Obama's reset button campaign leaves him perplexed. He cannot understand why Putin would place jet planes in Syria after he asked him not to do so and just be nice and cooperative.
Well Mr. President, it is called exercising power, something you neither believe in nor know how to do except when it comes to confronting Congress. Then you willingly even skirt The Constitution..
Let me try and explain. There are leaders and nations who do not agree America should stand in their way and when America sends a message of weakness, as you have so often done, they take advantage of the vacuum created.
Second, the words of other leaders and nations are not always believable and you will, if you have not already learned, find this out when it comes to Iran, N Korea, Russia, Cuba, China and most particularly Abbas. You see, Mr. President, keeping your word is not universal. You should know that because you seldom have kept your word except in one key instance. You told us you wanted to transform America and you have. Not for the better, I might add. As a result, not everyone has the doctor they liked, Assad remains in power, four Americans were killed in Libya and millions of people have fled their homes, others beheaded and burned alive etc.. These tragic events transcend ethnicity and religion because there are those, mostly radical Islamists, who like to hate and destroy. Though you cannot bring yourself to mouth the words reality is reality.
Finally, Mr. President the world actually is generally better off when America intercedes. Yes, we overstep at times and we are not perfect but America is an overall force for good and that is something you do not wish to understand. Therefore, when you set about apologizing for the nation you lead it sends a bad message and now we are reaping the consequences.
The Nobel Committee was myopic and gave you a medal almost coincidentally with when you were sending Churchill's Bust back to England. Frankly, Mr President, Churchill was an admirable leader. Yes, he made mistakes, drank more than he should and was cantankerous but you could learn a great deal from him because his is an excellent leadership role model. Should you quit looking in the mirror and seeing who you mistakenly believe yourself to be, you might benefit more by seeing Churchill's Bust! (See 1 below.)
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My friend and fellow memo reader, Robbie Friedmann, attended the IDC Conference onTerrorism and made these remarks. (https://youtu.be/UBP-v0Zi2r0: and see his article in 2 below.)
and
This from another friend and fellow memo reader. It is a bit over the top but still worthwhile reading because it reflects the anger and distrust of so many. (See 2a below)
Meanwhile, I believe the guns are out for Trump, he has probably peaked and thus it will be interesting to see how and whether he can maintain his lead. Meanwhile the double standard Geni is out of the bottle: "Are Trump's Comments Any More Offensive than Rosie's or Carly's
As Donald Trump maintains his lead in the polls, his comments continue to come under scrutiny. No matter what he says, the media and the Republican establishment are quick to pass judgement. But what about the context? What about the fact that other people say the same kinds of things? Is a woman allowed to say something that Donald Trump isn't? Is this a double standard or simply a "Trump" standard?"
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Dick
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Russia Moves Its First Tactical Fighter Jets to Base in Syria
Move raises U.S. concerns Moscow will play direct role in helping Bashar al-Assad
The arrival of the jets was first detected hours before Defense Secretary Ash Carter spoke to his Russian counterpart for the first time this year. PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Russia has moved jet fighters to a base in Syria for the first time, U.S. defense officials said Friday, a major military escalation that heightens fears Moscow is set to play a more direct role in propping up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The deployment of a small number of tactical jets came just hours before U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter spoke to his Russian counterpart about Moscow’s deepening role in Syria, a call that ended a long pause in high-level military communication between the U.S. and Russia.
U.S. defense officials said the nearly hourlong conversation was designed in part to help avert a confrontation in Syria between the U.S. and Russia, which have long been on opposite sides of the 4½-year-old civil war.
Russia’s decision to send in jets, however, is the clearest indication Moscow is preparing to use military might to help Mr. Assad as he clings to power.
U.S. policy in Syria, which has for years sought to avoid getting drawn into the protracted and bloody conflict, is at a turning point, prompted by the flood of refugees into Europe and the surprising Russian escalation.
