Donald Trump, Avatar of his Class, Capitalism & the Decline and Fall of Bourgeois Democracy

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Re: Donald Trump, Avatar of his Class, Capitalism & the Decline and Fall of Bourgeois Democracy

Post by blindpig » Sat Mar 24, 2018 2:53 pm

John Bolton - The Man With A Hammer Is Looking For Nails
President Trump congratulated Vladimir Putin to his reelection as president of the Russian Federation. It was a matter of simply courtesy to do so. The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (aka the National Security Advisor), three star general McMaster, had advised him to not congratulate Putin. (McMaster now claims differently.) That was bad advice. But it became even worse when McMaster, or someone in his shop, promptly leaked this to the press. The usual Republican nutters like John McCain grumbled and Trump was furious.

Trump decided to fire McMaster the very next day. He had it coming. Both the White House Chief of Staff Kelly as well as the Secretary of Defense Mattis wanted McMaster out. Unfortunately for them Trump chose a replacement that they did not want and will find difficult to live with.

Image

John Bolton is not a neo-conservative. He does not dream of 'spreading democracy' or 'nation building'. He is a 'smash, burn and leave' libertarian hawk. He is also an exceptionally avid bureaucrat who knows how to get the things he wants done. That quality is what makes him truly dangerous. Bolton is known for sweet-talking to his superiors, being ruthless against competitors and for kicking down on everyone below him.

Soon Netanyahoo will have the cabinet in place in DC he always dreamed of. A hawkish Pompeo at State, a real torturer as head of the CIA and now Bolton are already sufficient to protect Israel's further expansion. Kelly and, only later on Mattis will likely be the next to get fired. That will eliminate the last people with access to Trump who have some marginal sanity on war and peace issues. Trump will be completely isolated and easy to manipulate.

Bolton has a hammer and he will find lots of nails. Like Hillary Clinton he will want to fight with Iran, North Korea, Russia, China and others in no particular order. He will want to destroy Syria. He is cozy with the Kurds and the Iranian terror cult MEK. He addressed (vid) their congress eight years in a row and made lots of money for saying things like this:

"efore 2019, we here will celebrate in Tehran.”
Bolton has little concern for U.S. allies except, maybe, for Israel.

His first priority will be to prevent the announced summit between Trump and Kim Jong-un. He will want more sanctions on North Korea and may argue for a 'preventive' strike against it. He does not care that such a strike will certainly kill tens of thousands of Koreans in the north and south and several thousand U.S. soldiers and civilians.

New sanctions on North Korea are problematic as Trump has just put additional tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. imports of Chinese goods. (The Chinese response is smart: Tariffs on U.S. agricultural goods from states that Trump won.) Why should China and Russia (and South Korea) help the U.S. to strangulate North Korea when they themselves are under fire? To prevent a U.S. strike that may come anyway the very next day?

The Europeans who were part of the nuclear agreement with Iran have to answer a similar question. Why offer Trump a 'compromise' over the JCPOA when the chances are now high that he will destroy it anyway?

What will Bolton do on Syria? Will he try to find a new agreement with Erdogan and drag Turkey away from endorsing Russia's polices in Syria? If he manages to do so, Syria's north will become a shared Turkish-U.S. entity and will be lost for a long time. New attacks on the Syrian government, from the north, south and east, where the U.S. re-trains ISIS into a new 'moderate rebel' army, would then open the next phase of the war.

So far the mean time of survival for Trump appointees is some six to eight months. Let us hope that John Bolton's appointment will - in the end - lower that average.

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2018/03/jo ... nails.html

Pretty good analysis from 'b', though if he's inferring that Israel controls the US, as he has in the past, that's dead ass wrong. Things are bad and gonna get worse.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Donald Trump, Avatar of his Class, Capitalism & the Decline and Fall of Bourgeois Democracy

Post by blindpig » Wed Apr 11, 2018 11:50 am

Image

They play him like a cheap violin. One day, 'outta Syria!', next day, this.

That said, such control is sporadic, sometimes his whims coincide with imperial policy, sometimes they don't and he must be goaded into the 'correct' behavior. This ain't no optimal way to run an empire, thus Mueller, a goad himself and at last resort political terminator. There is no doubt that there's enough dirt on this guy to bury him 20 times if someone really wanted to, but they don't really want to(leaving aside the partisan desires of the Dems). Actually retreating from the ME would make them really want to.

