asg70 wrote:That is just a tip of the iceberg of Trump's mismagement. That despite all this the majority of active posters support this guy is baffling to me. I really think in the end a great number of americans are effectively in a brainwashed right-wing stupor, even to the point of extreme cognitive dissonance and voting against your real interests. I don't know if it's driven more by a hatred of the left (you see this with Plant) or what, but it's the only way to explain it.
careinke wrote:I find people who think they know the best interest of another individual more than the individual himself, to be extremely pompous and arrogant.
careinke wrote:Maybe this explains why some Dims say the election is to important to leave to the people.
evilgenius wrote:What a fiasco. Trump has no plan. He's rooted around trying to fulfill the anti-globalist wishes of his political power base, and totally f'd up the balance of power. There has been in place a long term move on Russia, by taking the oil states nearest to them and most aligned with them. Iran is, essentially, Russia's proxy in the region. Now, Iraq, which has ties to Iran, is considering backing away from its ties to the US. All of that blood spilled over Iraq and Trump managed to throw a wrench into the situation with one impetuous decision that he calculated would make him look good, for the time being.
First Trump compromises the US with Ukraine, so that they lack trust in the US. Of course, that followed on the heels of anti-Chinese rhetoric reaching the point of a trade war. This when Trump got elected promising to do things like make coal mining great again. That's just a symbol of his anti-globalist agenda, appealing to people where they only think about these things one way. His whole make America great again strategy is a compilation of these one off anti-global reaches. Those people who think that way, however, are in for a surprise. Wrestling manufacturing status back from China is an AI era move. It can only take place in an employment situation where the cost of employing people is as low as AI can make it. The power those old jobs had to make a life for the people who still want to believe in them is over. Pretty soon, in the face of AI, everyone will be in the same boat as those Appalachian coal miners, taking whatever scrap work they can get - for whatever they can get from it.
He's framed the Soleimani killing in that same narrative, as a one off show of his, Trump's, testosterone. So, now, the Russians are in even more deeply with the Syrian state. Iraq may not be far behind, after the killing's ramifications become thoroughly known. The Syrian state will remain the Syrian state as we have known it too. It's not coming around toward the US because Trump failed to support the opposition. In fact, he blatantly bailed on the Kurds at a crucial time. That wasn't against the Syrian state, but the Turks. Still, it undermined the trust the Kurds may have had in the US. Trump is dismantling work done over many decades to help the US face Russia in the event that peak oil goes poorly for the US. That work was done with the idea that Russia could hold an unacceptable upper hand over the US during the peak, if things went poorly. Trump must really believe in fracking, or he doesn't know what he is doing. I think he doesn't know what he is doing. He also believes in fracking, so he won't let this criticism sink in. By accident he has sent a wrecking ball through the support for the US, in the event it goes a certain way in the future.
Iran assassination could undercut Joe Biden’s diplomatic options
The assassination of a top Iranian nuclear scientist, which Tehran has blamed on Israel, risks not only sharpening tensions across the region but also severely complicating plans by US President-elect Joe Biden to resume dialogue with the Islamic republic, analysts said Saturday.
Iran has accused arch-foe Israel of seeking to sow “chaos” by killing 59-year-old Mohsen Fakhrizadeh and has strongly implied that the Jewish state was acting with US blessing.
Washington has not officially commented on the operation, in which gunmen targeted Fakhrizadeh’s car on a road outside Tehran, according to Iran’s defense ministry.
But President Donald Trump has retweeted others’ comments on the incident, including at least one that said the scientist had been “wanted for many years by Mossad,” the Israeli intelligence agency.
Trump in 2018 withdrew the US from the multination nuclear agreement with Iran, instead launching a “maximum pressure” campaign which he appears determined to pursue until he leaves office in January.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who recently visited Israel, on Friday announced new economic sanctions against some Chinese and Russian firms accused of having supported Iran’s missile program.
“This administration… is here until January 20” and will “continue to pursue its policies,” a senior US official traveling with Pompeo said during a stop Sunday in Abu Dhabi.
“I would hope that this leverage that the administration works so hard to get will be used to good purpose to get the Iranians to, once again, start behaving like a normal state.”
‘Criminal act’
But for some American analysts, the killing of Fakhrizadeh was a dangerous act that undercuts Biden’s stated intention of offering Iran “a credible path back to diplomacy” as a step toward the United States rejoining the nuclear accord.
Former CIA head John Brennan tweeted Friday that the scientist’s killing was a “criminal act & highly reckless,” saying it “risks lethal retaliation & a new round of regional conflict.”
Brennan, who led the US intelligence agency from 2013-2017, when Barack Obama was president and Biden was vice president, exhorted Iran to “wait for the return of responsible American leadership on the global stage & to resist the urge to respond against perceived culprits.”
As the US was moving a carrier group led by the USS Nimitz back to the Gulf — while insisting this had nothing to do with the assassination — Germany warned on Saturday against any new “escalation.”
“We call on all parties to avoid taking any action which could lead to a new escalation of the situation” which “we absolutely do not need at this moment,” a German foreign ministry spokesman told AFP.
“Weeks before a new government takes office in the United States, existing dialogue with Iran must be maintained in order to resolve through negotiation the conflict over Iran’s nuclear program.”
‘Outrageous action’
That view was shared by Ben Friedman, a defense specialist at George Washington University.
The killing, he said, was “an act of sabotage against US diplomacy and interests” and would “likely help Iranian hardliners who want nuclear weapons.”
For Ben Rhodes, a former advisor to Obama, “This is an outrageous action aimed at undermining diplomacy between an incoming US administration and Iran.”
He added: “It’s time for this ceaseless escalation to stop.”
Some analysts, however, saw the killing in Iran as providing leverage to the incoming US administration that could be useful in possible negotiations with Tehran.
“Still almost two months before Joe Biden takes office,” noted Mark Dubowitz, director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).
“Plenty of time for U.S. and Israel to inflict severe damage on the regime in Iran — and build leverage for the Biden administration.”
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