The Dangerous Case Of Donald Trump

[anticlimatic]

Ok, that was obviously a warning shot. However I don't see anywhere how the whole thing about "booting" US from Iraq has ended when it comes to the government of Iraq.

I heard they just issued an unenforceable non-binding resolution from the Shiites, while the other half of parliament walked out. I doubt we're going anywhere anytime soon.

 

[Virtual ghost]

I heard they just issued an unenforceable non-binding resolution from the Shiites, while the other half of parliament walked out. I doubt we're going anywhere anytime soon.

Questionable.


Iraq is important to USA but it's position is quite vulnerable. Iran hates you, Turkey hates you, Syria hates you, Kurds hate you after certain moves lately, good chunk of politicians and people in Iraq hate you. Therefore keeping this position can prove to be quite costly both in money and troops, since at best you are half surrounded in there.



Which is exactly why this seems to be happening

Trump asks for NATO help in Middle East

However Europe doesn't really seem to care. The politicians want to save the Iran deal and towards them you shouldn't have invaded in the first place (back in 2003). Therefore we will see what will happen.





While just a few "blocks" away Turkey and Russia seem to have taken control over Libya. Since each generally controls one of two big factions in the country.

As EU stumbles, Putin and ErdoÄŸan take charge in Libya


Plus just today they have opened the large pipeline that should supply Turkey with Russian energy.

 

[anticlimatic]

Questionable.


Iraq is important to USA but it's position is quite vulnerable. Iran hates you, Turkey hates you, Syria hates you, Kurds hate you after certain moves lately, good chunk of politicians and people in Iraq hate you. Therefore keeping this position can prove to be quite costly both in money and troops, since at best you are half surrounded in there.



Which is exactly why this seems to be happening

Trump asks for NATO help in Middle East

However Europe doesn't really seem to care. The politicians want to save the Iran deal and towards them you shouldn't have invaded in the first place (back in 2003). Therefore we will see what will happen.





While just a few "blocks" away Turkey and Russia seem to have taken control over Libya. Since each generally controls one of two big factions in the country.

As EU stumbles, Putin and ErdoÄŸan take charge in Libya


Plus just today they have opened the large pipeline that should supply Turkey with Russian energy.

I don't think the US wants to be in Iraq at all, but the fear is that if we pull out one of those mentioned countries (probably Iran) is just going to move in, take over, and screw the Sunnis into the ground.

 

[Edgar]

I have no idea, you are the one drawing these conclusions, not me.

So I guess this post was just a non sequitur?

It was a Boeing 737. These things do happen to those planes. And if you automatically think Iran shot down this plane, that's also a problem. The US has plenty of experience with shooing down passenger planes in this part of the world.

Sigh, what a waste of my time.

 

[Virtual ghost]

I don't think the US wants to be in Iraq at all, but the fear is that if we pull out one of those mentioned countries (probably Iran) is just going to move in, take over, and screw the Sunnis into the ground.

Not at all. US very much wants to be in Iraq.
US gets it's superpower status from Petrodollar and there in no other way to enforce global Petrodollar standard than to have control over Middle east and it's oil. This is exactly why US is throwing all those trillions into the "war in the desert" for decades, since it's global power by very large amount depends on that desert. Because if oil can be traded only in Dollars that creates demand for the Dollars and if you want to get Dollars you generally have to be in good relations with US and sell them your resources (what allows printing large amount of money for "global use"). Which is why Russia and China are being friends to just about every enemy you have in the Middle East and they want to flip various groups to their side. Since with doing that they are undermining what is the foundation of USA as we know it. Actually this is exactly why they saved oil heavy Venezuela from the US friendly opposition within the country, since the key is to keep US from controlling oil trade. The same story is taking control over the ruins of Libya that has oil, which I linked you. This is also why US is the biggest and perhaps only nation that claims AGW isn't real, because by getting the world away from consuming oil you are killing the Petrodollar, because new energy source will replace oil and oil trade.


Loss of Petrodollar would be severe hit for US even if it isn't loaded with debt, however since it is loaded with debt the mechanism of Petrodollar is the key of keeping the economy of the country afloat. The US isn't "wasting" trillions in the Middle East just because it feel like doing that. If you lose the Middle East the game is basically over.



Back in a day I was going to some classes about oil extraction and processing, therefore I didn't just pull all of this out of my ass.

 

[Virtual ghost]

UK to look ‘very hard’ at future of Iran nuclear deal


In other words time is probably on the Iran's side.
The only revenge they really need is to continue the nuclear program. What means that the West will have to start the war of live with consequences.

 

[Z Buck McFate]

‘Highly likely’ Iran downed Ukrainian jetliner, U.S. officials say

 

[rav3n]

‘Highly likely’ Iran downed Ukrainian jetliner, U.S. officials say

CNN was sent a video. If this video is real and of the actual incident, it does appear that the plane was downed by a missile. Whether the missile was Iranian or not, who knows, considering how Iran is using Russian Tor missiles.

Plane crash in Iran: Live updates on the investigation - CNN

Don't forget about Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, where Russian separatists took down the plane while it was flying over Ukraine.

At this point, I don't trust anything or anybody who has Russia behind it. Misdirection is their schtick.

 

[Jaguar]

Iran plane crash: Video appears to show missile strike, Canada and UK say they have intelligence Iran shot down Ukrainian plane - CNNPolitics

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose country lost 63 citizens in the crash of Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752 earlier this week, said Canada's intelligence, as well as intelligence provided by allies, shows that the commercial aircraft was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile. He called for a thorough investigation into what caused the crash but would not provide additional details about the evidence and intelligence he cited.
"This may have been unintentional," Trudeau said at a news conference in Ottawa.