The direct involvement of Russian forces in the Syrian civil war on behalf of Mr. Assad would mark a new twist that could put American pilots, who regularly fly surveillance flights and airstrike missions, in substantially greater danger.In addition, the Obama administration is considering whether to scrap its troubled plan to arm moderate Syrians to battle the extremists of Islamic State, which controls much of Syria.
Russian officials have sought to play down the buildup at the coastal Syrian airfield as routine military support for Syria that should not be alarming to the U.S. and its allies, however.
During their call, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu told the Pentagon chief that Russia’s military buildup in Syria is “defensive in nature” and “designed to honor commitments made to the Syrian government,” according to a senior U.S. defense official.
Even though Russian support would be aimed also at subduing Islamic State, it runs counter to current U.S. policy, which calls for Mr. Assad’s ouster. And it opens up the possibility that Russian jets could attack U.S.-backed Syrian forces battling Mr. Assad.
Defense officials said over the past two weeks Russia has stepped up development of an airfield near the port city of Latakia by sending in housing for up to 2,000 people, attack and transport helicopters, artillery, tanks and armored personnel carriers.
The jets, believed to be Sukhoi Su-27s, which are designed for air-to-air combat, could be used to challenge U.S. planes flying over Syria or to help Syrian forces defending the Assad regime.
Last year, to protest Russia’s intervention in Ukraine, the Pentagon suspended military cooperation with Moscow, a move that cut off bilateral talks, joint exercises and planning sessions.
The Obama administration decided in recent days the time was right to resume high-level military ties, despite the implication that Russia was being forgiven.
“It will help to define some of the different options that are available to us as we consider next steps in Syria,” Secretary of State John Kerry said in London. “Clearly, if you’re going to have a political settlement, which we’ve always argued is the best and only way to resolve Syria, you need to have conversations with people and you need to find a common ground.”
Friday’s call between Mr. Carter and Mr. Shoygu marked the first time the two officials have spoken, and it gave the U.S. a chance to press Moscow on its intentions in Syria, which remain opaque to Washington. U.S. defense officials wouldn’t say whether or not Mr. Carter was informed of the jet fighters’ arrival in Syria before his call with Mr. Shoygu.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest sought to play down potential military cooperation with Russia as limited, saying it would only be on “a practical, tactical level” in Syria, designed to avoid any inadvertent conflict between U.S. and Russian forces.
“That’s obviously different than the kind of military-to-military cooperation between our two countries that was in place prior to Russia’s inappropriate and unjust interference in eastern Ukraine,” Mr. Earnest said.
The U.S. has said it would welcome Russian airstrikes against Islamic State militants, but not if they were in support of Mr. Assad. It seems unlikely that Russia would join the U.S.-led coalition carrying out attacks on Islamic State forces, which means the U.S. could be forced to coordinate with Russia if both countries are flying missions over Syria.
In Iraq, Iran has carried out a limited number of airstrikes, but they have not created a serious risk of confrontation with U.S. planes.
Russia, one of Mr. Assad’s most important allies, stepped up its military role in Syria after Mr. Assad admitted in July that his forces had lost control of more than half of the country to militants.
Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for Russia’s ministry of defense, confirmed the conversation between Messrs. Carter and Shoygu.
“In the course of an hour-long discussion, the two held a detailed discussion on both the situation in the Middle East in general, and in Syria in Iraq in particular,” Gen. Konashenkov said. “The ministers confirmed the re-establishment of direct military-to-military contacts between both countries and agreed to continue consultations.”
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that John Tefft, the U.S. ambassador to Russia, had also met Friday with Mikhail Bogdanov, a deputy Russian foreign minister, to discuss the Syria crisis.
The news that the U.S. and Russian militaries were ready to engage on the Syria issue follows a series of phone calls between Mr. Kerry and his counterpart, Foreign MinisterSergei Lavrov.
“We are also ready to engage in discussion” about military-to-military contact over Syria, said Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry. “Lavrov proposed it many times to Kerry.”
—Carol E. Lee and Felicia Schwartz contributed to this article.