EDIT:

Ya see, there he goes again...

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Our relationship with Russia is worse now than it has ever been, and that includes the Cold War. There is no reason for this. Russia needs us to help with their economy, something that would be very easy to do, and we need all nations to work together. Stop the arms race?

4:37 AM - 11 Apr 2018
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Re: Donald Trump, Avatar of his Class, Capitalism & the Decline and Fall of Bourgeois Democracy

Post by blindpig » Mon May 07, 2018 11:44 am

Trump’s Phony Trade War (part 1 of 3 part series)
May 2, 2018 by jackrasmus

Dr. Jack Rasmus
Copyright 2018

What’s going on with Trump’s trade offensive? There’s a dual track policy underway: One a phony trade war with US allies; the other a potential (but not yet) trade war with China, that may also in the end prove less than a bonafide ‘trade war’ as well.

Trump’s trade team heads off to Beijing this week to attempt to negotiate terms of a new US-China trade deal. The US decision whether to continue the exemptions on Steel and Aluminum tariffs with the European Union occurs comes due this week as well. And this past week Trump also declared “we’re doing very nicely with NAFTA”.

So what’s all the talk about a Trump ‘trade war’? Is it media hype? Typical Trump hyperbole? Is there really a trade war in the making? Indeed, was there ever? And how much of it is really about reducing the US global trade deficit—and how much about the resurrection of Trump’s ‘economic nationalism’ theme for the consumption of his domestic political base in an election year?

One thing for certain, what’s underway is not a ‘trade war’.

Trump announced his 25% steel and 10% aluminum tariffs in early March, getting the attention of the US press with his typical Trump bombast, off-the-wall tweets and extremist statements. The steel-aluminum tariffs were originally to apply worldwide. But the exemptions began almost immediately. In fact, all US major trading partners were quickly suspended from the tariffs—except for China.

By mid-March, Canada and Mexico were let off the tariff hook, even though they were among the top four largest steel importers to the US, with Canada largest and Mexico fourth largest. Thereafter, Brazil (second largest steel importer), Germany, and others steel importers were exempted as well. And Canada, by far the largest aluminum importer to the US, accounting for 43% of US aluminum imports, was exempted for imports of that product.

South Korea ‘Softball’ Trade Template

The Trump administration’s signal to its allies was the US-South Korea deal that soon followed. The South Koreans were pitched a ‘softball’ trade deal. South Korea, the third largest US steel importer last year, was exempted from steel tariffs, now permanently as part of the final deal. So much for steel tariffs. Moreover, no other significant tariffs were imposed on South Korea as part of the bilateral treaty revisions. No wonder the South Koreans were described as ‘ecstatic’ about the deal.

What the US got in the quickly renegotiated US-South Korea free trade deal was more access for US auto makers into Korea’s auto markets. And quotas on Korean truck imports into the US. Korean auto companies, Kia and Hyundai, had already made significant inroads to the US auto market. US auto makers have become dependent on US truck sales to stay afloat; they didn’t want Korean to challenge them in the truck market as well. Except for these auto agreements, there were no major tariffs or other obstructions to South Korea imports to the US. Not surprising, the South Koreans were ecstatic they got off so easily in the negotiations. Clearly, the US-South Korea deal had nothing to do with Steel or Aluminum. If anything, it was a token adjustment of US-Korea auto trade and little more.

So the Korean deal was a ‘big nothing’ trade renegotiation. And so far as US trade deficits are concerned, steel-aluminum imports are insignificant. Steel-aluminum tariffs do nothing for the US global trade deficit. US steel and aluminum imports combined make up only $47 billion—a fraction of total US imports of $2.36 trillion in 2017.

The steel-aluminum tariffs were more of a Trump publicity tactic, to get the attention of the media and US trade allies. And if the tariffs were the signal, then the South Korea deal is now the template. It’s not about steel or aluminum tariffs. But you wouldn’t know that if you listened to Trump’s speech in Pennsylvania. Canada and Mexico import more steel to the US than South Korea. But in a final NAFTA revision they too will be virtually exempted from steel-aluminum tariffs when those negotiations are completed.

NAFTA as South Korea Redux

According to reports of the NAFTA negotiations, most details have already been negotiated with Mexico and Canada and the parties are close to a final deal. Typical of the ‘softball’ US approach with NAFTA—like South Korea—is the US recent dropping of its key demand that half the value of US autos and parts imported to the US be made in the US. That’s now gone. So a deal on NAFTA is imminent. Certainly before the Mexican elections this summer. But it will have little besides token adjustments to steel or autos. Trump threats to withdraw from NAFTA were never real. They were always merely to tell his base what they wanted to hear.

