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SOTT Focus: NATO is a completely useless organization

Craig Murray
craigmurray.org.uk
Mon, 02 Jul 2018 22:25 UTC
migrant boat
The direct result of NATO's destruction of Libya.
A NATO summit approaches that brings Donald Trump to Europe and then on to these shores, and brings the usual clamour for more of the taxpayers' money to be given to arms manufacturers.

Yet NATO is a demonstrably useless institution. Its largest ever active military deployment, for 12 years in Afghanistan, resulted in military defeat throughout 80% of the country, the installation of a pocket regime whose scrip does not run further than you can throw the scrip, and a vast outflow of heroin to finance the criminal underworld throughout NATO countries.
afghanistan opium chart
Look at this chart closely, and marvel at the fact that the NATO occupation began in early 2002.

In invading Afghanistan and boosting the heroin warlords, NATO countries destabilised themselves.
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Footprints

Agent testifies Associated Press may have led FBI to Paul Manafort's storage locker

Josh Gerstein
Politico
Fri, 29 Jun 2018 20:38 UTC
Paul Manafort
© Jacquelyn Martin/AP PhotoPaul Manafort is set for trial July 25 in Alexandria on charges of bank fraud, tax evasion and failing to report foreign bank accounts.
A meeting last year where Associated Press reporters discussed with federal officials the news outlet's investigation of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's finances may have led the FBI to a storage locker the bureau raided, an FBI agent testified Friday.

The unexpected testimony from FBI Agent Jeff Pfeiffer at a federal court hearing in Alexandria, Virginia, on the legality of the May 2017 search was the first live witness the government has offered against Manafort since special counsel Robert Mueller's first indictment against the longtime lobbyist and political consultant was returned last October.

The April 2017 meeting between AP reporters and officials from the Justice Department's Criminal Division and the FBI has been the subject of inquiries from congressional Republicans, who suggested it that it might have involved leaks to the media.

Pfeiffer, however, described the session as an opportunity for federal investigators to hear what The AP had discovered. The FBI agent said that the federal investigators rebuffed the reporters' questions, at least most of the time.

Asked by prosecutor Uzo Asonye how the officials responded to the journalists' queries, Pfeiffer said: "Generally, no comment."

Comment: More on Manafort:

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Magnify

It's all about him! Obama says Hillary lost in 2016 because 'people were so focused on me'

Hank Berrien
The Daily Wire
Fri, 29 Jun 2018 20:27 UTC
Nobel Peace Prize to Obama
© Unknown
On Thursday, former president Barack Obama offered his usual narcissistic perspective, this time as to why the Democrats got pounded in the 2016 election: "People were so focused on me."

Yup, the fact that Hillary Clinton was a terrible candidate, that much of America was sick of the Left's identity politics, and that Donald Trump ran one of the most energized campaigns in recent years weren't the prime cause of the Democrats' woes; it was simply that Democrats couldn't muster the energy to vote because of Obama himself. As Politico reports, speaking at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser, Obama intoned, "Do not wait for the perfect message, don't wait to feel a tingle in your spine because you're expecting politicians to be so inspiring and poetic and moving that somehow, 'OK, I'll get off my couch after all and go spend the 15-20 minutes it takes for me to vote.' Because that's part of what happened in the last election. I heard that too much. Boil it down ... If we don't vote, then this democracy doesn't work."

Comment: Interesting insight into the mind of Barack Obama, isn't it?

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Radar

Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman now operating in the Atlantic Ocean where Russian submarine activity has increased

Sam LaGrone
USNI News
Fri, 29 Jun 2018 18:17 UTC
aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75)
© US Navy PhotoUSS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) conducts a strait transit. Truman is currently deployed as part of an ongoing rotation of U.S. forces supporting maritime security operations in international waters around the globe on April 27, 2018.
The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) has left the Mediterranean Sea and is now operating in the Atlantic Ocean, a defense official confirmed to USNI News.

This week the carrier, the embarked Carrier Air Wing 1 and some of its escorts passed through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Atlantic after spending several days in port in Marseille, France.

"As a matter of longstanding policy, we do not discuss future operations, but I can tell you that the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group will continue to conduct operations in support of our NATO allies, European and African partner nations, coalition partners, and U.S. national security interests," Cmdr. John Perkins, a spokesman with U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa, told USNI News.