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2)Dr. Robert Friedmann was the speaker on this overall Middle East perspective with emphasis on the Obama Administration’s attempt to create a legacy of new-found peace with Iran and deferring their emergence as a nuclear state. He is Professor Emeritus of Criminal Justice at Georgia State University and Director of the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange.
Historical Perspective
He started with a review of what happened towards the end of the First World War, when Britain and France created countries that had never really existed before - namely Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan via the Sykes-Picot Agreement. This region had throughout history (before the discovery of the New World) been strategically situated as a connecting focal point near the continents of Asia, Africa and Europe. So it was geography and not just religion that created controversies there. Jerusalem being claimed as an important city for Jews, Christians and Muslims.
Also noted was that Iran and Turkey have become powerful non-Arab Muslim countries and rivals in the region.
Iran was a sophisticated military power for centuries, so when it became a Shiite state after the fall of the Shah, things turned for the worse. Some blame was placed on President Carter who misread the dangerous nature of that new Islamist State (“Khomeini is a noble cleric”).
Carter then refused to exert American power to free the 52 hostages taken from the American Embassy in 1979. It took less than a day in 1981 for the new President Ronald Reagan to get them released. The implication is that the Middle East mentality respects power and senses the original action void as weakness by the U.S. This is viewed as crucial to the current Obama Administration getting out-negotiated by Iran by a wide margin.
Not just Jimmy Carter, but many Westerners were fooled by the intensity of the fundamentalist Muslims in intending to recapture their Caliphates and even desiring to take over the whole world.
The Deal - Why It’s So Bad
The principal reason is the very fact that Iran agreed to it, as they never intended to give up on their original intent to become a nuclear power. Friedmann’s view is that Obama and Kerry were so intent on having a deal that they virtually conceded on every major point. There is a general view among those familiar with the participants close to this “Deal” is that the U.S. got virtually nothing.
Obama’s assertion that only one nation publicly expressed opposition to the Deal, Israel, is very misleading as all of Iran’s foes in the region privately are aghast at it, but will not publicly say so.
One reason offered for the one-sided-ness of this Deal is that the U.S. tends to negotiate in good faith, respecting contracts, while the other side is totally duplicitous. “Taqiyah” in Islam means you are encouraged to lie to non-believers to achieve ultimate Islamist goals.
Further proof that we got hoodwinked in the Deal was Secretary Kerry’s astonishing admission that he had not read the “secret” bilateral side deal arranged between Iran and the .IAEA, Iran can now declare any site as military and thwart inspection completely. Before that the “agreement” that Iran had 24 days to cover up a site before inspectors could get in.
Did we learn anything when Bill Clinton’s team of negotiators botched the North Korean negotiations to prevent nuclear expansion, and now North Korea has the bomb?
Audience Queries
I
n the Q&A session, Friedmann first explained why the U.S. Jewish community has not supported the Israeli abhorrence to this treaty, as there is still too much remnants of a liberal view of American politics and reluctance to criticize Democratic politicians. Reaction to NY Senator Chuck Schumer’s opposition to the deal shows how his fellow partisans question his loyalty.
On whether Israel, as a formidable military power in the region, will allow an Iranian bomb to be developed, he warned against unilateral Israeli action as inadvisable, as many others have an equal stake in preventing a nuclear Iran. Surprising alliances are starting up among Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Emirates, aligned with Israel against this Iran power play.
Will Iran be reluctant to bomb Israel for fear of retaliation? Not likely as they have little regard for life in general, as during the Iran-Iraq war, they marched 40000 young Iranians through an Iraqi minefield to clear it for their own military to then march through. Also even if nuclear radiation prevents Iranian invasion subsequently for 50 years, they have a very long perspective to their ultimate desire to expand the Caliphate, willing to wait centuries if they are convinced of ultimate victory. Be wary America.
And how naive is the Obama/Kerry view that being friendly with Iran will serve to inspire them to join the community of modern nations that prefer peace rather than war?
There is also the Islamic State threat (Friedmann eschews the terms ISIS and ISIL) that may create unusual alliances in the Middle East. (As for precedence in flip-flopping alliances, he referred to the Soviet Union and Germany and the Allied Powers in WWII.)