For what Trump wants from NAFTA is not a significant reduction of steel, auto, or any other imports to the US. What the US wants is more access for US corporations’ investment into Mexico and Canada; more protection for patents of US pharmaceutical companies to gouge consumers in those countries like they do in the US; and a shift in power to the trade dispute tribunals favoring the US. He’ll sell the exaggerated token adjustments to his political base, which will applaud his latest, inflated ‘fake news’—while the big corporations and financial elites in the US will silently nod their heads in agreement for the incremental gains he’s obtained for them.

In the most recent development concerning NAFTA negotiations, Trump has extended the deadline for a final revision for another thirty days—a development which means the parties are very close to a final resolution. The revisions will most likely look like the South Korean deal in many details—with quotas (not tariffs) on auto parts trade and more US access for US business investment and token limits on imports to the US.

Launching US-Europe Trade Negotiations: Macron’s Visit/Merkel’s Snub

After NAFTA comes Europe, later this year and in 2019. Like the NAFTA negotiations, Europe deadlines on steel and aluminum tariffs were just extended another thirty days. That’s just the beginning of likely further extensions. Europe will be less amenable to steel, aluminum or any other tariffs than the US NAFTA or South Korean partners. French president Macron’s visit last week to the US should be viewed as the opening of negotiations on trade between the US and Europe. But the European economy is again weakening and France, Germany, the UK and others are desperate to maintain export levels, which is the main means by which they keep their economies going.

Europe also wants to keep the Iran Deal in place, which means important exports and trade for it, while Trump wants to end the deal as he’s promised his domestic political base. A tentative agreement may have been reached between Trump and Macron during the latter’s recent visit to the US: Trump will formally pull the US out of the Iran Deal by May 12 but then will do nothing real apart from the announcement—much like the US withdrawal from the Climate Treaty. Europe will continue its trade deals with Iran. The US and Europe will then jointly try to negotiate an addendum with Iran. In short, France and Europe get to keep their business deals and Trump gets to pander to his political base before the elections in November. Like the Europe steel-aluminum tariff exemptions due this week, that announcement will soon follow as well within a week.

While Macron was treated like royalty by Trump during his visit to the US, German Chancellor Merkel, who followed within days, was treated more like a minor partner and snubbed. The snubbing wasn’t about trade, however. It was more about Germany’s refusal to participate in the Syrian bombings, as well as US dislike for the growing resistance in Germany to go along with extreme economic sanctions on Russia. Long run, what the US has always wanted from Germany is to substitute US natural gas imports (which the US now has a surplus due to fracking technology) for Russian gas and for Germany to stop building gas pipelines with Russia. Trump will likely focus on political concessions from Europe while seeking only token changes to imports from Europe to the US. In other words, the content of a US-Europe trade deal may differ from NAFTA of South Korea but the ‘form’ will remain dominated by token adjustments, with little net import reduction to the US.

The UK economy is slowing rapidly, German industrial production has slowed in the last three of four months. And signs are accumulating that globally trade, upon which Europe is especially dependent, is slowing once again. The UK in particular is an economic basket case. Brexit negotiations are in shambles. And the Conservative Party’s days are numbered. Trump therefore will not demand extreme concessions from the UK. Nor will he from the rest of Europe, also now slowing economically—though not as severe as the UK—and important to Trump-US interests in concluding any trade deal with China, providing cover for US policy in the middle East, and with regard to Russian sanctions and US support for a collapsed Ukraine. Politics will dictate token trade adjustments with Europe.

Trump’s Political Objectives

Except for the case of China, therefore, the Trump trade war is mostly tough talking trade for show. Trump wants some token concessions from its US allies trading partners. Token concessions he can then ‘sell’ to his political base in an election year. He’s playing to his ‘America First’ economic nationalist political base, agitating it for electoral purposes next November. He is in election mode, giving campaign speeches throughout the US as if this were September 2016 again. He may also be mobilizing that base in anticipation of the eventual firing of Mueller he plans and the political firestorm that may provoke from the traditional elites in the US. He’s given them massive tax cuts and now some gains from trade negotiations without upsetting the global capitalist trade structure he once promised to do.