The move to the Atlantic is arguably a continued expression of two constituent themes in the Pentagon as of late: a return to great power competition outlined in new strategic planning documents, and the direction from Secretary of Defense James Mattis that U.S. forces need to be "strategically predictable and operationally unpredictable."

In terms of great power competition, there is growing evidence that Russia continues to push its newest attack submarines to operate the North Atlantic at a pace not seen since the Cold War, Navy leaders have continued to stress publicly.

Comment: Back in April: US deploys Truman Carrier Strike Group accompanied by 7 warships with cruise missiles to Mediterranean

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Attention

Kushner's 'Ultimate Deal' for Palestine would strip the people of all their dignity

Robert Fisk
Information Clearing House
Fri, 29 Jun 2018 00:00 UTC
TrumpNetiKushner
© Drew Angerer • Getty ImagesUS President Trump • Jared Kushner • Israeli PM Netanyahu
After three Arab-Israeli wars, tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths and millions of refugees, does Kushner really believe that the Palestinians will settle for cash?

Is there no humiliation left for the Palestinians? After Oslo, after the "two state solution", after the years of Israeli occupation - of "Area A" and "Area C" to define which kind of occupation the Palestinians must live under - after the vast Jewish colonisation of land thieved from its Arab owners, after the mass killings of Gaza, and Trump's decision that Jerusalem, all of Jerusalem, must be the capital of Israel, are the Palestinians going to be asked to settle for cash and a miserable village? Is there no shame left?

For the Palestinians are soon to be awarded the "ultimate deal" - "ultimate", as in the last, definitive, terminal, conclusive, no-more-cards-to-play, cash-in-your-chips, go-for-broke, take-it-or-leave-it, to-hell-with-you, cease-and-desist, endgame "deal". A pitiful village as a capital, no end to colonisation, no security, no army, no independent borders, no unity - in return for a huge amount of money, billions of dollars and euros, millions of pounds, zillions of dinars and shekels and spondulix and filthy lucre, the real "moolah".
"I believe," quoth Crown Prince Kushner this week, "that Palestinian people are less invested in the politicians' talking points than they are in seeing how a deal will give them and their future generations new opportunities, more and better paying jobs and prospects for a better life."

Comment: An inconvenient problem? Let's throw money at it and make it go away. By all means, do not consult with the recipients of this beneficence and just forget there is no end to colonization, no security, no army, no independent borders, no unity and no restrictions on Israel going forward regarding Palestine and its people. Such a deal. Heroes in their own eyes.

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Attention

Trump supporters now cheering for the deep state over Wikileaks and Iran

Caitlin Johnstone
caitlinjohnstone.com
Fri, 29 Jun 2018 00:00 UTC
ScreenshotCaitlin
© Twitter
I just want to briefly document some of the ways I'm seeing the 2015/2016 anti-establishment sentiment of Trump's base being hijacked and re-routed into supporting some highly conspicuous pro-establishment interests this year.

In 2016 and 2017, much of the anti-establishment sentiment on what passes for America's political "left" today was co-opted and re-routed into supporting longstanding establishment agendas against WikiLeaks, Russia, and Syria. I watched many Bernie Sanders supporters I'd fought alongside in 2015 and 2016 succumb one by one to the establishment Russiagate mind virus; it felt like watching a zombie apocalypse unfold, infection by infection.

Fearmongering about Trump was used to herd people who support peace into cheering for ancient neoconservative agendas against Russia, making everyone terrified of a country they'd previously never thought much about, using still-unproven and plot hole-riddled claims about hacking and election meddling. This in turn was used to create narratives about "Russian propaganda", which was used to poison the well against anyone who questioned the warmongering establishment Syria narrative. It was also used to turn people against WikiLeaks who had supported it since its publications about Bush administration war crimes, and in the case of Berners even during the 2016 DNC/Podesta email drops.

In exactly the same way, I've been watching a lot of Trump supporters herded into supporting longtime neoconservative agendas they would surely have claimed to oppose in 2016. Because of the establishment psyop known as "QAnon" and Trump's near-total abandonment of the anti-interventionist platform he campaigned on, a good chunk of Trump's base who in 2016 would never have been on board with attacks on WikiLeaks or another regime change agenda in the Middle East are now fully on board with both of those things.
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Attention

The German Standoff: Merkel set to lose face or job since CSU won't compromise on migration


RT
Mon, 02 Jul 2018 13:00 UTC
MerkelSeehofer
© Sean Gallup/GettyGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel • Interior Minister Horst Seehofer
The conflict between Angela Merkel and her Interior Minister Horst Seehofer is so severe that either she loses face or they both lose their jobs and Germany is without a chancellor, political scientist Werner J. Patzelt told RT.