A final observation was made by Friedmann that the U.S. congress opposition to the Deal was crucial even if it is overridden by an Obama Veto. It sets the dynamic for a new president’s actions in 2017, if the Republicans win.
And if the Deal rejection is able to override the veto, that will be a major opportunity to renegotiate, and likely get support from the U.S. allies that caved in the past negotiation (England and Germany).
Russia and China may even come around a bit as the U.S. still has formidable pressure points around the globe on trade and financial sanctions.
2a) Whether you like Donald Trump or you don’t, this is an interesting article that, at least to me, seems to hit on solid points.
The "Dogs of Hell" have been unleashed on Donald Trump...
After receiving and reading this one, I thought to myself...Wow...what if? Over the course of my lifetime and primarily after the Kennedy Assassination in November of 1963 not many "American" people I know trust our government whether Democrat or Republican. How many times have you heard "They are all crooked regardless of party affiliation? Or "They are all the same, they will tell you anything to get elected"? I do know one thing, we will never see another person (male or female) in our lifetime, your children or grand-children's lifetime that will spend their own money to become President of the United States with no outside influence from ANYONE!
I don't know who wrote this but a real eye opener and too many questions about the direction of the country Americans are asking.
For him or against him, this is an interesting read and it’s going to be an exciting year with Donald in the race...
Some people are getting very nervous: Barack Obama, Valerie Jarrett, Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton and Jon Corzine, to name just a few. It's about the unholy dynamics between big government, big business and big media. They all benefit by the billions of dollars from this partnership, and it’s in all of their interests to protect one another. It’s one for all and all for one. It’s a heck of a filthy relationship that makes everyone filthy rich — everyone except the American people. We get ripped off. We’re the patsies.
But for once, the powerful socialist cabal and the corrupt crony capitalists are scared. I’ve never seen them this outraged, this vicious, this motivated or this coordinated. Never in all my years in politics have I seen anything like the way the mad "Dogs of Hell" have been unleashed on Donald Trump. The over-the-top reaction to Trump by politicians of both parties, the media and the biggest corporations of America has been so swift and insanely angry that it suggests they are all threatened and frightened like never before.
Donald Trump can self-fund that amount tomorrow and still have another billion left over to pour into the last two-week stretch run before Election Day. No matter how much they say to the contrary, the media, business and political elite understand that Trump is no joke. He could actually win and upset their nice cozy apple cart.
Donald Trump can self-fund that amount tomorrow and still have another billion left over to pour into the last two-week stretch run before Election Day. No matter how much they say to the contrary, the media, business and political elite understand that Trump is no joke. He could actually win and upset their nice cozy apple cart.
It’s no coincidence that everyone has gotten together to destroy “The Donald”. It’s because most of the other politicians are part of the “old boys club.” They talk big, but in the end they won’t change a thing. They are all beholden to big-money donors. They are all owned by lobbyists, unions, lawyers, gigantic environmental organizations and multinational corporations like Big Pharm or Big Oil. They are
Owned lock, stock and barrel by foreigners like George Soros owns Obama or foreign governments own Hillary with their Clinton Foundation donations.
Owned lock, stock and barrel by foreigners like George Soros owns Obama or foreign governments own Hillary with their Clinton Foundation donations.
These run-of-the-mill establishment politicians are all puppets owned by big money . But there’s one man — and only one man — who isn’t beholden to anyone. There’s one man who doesn’t need foreigners, or foreign governments, or George Soros, or the United Auto Workers, or the teachers union, or the Service Employees International Union, or the bar association to fund his campaign.
Billionaire tycoon and maverick Donald Trump doesn’t need anyone’s help. That means he doesn’t care what the media says. He doesn’t care what the corporate elites think. That makes him very dangerous to the entrenched interests. That makes Trump a huge threat. Trump can ruin everything for the bribed politicians and their spoiled slave masters.