Trump is betting that delivering on taxes and trade to the elite will keep enough of them at bay. While delivering on immigration, the wall, and hyped (but phony) trade deals with US allies will convince his ‘America First’ political base he’s delivering for them as well. The so-called trade war is phony because it is designed to produce token adjustments to US trade relations with allies, which Trump will then inflate, exaggerate and lie about to his domestic political base, as they fall for his economic nationalism theme once again.

Is China the Trade Target?

But where does that leave US-China trade? Certainly many believe that is headed for a ‘trade war’. Tit-for-tat $50 billion tariffs have been levied by both the US and China on each other. Trump has threatened another $100 billion and China has said it will similarly follow suit. Even the products to be tariffed have been identified—the US targeted a wide range of imports from China and China in turn targeting US agricultural products and other industrial goods from the US Midwest, and thus Trump’s political base.

Trump’s trade team is by now in Beijing. It represents the major interest groups of Trump’s administration: Treasury Secretary Mnuchin—the bankers and big US multinational corporations. Trade representative hardliners, Robert Lighthizer and Peter Navarro—the Pentagon and US war production industries. And Larry Kudlow the Trump administration’s economic nationalists. Will the Trump phony trade war apply to China as well? Or will it be an actual economic war? Is it really about reducing the US $375 billion annual trade deficit with China? Or about US bankers wanting more access and ownership of operations in China? Or is it about China’s attempt to technologically leapfrog the US in the next generation war-making and cyber security software capability?

The second part of this three part series will address the China-US element of Trump trade policy and strategy.

Jack Rasmus is author of the recently published book, ‘Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes: Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression’, Clarity Press, August 2017. He blogs at jackrasmus.com and his twitter handle is @drjackrasmus. His website is http://kyklosproductions.com.
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Re: Donald Trump, Avatar of his Class, Capitalism & the Decline and Fall of Bourgeois Democracy

Post by kidoftheblackhole » Wed May 09, 2018 1:44 am

blindpig wrote:
Sat Mar 24, 2018 2:53 pm
John Bolton - The Man With A Hammer Is Looking For Nails
President Trump congratulated Vladimir Putin to his reelection as president of the Russian Federation. It was a matter of simply courtesy to do so. The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (aka the National Security Advisor), three star general McMaster, had advised him to not congratulate Putin. (McMaster now claims differently.) That was bad advice. But it became even worse when McMaster, or someone in his shop, promptly leaked this to the press. The usual Republican nutters like John McCain grumbled and Trump was furious.

Trump decided to fire McMaster the very next day. He had it coming. Both the White House Chief of Staff Kelly as well as the Secretary of Defense Mattis wanted McMaster out. Unfortunately for them Trump chose a replacement that they did not want and will find difficult to live with.

Image

John Bolton is not a neo-conservative. He does not dream of 'spreading democracy' or 'nation building'. He is a 'smash, burn and leave' libertarian hawk. He is also an exceptionally avid bureaucrat who knows how to get the things he wants done. That quality is what makes him truly dangerous. Bolton is known for sweet-talking to his superiors, being ruthless against competitors and for kicking down on everyone below him.

Soon Netanyahoo will have the cabinet in place in DC he always dreamed of. A hawkish Pompeo at State, a real torturer as head of the CIA and now Bolton are already sufficient to protect Israel's further expansion. Kelly and, only later on Mattis will likely be the next to get fired. That will eliminate the last people with access to Trump who have some marginal sanity on war and peace issues. Trump will be completely isolated and easy to manipulate.

Bolton has a hammer and he will find lots of nails. Like Hillary Clinton he will want to fight with Iran, North Korea, Russia, China and others in no particular order. He will want to destroy Syria. He is cozy with the Kurds and the Iranian terror cult MEK. He addressed (vid) their congress eight years in a row and made lots of money for saying things like this:

"efore 2019, we here will celebrate in Tehran.”
Bolton has little concern for U.S. allies except, maybe, for Israel.

His first priority will be to prevent the announced summit between Trump and Kim Jong-un. He will want more sanctions on North Korea and may argue for a 'preventive' strike against it. He does not care that such a strike will certainly kill tens of thousands of Koreans in the north and south and several thousand U.S. soldiers and civilians.