Seehofer is threatening to resign amid a growing divide with Chancellor Merkel over migration policy. He has been pushing for a tougher stance on asylum seekers and German media suggest he wasn't swayed by a recent deal struck by the EU to solve the crisis.

RT spoke to Patzelt, a professor of the Technical University of Dresden, who believes the stand-off within the German leadership may not end with a favorable compromise.

Comment: Germany could potentially cause a chain reaction throughout Europe for countries to turn away migrants and refugees. It is shaping up to be a showdown of epic resonance and consequences, the least of which is the elimination of both Merkel and Seehofer.

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Snakes in Suits

Bolton: Putin assured me Russia didn't meddle in elections, but Trump will want to talk about it


RT
Sun, 01 Jul 2018 17:52 UTC
PutinBoltonLavrov
© Reuters
Donald Trump will probably want to have a "conversation" about election-meddling during his meeting with Vladimir Putin, despite the Russian president's repeated assurances that the Kremlin did not interfere in the 2016 race.

In his first interview since meeting with Putin in Moscow, US National Security Adviser John Bolton told Fox News Sunday that, when he met the Russian president, he was assured that the Kremlin did not take part in any sort of election-meddling.

"I'll tell you what President Putin said to me, through the translator of course. He said there was no meddling in the 2016 election by the Russian state," Bolton said.

Despite this, he stated that Trump will "want to have a conversation about this and say 'we don't want to see meddling in the 2018 election'" when he meets with Putin in Helsinki on July 16. Bolton himself said that he believed "the intelligence" he'd seen, that Russia tried to affect the election. His comments come just one day after Trump himself told reporters aboard Air Force One that "we'll be talking about elections. We don't want anybody tampering with elections."

Trump had previously stated that he believed Vladimir Putin when he previously told him that Russia had not meddled in the election. Last week, he tweeted that "Russia continues to say they had nothing to do with meddling in our election," while at the same time attacking the FBI.

Comment: There are things, for the record, that must be said.

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Attention

Migration policy rift with Merkel: Seehofer would rather resign than acquiesce


RT
Sun, 01 Jul 2018 21:11 UTC
MerkelSeehofer
© AP Photo/Maurizio Gambarini/dpaGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel • CSU leader/IM Horst Seehofer
Bavarian CSU leader and Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said he would rather resign from both of his posts than back down in his severe rift with Chancellor Angela Merkel over Germany's migration policy, local media report.

While Seehofer, who has spearheaded the opposition to Merkel's approach to tackling immigration problems, has not officially submitted his resignation, sources at a closed Christian Social Union presidency meeting told German media that he had made such a proposal and that other party members were trying to change his mind.

A CSU press conference planned for Sunday night has, meanwhile, been cancelled, with Seehofer reportedly planning to make a final attempt at reconciliation with Merkel's Christian Democratic Union on Monday.

According to reports, Seehofer sees few options for the CSU: Either to stand firm on the immigration dispute and risk undermining the ruling coalition, or to back down and damage the party's credibility, reports Spiegel editor Melanie Amann. As a third option, the CSU leader reportedly offered to leave his post, possibly in an attempt to boost party members' support of his strategy.

Comment: For more on this topic, see also:

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Clipboard

Nunes refers 17 DOJ, FBI officials to Gowdy and Goodlatte to grill on surveillance abuse

Daniel Chaitin
Washington Examiner
Sun, 01 Jul 2018 07:59 UTC
Devin Nunes
© AP Photo/Pablo Martinez MonsivaisHouse Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., wrote a letter to fellow GOP chairmen referring the names of 17 current and former Justice Department and FBI officials to be interviewed for information related to potential surveillance abuse during the 2016 election.

The letter, sent Friday, was addressed to House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. Nunes pressed his colleagues to reach out to these individuals because they may "have relevant information" and because the DOJ and FBI are under the purview of their panels' oversight.

"For the sake of transparency and to keep the American people as fully informed as possible about these matters, the task force should consider interviewing these individuals in an open setting," Nunes wrote, according to the letter obtained by Fox News.

Both the DOJ and FBI did not immediately respond to the outlet's request for comment.
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