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Chess

Gov't officials tell NBC Trump wanted tenfold increase in US nuclear arsenal - Trump denies claim, calling it fake news

COURTNEY KUBE, KRISTEN WELKER, CAROL E. LEE and SAVANNAH GUTHRIE
NBC News
Wed, 11 Oct 2017 16:02 UTC
trump generals
President Donald Trump said he wanted what amounted to a nearly tenfold increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal during a gathering this past summer of the nation's highest-ranking national security leaders, according to three officials who were in the room.

Trump's comments, the officials said, came in response to a briefing slide he was shown that charted the steady reduction of U.S. nuclear weapons since the late 1960s. Trump indicated he wanted a bigger stockpile, not the bottom position on that downward-sloping curve.

According to the officials present, Trump's advisers, among them the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, were surprised. Officials briefly explained the legal and practical impediments to a nuclear buildup and how the current military posture is stronger than it was at the height of the buildup. In interviews, they told NBC News that no such expansion is planned.
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Light Sabers

The US is taking a deaf ear to dire Russian warnings - Back off or be prepared for war

Gilbert Doctorow
Consortium News
Mon, 09 Oct 2017 15:38 UTC
freedom fighters
From time to time, the Kremlin uses the Sunday evening weekly news wrap-up program of Dmitry Kiselyov on state television, channel Rossiya-1, to send blunt and public warnings to Washington without diplomatic niceties. Last night was one such case and we must hope that the intended audience within the Beltway can put aside all its distractions about Russia-gate long enough to read a real message from Moscow.

The last such message came in the week following President Trump's April 6 decision to launch 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian air base to punish the Syrian government for an alleged but disputed chemical attack on a village in Idlib province. TV host Kiselyov used his airtime to spell out Russia's disdainful response, which he characterized as unprecedented in scope and seriousness.

It was essential to put all the elements of the warning together in one place, as he did, because the Pentagon sought to downplay the elements in isolation, such as Russia's installation of the Iskander nuclear potential missiles in Kaliningrad, a Russian city on the Baltic Sea surrounded by Poland and Lithuania; or the abrogation of the deconfliction agreement relating to air space over Syria; or the dispatch of still more Russian vessels to the Eastern Mediterranean equipped to sink U.S. Navy ships.

While U.S. generals were saying that the Russians didn't really mean it, Kiselyov put the whole picture on the screen: an ultimatum to Washington to back off or be prepared for war.
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Cloud Precipitation

After throwing Killary's book manuscript in trash, Bill and Hillary Clinton haven't been speaking for months

Chris Pleasance
Daily Mail
Tue, 10 Oct 2017 07:34 UTC
Bill and Hillary Clinton
Bill and Hillary Clinton are not speaking after arguing over her election book What Happened, which Bill said made her look 'bewildered, angry and confused', a friend has said
Bill and Hillary Clinton are not speaking to each other after a blazing argument over her election book, it has been claimed.

The former President threw a manuscript in the trash after Hillary ignored his advice not to publish it, according to author Ed Klein.

Bill had red-penned the book in an attempt to improve it, a friend allegedly told Klein, but flew into a rage when Hillary refused to read any of his notes.

According to Page Six, the friend said: 'He told her the book made her look bewildered, angry and confused, and that those were poor qualities in a person who aspired to be a world leader.

Comment: "It's the economy stupid!" - Don't you remember what got your husband elected and in power to begin with, Kill?

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Light Sabers

Bannon promises to 'declare war' on Republican Establishment in lead-up to 2018 midterm elections

JEFF POOR
Breitbart
Mon, 09 Oct 2017 20:05 UTC
Steve Bannon
Monday on Fox News Channel's "Hannity," former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon offered a preview of what to expect from him in the lead-up to the 2018 midterm elections.

Bannon explained to host Sean Hannity he was "declaring war" on the Republican establishment and said that no incumbent was safe, adding that "just voting" was not good enough and a sense of urgency was required.
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Attention

Moscow slams removal of Russian flags from diplomatic properties seized by US


RT
Thu, 12 Oct 2017 12:55 UTC
Embassy of Russia in the US
© @RussiaInUSA / Twitter
The Embassy of Russia in the US has strongly condemned the removal of Russian flags from previously seized diplomatic compounds and which the State Department claims were "respectfully lowered" and "safely stored" within the properties.

The Russian Mission to the US released photos of the closed diplomatic facility without Russian state flags Wednesday.

"A strong objection was sent to the American side in the wake of the removal of Russian flags from the diplomatic property in San Francisco, controlled by the US authorities. We perceive it as an extremely unfriendly move. We demand [the US] immediately returns the Russian state symbols to their place and prevents such incidents in the future," the embassy said in a statement on Facebook.

