My oh my. The plot thickens if you can believe this? You decide. (See 1 below.)
Wish begets the thought?
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Iran, Syria, Netanyahu, Putin and The U.S. (See 2 and 2a below.)
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I am leaving town again Friday to go to the joint birthday of Blake (3) and Dagny (5) in Orlando.
Returning late Monday. No memos after this unless one this evening.
Have a great weekend.
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Dick
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1)
RED ALERT: Former US Intel Officer….”Obama Could Be Indicted With A Felony”
President Donald Trump flipped the media and political world, as well as the “Russian collusion” narrative, on their collective heads over the weekend with a series of tweets alleging former President Barack Obama’s administration had wiretapped and spied on him and his associates in Trump Tower during the 2016 election season, perhaps illegally.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++While there of course has been substantial push back against the extreme accusation by both the media and Obama’s people, there does seem to be some circumstantial evidence that Trump’s allegations were correct — at least more than any proving Trump was somehow colluding with the Russian government.If indeed it does turn out to be the case that the Obama administration illegally surveilled Trump’s team ahead of Election Day as some have speculated, the end result could be the unprecedented indictment of a former president on felony charges.So a highly respected former senior intelligence officer, retired Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer, told Conservative Tribune sister company USA Radio Network’s Rusty Humphries on “Trending Today USA” Monday morning.Calling the alleged incident an “order of magnitude” bigger than the Watergate scandal, Shaffer stated that the incident would have included “using nation-state resources for purposes of political gain.”Humphries asked if, should everything turn out to be true, Obama would be arrested and held accountable for violating the laws.“This could be the first time a former president could be indicted for a felony,” Shaffer answered. “Because I think it is very possible that he acted outside of the scope of his duties, responsibilities and authorities to turn the resources of a nation-state on a candidate.”“This is, as I’ve said before, soviet-dictator level wrongdoing,” he added.Shaffer also noted that, given Obama’s use of government resources to conduct other spying operations, it was easy to imagine him doing the same against Trump, particularly while working under the assumption that Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton would easily win the general election and keep the subterfuge against Trump under wraps.
2)US envoy to UN: We must oust Iran, terror proxies from Syria
| By REUTERS |
Haley spoke to reporters after UN Syria mediator Staffan de Mistura briefed the Security Council behind closed doors on 10 days of talks between the warring parties in Geneva, which ended last week.
She did not respond to questions on whether the United States believed Syrian President Bashar Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, should step down.
All eyes have been on how Washington would approach ending the six-year war in Syria, given pledges by President Donald Trump to build closer ties with Russia, especially in the fight against Islamic State. Trump's Syria policy has been unclear.
"The United States absolutely supports Staffan de Mistura and the work that he's doing, we support the UN process, we support the talks in Geneva, we want to see them continue," Haley said.
"This is very much about a political solution now ... and that basically means that Syria can no longer be a safe haven for terrorists, we've got to make sure we get Iran and their proxies out, we've got to make sure that, as we move forward, we're securing the borders for our allies as well," she said.
Iran is backing fighters in Syria from Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah.
A crackdown by Assad on pro-democracy protesters in 2011 led to civil war and Islamic State militants have used the chaos to seize territory in Syria and Iraq. Half of Syria's 22 million people have been uprooted and more than 400,000 killed.
De Mistura told reporters after briefing the council that he planned to convene another round of peace talks on March 23.
He said the most recent round ended with an agenda and a timeline and "some agreement even on substance."
"We did not expect miracles and frankly we did not have miracles, but we achieved much more than many people had imagined we could have. No one left, everybody stayed," de Mistura told reporters.
The remarks came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said that Israel hopes to reach “specific understandings” with Russia to prevent Tehran from permanently setting up a base of operations in Syria against Israel.
At the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu announced that he will be traveling to Moscow on Thursday for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the discussions will focus on current efforts to put together new arrangements in Syria. Those efforts have taken place in recent weeks in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, and Geneva.
“With the framework of these arrangements, and also without them, there is an Iranian effort to become firmly established on a permanent basis in Syria, either through the presence of ground forces, or naval forces,” Netanyahu said. He also said the Syrians are involved in a “gradual attempt to open up a front against us on the Golan Heights.”
Netanyahu heads to Moscow to discuss Syria
| By HERB KEINON |
The Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement saying that Netanyahu again intends to raise this issue with Putin.
Netanyahu flew to Moscow in April and again in June last year, and during the April meeting said at a press conference alongside Putin, that the strategic plateau will always remain part of Israel.
Netanyahu said Wednesday that this meeting is “very important for the security of Israel. The victory over Islamic State terror cannot lead to an increase in territory by Iran and its proxies. You don’t replace terror with terror,” he said.
One of the central purposes of the one-day visit is to discuss what Jerusalem sees as Iranian efforts to create a permanent presence in Syria once a new order there is created.
According to the PMO statement, Netanyahu will express Israel’s “strong opposition” to Iranian troops or those of its “proxies” remaining on Israel’s northern border or in the Mediterranean Sea, following any future arrangement in Syria.
The discussions are also aimed at continuing the constant contact between Russia and Israel to prevent any friction between the countries’ forces in Syria, according to the statement.
Earlier this week the Kremlin issued a statement saying the talks will also focus on “key aspects of the Palestinian- Israeli settlement.”
Netanyahu flew to Moscow in September of 2015, when Moscow began its active military engagement in Syria, to set up a deconfliction mechanism.
This week’s trip to Moscow follows others Netanyahu has taken since the beginning of February to London, Washington, Singapore and Sydney.
His office formally announced that in another nine days he will travel for four days to China. This means that in the last two months, Netanyahu will have met with the leaders of four of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council: the US, Britain, Russia and China. There are no immediate plans for a visit to the fifth member-state France.
Netanyahu will be accompanied to Moscow by Environmental Protection and Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin, who serves as his translator on trips to Russia; acting head of the National Security Council Yaakov Nagel; chief of staff Yoav Horowitz; Military Intelligence head Maj.- Gen. Herzl Halevi; and his military attaché Brig.-Gen. Eliezer Toledano.
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