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Pompeo declares the US is looking to change Iranian behavior, not regime


RFE/RL
Fri, 25 May 2018 20:02 UTC
Pompeo
© unknownPompeo
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says "regime change" is not the goal of President Donald Trump's policy toward Iran, falling in line with recent comments by other members of the U.S. administration.

"It's not about changing the regime," Pompeo told VOA in an interview broadcast on May 25. "It's about changing the behavior of the leadership in Iran to comport with what the Iranian people really want them to do," he added.

Pompeo's comments come just over two weeks after Trump pulled the United States out of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal that Iran signed with six world powers and which provided Tehran with sanctions relief in return for significant curbs on its nuclear program.

Trump has long complained about the terms of the deal, although the five other signatories -- Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China -- had urged Washington to remain within the agreement.

The controversy over "regime change" surfaced after John Bolton, considered, like Trump, to be a hard-liner on Iran, was named the president's national security adviser in March to replace H.R. McMaster. Before taking the position, Bolton told Fox News in January that the United States should increase economic pressure on Tehran and provide support to government opponents and that "our goal should be regime change in Iran."

Comment: Is there a divide in the administration over its policy going forward regarding Iran? No matter whether it is 'regime change' or 'behavior change,' it is not the US' business to tell Iran how to be or what to do. In 1776, America had a whole revolution to insure this point.

Has Pompeo, himself, miraculously undergone behavior change? Just this week he did the following:

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Attention

Facepalm? Obama spy chief contends Russia decided the outcome of 2016 election

Matt Vespa
Townhall
Thu, 24 May 2018 05:35 UTC
James Clapper
© UnknownJames Clapper, ex-Director National Intelligence
Obama's former spy chief, James Clapper, is on a roll as of late. The ex-Director of National Intelligence has come to the defense of the intelligence community.

Last week, it was reported that Stefan Halper, a longtime CIA operative and Cambridge University professor, spied on the Trump campaign, trying to make contacts with George Papadopoulos, Carter Page, and Sam Clovis. Yet, to Clapper, this isn't spying. It was just a confidential source trying to glean information under false pretenses to see if there was any Russian collusion - and so far, there hasn't been any evidence to suggest the Kremlin was tipping the scales.

Oh, and it was a good thing that the FBI did this during the election. Well, now he's taking it a step further. Despite multiple politicians involved in the investigation into Russian collusion on the Hill, Clapper says the Russians "decided" the election. And obviously by extension, he's referring to President Trump. Also, the Mueller probe has yet to find any evidence of said collusion. Clapper made these remarks on PBS NewsHour Wednesday:

Comment: For some, delusion is so strong and reinforced that it substitutes for truth. See also:

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Question

Inappropriate attire: Hillary Clinton dons heavy coat and scarf in sweltering 90° Boston heat

Cristina Laila
The Gateway Pundit
Fri, 25 May 2018 00:01 UTC
Hillary heavy coat
Hillary Clinton dons heavy coat and scarf in Boston in sweltering heat.


What is Hillary Clinton hiding? On Friday, Hillary Clinton stepped out into the sweltering Boston, MA heat in a heavy coat and scarf.

According to various weather reports, it reached nearly 90 degrees in Boston on Friday.
harvard weather

Comment: If Hillary was in need of a back brace, why on earth would she be trying so hard (unsuccessfully) to hide it? Perhaps she still feels she's got a shot at the presidency and doesn't want anyone to think she's not fit for the job.

See also:

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Gear

'Our path': Iran announces plan to stay in Syria as Pompeo issues unprecedented threats

Tyler Durden
Russia Insider
Wed, 23 May 2018 19:48 UTC
Map of Syria and Iran
It's not up to Uncle Sam but up to Syria and Iran alone

After last Thursday's relatively brief meeting in Sochi between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syria's Bashar al-Assad wherein Putin stressed that it is necessary for all "foreign forces" to withdraw from Syria, there's been much speculation over what Putin actually meant.

Many were quick to point out that Assad had agreed that "illegal foreign forces" should exit Syria - meaning those uninvited occupying forces in the north and northeast, namely, US troops, Turkish troops and their proxies, and all foreign jihadists - while most mainstream Western outlets, CNN and the Washington Post among them, hailed Putin's request to see Iran withdraw from Syria.