New sanctions on North Korea are problematic as Trump has just put additional tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. imports of Chinese goods. (The Chinese response is smart: Tariffs on U.S. agricultural goods from states that Trump won.) Why should China and Russia (and South Korea) help the U.S. to strangulate North Korea when they themselves are under fire? To prevent a U.S. strike that may come anyway the very next day?

The Europeans who were part of the nuclear agreement with Iran have to answer a similar question. Why offer Trump a 'compromise' over the JCPOA when the chances are now high that he will destroy it anyway?

What will Bolton do on Syria? Will he try to find a new agreement with Erdogan and drag Turkey away from endorsing Russia's polices in Syria? If he manages to do so, Syria's north will become a shared Turkish-U.S. entity and will be lost for a long time. New attacks on the Syrian government, from the north, south and east, where the U.S. re-trains ISIS into a new 'moderate rebel' army, would then open the next phase of the war.

So far the mean time of survival for Trump appointees is some six to eight months. Let us hope that John Bolton's appointment will - in the end - lower that average.

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2018/03/jo ... nails.html

Pretty good analysis from 'b', though if he's inferring that Israel controls the US, as he has in the past, that's dead ass wrong. Things are bad and gonna get worse.


Let me say that I don't think there is anything exceptional in "b's" analysis, but the situation appears (a little) different a month later. Trump says that continuing the Joint Protocol would only stoke an arms race, which runs counter to the predominant claim that sacking the deal would cause the same.

The truth is borne out by the fact that the arms race seems to have already begun. There is perhaps a bit of bitter irony in the fact that ultimately an arms race (euphemism for imperial marshalling for war) is a certainty simply because only the United States can check Israel in this regard -- which it certainly will not.

Thus we see that the "deal" means NOTHING in the greater scheme of imperial war.

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Re: Donald Trump, Avatar of his Class, Capitalism & the Decline and Fall of Bourgeois Democracy

Post by blindpig » Wed May 09, 2018 11:26 am

Let me say that I don't think there is anything exceptional in "b's" analysis, but the situation appears (a little) different a month later. Trump says that continuing the Joint Protocol would only stoke an arms race, which runs counter to the predominant claim that sacking the deal would cause the same.

The truth is borne out by the fact that the arms race seems to have already begun. There is perhaps a bit of bitter irony in the fact that ultimately an arms race (euphemism for imperial marshalling for war) is a certainty simply because only the United States can check Israel in this regard -- which it certainly will not.

Thus we see that the "deal" means NOTHING in the greater scheme of imperial war.
One of them cases where the prez's predilections coincide with the imperial program, RC consensus, whatever ya call it. Convinced this animosity stems from 1979, the embassy, pure 'Archie Bunker', that embarrassment must be avenged! And for once his minders don't have to modify anything, just give him his head. So it's all good in DC and he even gives his dog a little slack on the leash. Another provocation, upping the ante, but these shenanigans are getting passe, more and more it seems justification is irrelevant.."Just Do It!"
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Re: Donald Trump, Avatar of his Class, Capitalism & the Decline and Fall of Bourgeois Democracy

Post by blindpig » Mon May 14, 2018 12:47 pm

the worst political party ever.......
Dems worry Trump will win over economy
BY AMIE PARNES - 05/12/18 12:31 PM EDT
1,080
Democrats are growing worried that the strong economy, and President Trump’s messaging about his economic stewardship, will help Republicans in this year’s midterm elections and have an even greater impact in 2020.

Even as signs point to Democrats winning back the House, the party is concerned that their hopes of a blue wave could turn into something smaller if Trump and the GOP are effective on their economic messaging ahead of November.


Interviews with more than a dozen Democrats suggest a number of people in the party are worried that Democrats aren’t doing enough to provide a counterargument.

“It’s a very big concern,” said Democratic pollster Celinda Lake. “The economy is the No. 1 issue out there for people and right now Trump has a very aggressive economic message that seems to cross traditional party lines to voters.”

The unemployment rate, which fell under former President Obama, has dropped even further since Trump took office. In April, it hit 3.9 percent, the lowest figure since December 2000.

Lake said Democrats can’t assume that because Trump’s approval ratings are low, it will translate into voter support for Democrats on the economy.

“We tend to just assume that people will view us as better on this issue and they don’t, and you can’t win elections when you’re behind on the economy,” she said. “To produce a real blue wave, you need to have an economic message.”

Basil Smikle, a Democratic strategist who served as the executive director of the New York State Democratic Party, also said Democrats are losing the messaging war when it comes to the economy.