 

[Jaguar]

Trump: “Nancy Pelosi will go down as the absolute worst Speaker of the House in U.S. History!”

To my knowledge, she doesn't molest teenage boys like former Speaker Dennis Hastert.

 

[Z Buck McFate]

FORMER GOP REP. JUSTIN AMASH SAYS TRUMP 'SELLS TROOPS,' WHITE HOUSE 'MADE UP' IRAN THREAT

Amash--who left the Republican Party in July over fears of a "partisan death spiral" and became an independent--disputed the "imminent" threat posed by Soleimani. He condemned Trump's foreign policy actions in the Middle East and said the White House's claim that Iran or Soleimani threatened "four embassies" is likely "totally made up."

On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said he "didn't see" any specific evidence Iran planned to attack four embassies, despite Trump's claim an attack was "imminent." Amash promptly rebuked that assertion, tweeting:

"The administration didn't present evidence to Congress regarding even one embassy. The four embassies claim seems to be totally made up. And they have never presented evidence of imminence—a necessary condition to act without congressional approval—with respect to any of this."​

So what's the excuse for dismissing stuff like this when it isn't partisan? Because it seems like basically any time anyone either accuses Trump of dishonesty or fraudulent motivation, there's a mindless knee jerk reaction to defend him - there's an endless supply of confabulation that supporters pull out of their butt to explain why anything bad is ever said about him and it's a confabulation that absolves him of any culpability.

You know what would be really refreshing is if a supporter were actually able to own up to the fact that Trump's tendency to pathologically lie and bully in a such an emotionally stunted/juvenile fashion warrants all the hate the world has for him - that they maybe like what he's accomplished, but could still own up to all of his rancid piece of shit character traits. That seems like something his supporters are largely incapable of doing.

This is the main reason he's perceived to be so dangerous: because his supporters en masse have put on these bizarre cult blinders that instantly turn any information that reflects badly on Trump into "fake news", no matter how much evidence there is to back it up. It's absolutely stunning to anyone who isn't wearing these blinders. And while all the hate for Trump may seem stunning to his supporters, the fact that it's instantly dismissed with an assumption that he doesn't truly merit that hate - that no matter what's said, supporters will do Olympic caliber mental gymnastics to not see the evidence that merits the hate in order to dismiss it - kinda proves the point. Trump's directly observable behavior would have gotten him fired from most jobs by now, no matter how menial the level - and would have gotten him banned from this forum a few times over - and yet supporters are blind to how the hate is warranted, and how he does it to himself.

eta: I'm kind of hoping his legacy will end up being that Democrats feel more motivated than ever to get rid of electoral college the first chance they get, so that a minority can never raise such a shithead to this kind of position of power again. And if that happens, good luck ever getting another GOP POTUS. < Trump's possible biggest legacy.

 

[Tellenbach]

I don't think Trump or any president needs an excuse to target a known foreign terrorist who's allegedly involved in the killings of hundreds of Americans. I don't know if the "imminent threat" to embassies claim is real, but who cares? The guy has American blood on his hands. It was a great move.

I don't remember the Dems whining about Clinton's bombing of an aspirin factory in Sudan or Obama's Libya campaign. All the Trump-whining and second guessing is just partisan politics from the Dems.

 

[SearchingforPeace]

I don't think Trump or any president needs an excuse to target a known foreign terrorist who's allegedly involved in the killings of hundreds of Americans. I don't know if the "imminent threat" to embassies claim is real, but who cares? The guy has American blood on his hands. It was a great move.

I don't remember the Dems whining about Clinton's bombing of an aspirin factory in Sudan or Obama's Libya campaign. All the Trump-whining and second guessing is just partisan politics from the Dems.

Damn, where were these cries when Obama droned a cleric who was an American citizen living in Yemen? It is much like the hypocritical whining of the Tea Party, who never protested Bush's crazy spending but suddenly worried about Obama's...

BTW, it looks like this all might lead to real change in Iran, not surprising given that the deceased general was the chief repressor of the Iranian people.....

 

[Tellenbach]

Notice, we haven't heard a peep from the N. Korean dictator since the drone attack. Bullies and dictators only respond to force. The last administration attempted to buy off the Iranians by paying them tens of billions of dollars. I'm not sure why Dems still don't understand that you can't appease dictators.

Iran should not be allowed to go nuclear because they have threatened to annihilate Israel, a US ally. I'd rather it be Israel that attacks Iran's nuclear facilities, but if we can avoid that by fomenting revolution (by killing the Ayatollah, for example), that would be the best scenario. The reason why N. Korea is a problem today is because Clinton/Carter's de-nuking negotiations with N. Korea were a joke.

 

[Jaguar]

The guy has American blood on his hands.

So did Richard Nixon.

 

[Tellenbach]

Not a Nixon fan, but Nixon did far less harm than LBJ's Vietnam War.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Total wag the dog moment.

Pentagon chief says no specific evidence Iran was plotting to attack four U.S. embassies - Reuters

 

[Jaguar]

Trump assassinated an Iranian General for political gain.

Business as usual.

 

[anticlimatic]

Trump assassinated an Iranian General for political gain. Business as usual.

He probably snuck into the embassy disguised as a mob and set it on fire too.

Is there no end to this orange man's political brilliance and/or absolute buffoonery?

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Maybe Solemani's plan was to attack the embassies with milkshakes. Conservatives are terrified of milkshakes (they think they're made out of concrete or something), so it makes sense. It would also explain why it wasn't reflected in the intel.