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Network

Russia stands ready to mediate relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran


RT
Wed, 11 Oct 2017 21:24 UTC
Iran Saudi Arabia flags
Russia is ready and willing to mediate in establishing relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov has stated.

"We tried several times and offered [to help Iran and Saudi Arabia sit down at the negotiating table], but we do not impose our intermediary role," Bogdanov told reporters.

"But we have always told our partners in both Saudi Arabia and Iran that we are ready to provide both a platform for contacts and friendly services."

Bogdanov added that Moscow has always highlighted the need to resolve the issues between the two countries.

Comment: Russia understands the benefits that would come with mending ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Tensions fostered by Washington have grown greatly over the past decades, resulting in the instability that is the life blood of the US empire. Peaceful relations between these two leaders in the Middle East is seen as a threat to the US, and their propaganda machine is unraveling at the seams to maintain their delusional reality. Just a matter of months ago it would have been unimaginable to consider the re-establishment of relations between Tehran and Riyadh. But with the past weeks of growing ties between Russia and Saudi Arabia, some new possibilities seem to be emerging.

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Stock Up

Pentagon scandal: Spending your tax dollars support troops of defense contractor CEOs

William D. Hartung
TomDispatch.com
Sun, 08 Oct 2017 11:58 UTC
defense contractors
Here's a question for you: How do you spell boondoggle?

The answer (in case you didn't already know): P-e-n-t-a-g-o-n.

Hawks on Capitol Hill and in the U.S. military routinely justify increases in the Defense Department's already munificent budget by arguing that yet more money is needed to "support the troops." If you're already nodding in agreement, let me explain just where a huge chunk of the Pentagon budget -- hundreds of billions of dollars -- really goes. Keep in mind that it's your money we're talking about.

The answer couldn't be more straightforward: it goes directly to private corporations and much of it is then wasted on useless overhead, fat executive salaries, and startling (yet commonplace) cost overruns on weapons systems and other military hardware that, in the end, won't even perform as promised. Too often the result isweapons that aren't needed at prices we can't afford. If anyone truly wanted to help the troops, loosening the corporate grip on the Pentagon budget would be an excellent place to start.
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Attention

Turkey rejects all meetings with outgoing US Ambassador

Adam Garrie
The Duran
Thu, 12 Oct 2017 02:44 UTC
erdogan turkey
Turkey has stated that outgoing US Ambassador John Bass, is no longer a legitimate representative of a foreign state.

Turkey has rejected holding any meetings with outgoing US Ambassador to Turkey, John Bass. While outgoing ambassadors typically meet with ministers of state and even heads of states, President Erdogan and his leading ministers have instead taking the opportunity to slam the United States for refusing to cooperate with Ankara over the arrest of two US consular workers alleged to have ties with the terrorist organisation of Fethullah Gulen.

Turkey has been further infuriated that the US has closed its visa issuing facilities in Turkey as a result of the arrest of the two alleged terrorists who had worked for the United States.
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Stop

Moscow warns against US withdrawal from Iran nuclear deal


Sputnik
Thu, 12 Oct 2017 02:44 UTC
Russia Foreign Ministry
Russian Foreign Ministry
The US withdrawal from last year's agreement with Iran to prevent the country from developing nuclear weapons will prompt more instability in the region and globally, a senior Russian Foreign Ministry diplomat told Sputnik.

A possible US withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal will make the situation in the Middle East worse, a senior Russian diplomat told Sputnik, adding that Moscow does not understand the reasoning behind Washington's desire to exit the accord.

"I cannot say that Russia should condemn somebody or something here. We want our interests to be taken into account and therefore we respect the interests of other states. Another thing is that we do not understand why the United States is interested in a withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal," the Director of the North America Department at the Russian Foreign Ministry Georgiy Borisenko said.
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War Whore

US 'vastly underestimates' Iran's power in Middle East

Alex Gorka
Strategic Culture
Thu, 12 Oct 2017 02:44 UTC
Trump Iran flag
© Real Iran
By insisting on fixing or abrogating the Iran nuclear deal, the United States may be ostracized. And being pushed hard, Iran will retaliate.

President Donald Trump is reportedly planning to deliver an Iran policy speech on October 12 to decertify the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) as he believes that the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran no longer meets the US national security interests. If the president determines that the Iranians are not abiding by the JCPOA, Congress will have two months to decide whether to re-impose sanctions waived under the agreement. The White House said on October 6 that President Donald Trump would also announce new US responses to Iran's missile tests, support for "terrorism" and cyber operations as part of his new Iran strategy.
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