“The problem is, we could say the auto industry is still alive because of President Obama, unemployment went down during the Obama administration, we can say that businesses were doing better and hiring more [under Obama]. All of that is true,” Smikle said.

“But the Republicans have spent so much time saying that Obama was to blame, it’s going to be hard going back to rehash that argument,” Smikle said. “We’ve been playing defense for so long we haven’t had a cohesive message that is about big ideas and getting people to believe in these ideas again.”

A CNN poll out this month showed that 57 percent of those surveyed think the country is doing well, an uptick from 49 percent in February. At the same time, a CBS poll also out this month showed that 66 percent of those polled believe the economy is good.

Republicans, for their part, aren’t feeling super confident that voters will reward them for the good economy.

GOP lawmakers have expressed frustration to The Hill that they haven’t received more credit for the tax-cut bill signed by President Trump.

The CBS survey showed 46 percent disapproved of the bill, while 43 percent approved. The poll also showed that 62 percent said the law would either hurt them or have little effect on their well-being.

Pointing to those statistics, some Democrats say their party should hit Republicans over the law, arguing it benefitted corporations and the wealthy more than the middle class.

“Most Americans agree that the bulk of benefits from tax reform won’t help them but will help Trump’s billionaire friends,” said Democratic strategist Christy Setzer. “That’s gold, candidates. Please use it.”

A possible messaging frame for the Democrats’ argument, Setzer added, should be that “Trump is a grifter looking to profit off the American taxpayer, and if his dirty friends like Michael Cohen also get rich as a result, even better. But he’s not looking out for you.”

Democratic strategist Jim Manley acknowledged that “the last thing Democrats should do is try and knock down the economy.” Still, he agreed those in his party can point out that the administration’s tax policy is “skewed to the wealthy” and Democrats should seize on that opening.

“Republicans aren’t spending a lot of time talking about the tax cuts and there are very few if any Republicans who want to talk about it,” he said.

Despite Smikle’s argument that voters are dug in on the Obama years, former Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) said Democrats should also be showcasing the fact they were the ones who rescued the economy from “falling off the cliff.”

“We need to point out that the economy is on the same trajectory it was on when Barack Obama left office,” Tauscher said.

Others say the party needs to take it a step further.

“Our biggest challenge in the midterms is you’re going to have a waterline on the economy and unless you’re able to articulate a theory of the case, you’re going to be dependent on where that waterline is,” said Chris Lehane, a Democratic strategist.

“Democrats right now, we’re going up to bat and we’re not even looking to hit,” Lehane added about the messaging. “We’re hoping to get hit by the pitcher so we can walk to first base.”

Lake proposed creating an economic plan with several points that the party talks about, including investments in education and taking on insurance companies and drug corporations.

“We need to offer a positive alternative,” she said. “You can’t be something with nothing.”

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/38 ... er-economy
All they got is 'not Trump' and they couldn't beat him last time.
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Re: Donald Trump, Avatar of his Class, Capitalism & the Decline and Fall of Bourgeois Democracy

Post by blindpig » Sat May 19, 2018 1:59 pm

Donald Trump has warned Kim Jong-un that North Korea will be “decimated” if it does not agree a nuclear deal, and that Mr Kim himself will be treated in the same manner as slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

In comments to reporters that initially appeared designed to reassure Mr Kim, amid reports of potential brinksmanship from North Korea, the US president said his safety would be reassured and that he would remain in control of his country, following any deal with Washington. Yet he then suggested if a deal was not forthcoming, the North Korean leader might be treated much more harshly.

“The Libyan model was a much different model. We decimated that country. We never said to Gaddafi, ‘Oh, we're going to give you protection’,” he said. “We went in and decimated him, and we did the same thing with Iraq.”


Mr Trump’s comments came after North Korea abruptly pulled out of a meeting planned for Wednesday with South Korea, and suggested it may also not participate in the summit with Mr Trump, scheduled to take place in Singapore on 12 June.

North Korea claimed it was angered over a joint US-South Korea military exercise, but some observers suggested Pyongyang was returning to the kind of diplomacy it had displayed before at the time of other proposed talks. Others said it was possible that secret preparation discussions, understood to be taking place in Singapore, may have hit a bump.

A statement published by the state-run Korea Central News Agency, said North Korea would never accept economic assistance from the US in exchange for unilaterally abandoning its nuclear programme.