Whatever non-Syrian entity Putin intended to include by his words, both Syria and Iran gave their unambiguous response on Monday: Iran announced it would stay in Syria at the request of the Assad government.

Comment: See also: 'Who are you to decide for Iran and the world?' Rouhani rejects Pompeo's Iran demands

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Dollar

Priceless: Andrew McCabe spent $70k on conference table - FBI redacted price in documents for Senate Judiciary Committee


Conservative Fighters
Fri, 25 May 2018 17:07 UTC
Andrew McCabe
© South China Morning PostAndrew McCabe
Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, who was fired for lying under oath, spent $70,000 in taxpayer dollars on a conference table. The FBI also redacted the conference table's steep price tag from documents that members of the Senate Judiciary Committee requested, in an apparent attempt to hide it from Congress.


Comment: No doubt it was for "national security" reasons.


In a letter sent to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Wednesday, Sen. Chuck Grassley revealed that the FBI had redacted the cost of the table from a document he and his fellow members of the committee requested to see. Grassley said many of the redactions within the documents made no sense, nor were they made to protect national security secrets.

"Congress, and the public, have a right to know how the Department spends taxpayer money," Grassley wrote. "I am unaware of any legitimate basis on which the cost of a conference table should be redacted. Embarrassment is not a good enough reason. The manner in which some redactions have been used casts doubt on whether the remaining redactions are necessary and defensible."

Grassley's letter and the revelation about the sweeping redactions, which included hiding the cost of office furniture, is the latest in an ongoing fight between members of Senate Judiciary Committee and Justice Department officials. Members of Congress have been attempting to figure out if the DOJ acted properly throughout its ongoing, year-old investigation into President Trump and his campaign associates led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
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Eye 2

Deep State swamp monster Pompeo says there is no Deep State

Caitlin Johnstone
caitlinjohnstone.com
Sat, 26 May 2018 16:38 UTC
Cia pompeo
© C-SPAN
Secretary of State and former CIA Director Mike Pompeo said during a hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee today that he does not believe there is a deep state in the CIA, the State Department or the Department of Justice, which is the same as a mob boss saying he doesn't believe there is organized crime in the Mafia.

California Rep. Ted Lieu, himself a virulent Russiagater and aggressive defender of the US intelligence community, asked Pompeo if he believed there was a "Criminal Deep State" at the State Department in reference to a recent tweet by America's reality TV president.

"I haven't seen the comments from the president. I don't believe there is a deep state at the State Department," Pompeo said.

"You formerly served as CIA Director," Lieu continued. "Do you believe your colleagues at the CIA are part of the Criminal Deep State?"

Comment:

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Mr. Potato

Liberal hysteria: California Democrat is convinced Trump sent secret message to Russians via joke


Conservative Fighters
Thu, 24 May 2018 16:32 UTC
carlson swalwell
For more than a year, elected Democrats and the liberal media have alleged that President Donald Trump colluded with the Russian government to "steal" the 2016 election away from the "rightful winner," Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, a narrative that has been steadily unraveling over time.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson has grown impatient at the lack of actual evidence put forward to justify such claims or the investigations that have sprung from them, so Monday he invited one of Trump's most vociferous critics on the topic of Russia - California Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat who sits on the House Intelligence Committee - to appear on his program.

Carlson asked Swalwell for any evidence he has seen after 18 months of investigation to back up the collusion case, according to BizPac Review.

Swalwell offered up nothing that hasn't already been made known before about tenuous business connections and marginal meetings that went nowhere, and even seemed to point to an obvious joke by Trump on the campaign trail in July 2016 where he asked the Russians if they knew the whereabouts of Clinton's 30,000 missing emails as "proof" of some sort of secret coded message to encourage Russian hacking and interference.

Comment: Mass hallucination and the assumption that your enemies are always lying is a sign of mass hysteria.

