate Democrats tell Trump to talk to Congress before exiting INF treaty


Exchange Monitor
Tue, 04 Dec 2018 20:00 UTC
Inter continental ballistic missile
© Russian Defence Ministry / Global Look Press
A trio of top Senators criticized Donald Trump's decision to walk away from the 1987 INF treaty, saying the move, which lacks "strategic forethought," would spell the end of other arms control treaties.

Trump's decision to withdraw from the milestone Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) came out of the blue for American lawmakers - senators Bob Menendez, Jack Reed, and Mark Warner, who wrote an open letter to the US president.

There were multiple opportunities to explain the rationale behind the pullout, but it turns out that the administration "provided no indication that a decision to withdraw was even imminent," the letter reads.

Comment: See also:

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