Don’t you ever wonder why the GOP has never tried to impeach Obama? Don’t you wonder why John Boehner and Mitch McConnell talk a big game, but never actually try to stop Obama? Don’t you wonder why Congress holds the purse strings, yet has never tried to de-fund Obamacare or Obama’s clearly illegal executive action on amnesty for illegal aliens? Bizarre, right? It defies logic, right?
First, I’d guess many key Republicans are being bribed. Secondly, I believe many key Republicans are being blackmailed. Whether they are having affairs, or secretly gay, or stealing taxpayer money, the National Security Agency knows everything. Ask former House Speaker Dennis Hastert about that. The government even knew he was withdrawing large sums of his own money from his own bank account. Trust me: The NSA, the SEC, the IRS and all the other three-letter government agencies are watching every Republican political leader. They know everything. Thirdly , many Republicans are petrified of being called “racists.” So they are scared to ever criticize Obama or call out his crimes, let alone demand his impeachment. Fourth , why rock the boat? After defeat or retirement, if you’re a “good old boy,” you’ve got a $5 million-per-year lobbying job waiting. The big-money interests have the system gamed. Win or lose, they win.
But Trump doesn’t play by any of these rules. Trump breaks up this nice, cozy relationship between big government, big media and big business. All the rules are out the window if Trump wins the presidency. The other politicians will protect Obama and his aides — but not Trump. Remember: Trump is the guy who publicly questioned Obama’s birth certificate. He questioned Obama’s college records and
how a mediocre student got into an Ivy League university.
how a mediocre student got into an Ivy League university.
Now, he’s doing something no Republican has the chutzpah to do. He’s questioning our relationship with Mexico; questioning why the border is wide open; questioning why no wall has been built across the border; questioning if allowing millions of illegal aliens into America is in our best interests; questioning why so many illegal aliens commit violent crimes yet are not deported; and questioning why our trade deals with Mexico, Russia and China are so bad.
Trump has the audacity to ask out loud why American workers always get the short end of the stick. Good question. I’m certain Trump will question what happened to the almost billion dollars given in a rigged no-bid contract to college friends of Michelle Obama at foreign companies to build the defective Obamacare website. By the way, that tab is now up to $5 billion. Trump will ask if Obamacare’s architects can be charged with fraud for selling it by lying. Trump will investigate Obama’s widespread IRS conspiracy, not to mention Obama’s college records. Trump will prosecute Clinton and Obama for fraud committed to cover up Benghazi before the election. How about the fraud committed by employees of the Labor Department when they made up dramatic job numbers in the last jobs report before the 2012 election?
Obama, the multinational corporations and the media need to stop this. They recognize this could get out of control. If left unchecked telling the raw truth and asking questions everyone else is afraid to ask, Trump could wake a sleeping giant here.
Trump’s election would be a nightmare. Obama has committed many crimes. No one else but Trump would dare to prosecute. He will not hesitate. Once Trump gets in and gets a look at “the cooked books” and Obama’s records, the game is over. The gig is up. The goose is cooked. Holder could wind up in prison. Jarrett could wind up in prison. Obama bundler Corzine could wind up in prison for losing $1.5 billion of customer money. Clinton could wind up in jail for deleting 32,000 emails, or for accepting bribes from foreign governments while Secretary of State, or for “misplacing” $6 billion as the head of the State Department, or for lying about Benghazi.
The entire upper level management of the IRS could wind up in prison. Obamacare will be de-funded and dismantled. The Obama family will be prosecuted for crimes against the American people. And Obama himself could wind up ruined, his legacy in tatters. Trump will investigate. Trump will prosecute. Trump will go after everyone involved....and that is why the "Dogs of Hell" have been unleashed on Donald Trump.
Yes, it’s become open season on Donald Trump. The left and the right are determined to attack his policies, harm his businesses, and, if possible, even keep him out of the coming debates. But they can’t silence him. And they sure can’t intimidate him. The more they try, the more the public will realize that he’s the one telling the truth. And the left can’t stand that.
Don't be surprised if Trump has a heart attack, an accident or who knows..... assassination!