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Megaphone

Putin: 'We must adhere to common rules, unilateral action leads to a dead end'


RT
Fri, 25 May 2018 17:13 UTC
Russian President Vladimir Putin is applauded by his French counterpat Emmanuel Macron after delivering a speech during a session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Russia May 25, 2018.
© Grigory Dukor / ReutersRussian President Vladimir Putin is applauded by his French counterpat Emmanuel Macron after delivering a speech during a session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Russia May 25, 2018.
The US should honor its international agreements, regardless of who is in the White House, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, taking aim at Donald Trump's recent decision to pull out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Friday, Putin said that changing international agreements along with the US presidential cycle will lead to mistrust and a breakdown in international norms.

"Every four years, presidential elections take place in the United States, so if international treaties and documents are being signed every three or four years, they're going to be re-thought. So what will be the time-frame for planning if one follows this particular regime?" Putin asked, observing that allowing such a political cycle to interfere in major international treaties will naturally "lead to an environment wrought with mistrust."

Comment: If the EU knows what's best for them, they'll forge ahead with Iran and the billion dollar deals they're making with Russia and China. And perhaps they'll end up paying for off the euro or the petro-yuan, starving out the US once and for all: Also check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Atlantic Trade War? How Trump Breaking Iran Deal Could Dismantle US Empire

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Dollars

Is this the end of the Euro?

Raúl Ilargi Meijer
The Automatic Earth
Fri, 25 May 2018 15:21 UTC
The Therapist, 1937
© www.ReneMagritte.orgThe Therapist, 1937
The Spanish government is about to fall after the Ciudadanos party decided to join PSOE (socialist) and Podemos in a non-confidence vote against PM Rajoy. Hmm, what would that mean for the Catalan politicians Rajoy is persecuting? The Spanish political crisis is inextricably linked to the Italian one, not even because they are so much alike, but because both combine to create huge financial uncertainty in the eurozone.

Sometimes it takes a little uproar to reveal the reality behind the curtain. Both countries, Italy perhaps some more than Spain, would long since have seen collapse if not for the ECB. In essence, Mario Draghi is buying up trillions in sovereign bonds to disguise the fact that the present construction of the euro makes it inevitable that the poorer south of Europe will lose against the north.

Club Med needs a mechanism to devalue their currencies from time to time to keep up. Signing up for the euro meant they lost that mechanism, and the currency itself doesn't provide an alternative. The euro has become a cage, a prison for the poorer brethren, but if you look a bit further, it's also a prison for Germany, which will be forced to either bail out Italy or crush it the way Greece was crushed.

Italy and Spain are much larger economies than Greece is, and therefore much larger problems. Problems that are about to become infinitely more painful than they would have been had the countries been able to devalue their currencies. If you want to define the main fault of the euro, it is that: it creates problems that would not have existed if the common currency itself didn't. This was inevitable from the get-go. The fatal flaw was baked into the cake.
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Info

Forget Kim: It's time for a Trump-Putin summit - Now!

James George Jatras
Strategic Culture Foundation
Fri, 25 May 2018 14:37 UTC
Putin and Trump
In the aftermath of US President Donald Trump's cancellation of his scheduled June 12 summit with North Korea's Kim Jong-un, the gathering clouds of global conflict are getting thicker and darker:


Comment: Not so fast. The Korea summit is still on the table: Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in hammer out US summit plans


Korea: The cancellation is a triumph for Trump's national security team, most if not all of whom were horrified at the prospect of his meeting personally with Kim. (There was no telling what the Big Man might agree to if he met Little Rocket Man face to face. What if Korea actually were denuclearized? There would be no more excuse for keeping American troops on the peninsula! Disaster!) From the team's perspective, scuttling the meeting altogether would be the best outcome, but derailing the date and cranking the nasty rhetoric back up will do for now. Talk of a Libyan model, even more than inclusion of B-52s in exercises with South Korea (which Trump reversed), got the job done. Now it's imperative for the national security establishment to load Trump up with nonnegotiable demands (maybe patterned on Pompeo's Iran provocation; see below) that Kim would have no choice but to refuse on the chance the summit gets rescheduled through the frantic efforts of South Korea's Moon Jae-in - and maybe of Trump himself, if he still wants a shot at that Nobel Peace Prize. Pyongyang's continued willingness to talk will register in Washington as desperation and an invitation for renewed pressure.
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