Mike Pompeo confident US and North Korea have 'shared understanding of ultimate objectives from summit'
The statement, issued in the name of Kim Kye Gwan, North Korea’s first vice minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said: “We have never had any expectation of US support in carrying out our economic construction and will not … Make such a deal in future.”

Mr Trump was asked about comments made over the weekend by his national security adviser, John Bolton, who had raised the prospect of pursuing a “Libya model” in relation to getting North Korea to abandon its weapons programme.

Mr Bolton was referring to a announcement made by Mr Gaddafi in December 2003, when, after the US and UK invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, he announced he was giving up his WMD programme and seeking better relations with the West.

Mr Trump appeared to have confused that process, with what happened to the Libyan leader in 2011, when he was overthrown and killed after Libyans joined the Arab Spring protests, and were supported militarily by Nato.

He was hunted down and killed by opponents in the city of Sirte, after his convoy was struck by Nato planes. Hillary Clinton, the then US secretary of state, said of his death: “We came, we saw, he died.”

“North Korea is actually talking to us about times and everything else as though nothing happened,” Mr Trump said, at the start of an Oval Office meeting with Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

He said the deal he was looking at would give Mr Kim “protections that will be very strong”.

He added: “He would be there, he would be running his country, his country would be very rich. The Libya model was a much different model. We decimated that country.”

The United States has demanded the “complete, verifiable, and irreversible” dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme, which Pyongyang has rejected. Rather, North Korea has given no indication that it is willing to go beyond statements of broad support for the concept of denuclearisation.

It has said in previous, failed talks, that it could consider giving up its arsenal if the United States removed its troops from South Korea and withdrew its so-called nuclear umbrella of deterrence from South Korea and Japan.

South Korea is also involved in efforts to both salvage peace talks with North Korea and play mediator for the summit between Mr Trump and Mr Kim. “We decided to closely coordinate with both sides so that the upcoming [summit] will be held successfully with mutual respect,” a South Korean official told the news agency.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 56901.html

Thug and fool, Trump is truly the avatar for his class, the True Face of Amerika. Let all recoil in horror.
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Re: Donald Trump, Avatar of his Class, Capitalism & the Decline and Fall of Bourgeois Democracy

Post by blindpig » Sun May 20, 2018 11:52 am

In a humiliating blow for Donald Trump on the world stage, the United Nations General Assembly has voted by 128 to nine to declare his controversial decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital “null and void”.

Just days after the US used its veto power at the UN Security Council to block a similar measure, the General Assembly resoundingly condemned the America’s unilateral action, which most observers said would hamper efforts to secure peace in the Middle East.

While the vote has little practical impact – it is not legally binding – it is a considerable embarrassment for the US as it reflects global opinion.

As the US licked its wounds, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas’s spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah seized on what he said was a “victory for Palestine”.


“We will continue our efforts in the United Nations and at all international forums to put an end to this occupation, and to establish our Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital,” Mr Rdainah said.

Thirty-five countries, many in Africa and Latin America, abstained from the vote.

Experts had predicted at least 150 votes in support of the motion. There was speculation that the high number of abstentions was a result of the Trump administration’s threat to “take names” of countries and cut off humanitarian aid funding.

Rwanda, Uganda, South Sudan, Malawi, and several Caribbean and Pacific island nations all abstained. Canada, Poland, Australia, and Mexico also joined them in sitting out the vote, in perhaps a nod to other political pressures from the US.

Britain voted for the motion, as did India and Russia.

Benjamin Netanyahu calls the UN the ‘house of lies’ before Jerusalem vote

Ahead of the vote, the US’s ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, had warned that the US would would be “taking names” of any countries who supported a resolution criticising Washington’s actions.

The Associated Press said Ms Haley had written to most of the 193 UN members states warning of possible retaliation. She said the President was taking the matter personally.

Speaking to members of his cabinet on Wednesday, Mr Trump said he liked what Ms Haley had spelled out. “For all these nations, they take our money and then vote against us. They take hundreds of millions of dollars, even billions of dollars and then they vote against us,” Mr Trump said.

“We’re watching those votes. Let them vote against us. We’ll save a lot. We don’t care.”

In 2016, the US contributed approximately $13bn (£9.7bn)​ in economic and military assistance to countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, and $1.6bn to states in East Asia and Oceania, according to the US Agency for International Development.

Ukraine was among the 21 nations that were not present for the vote.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he completely rejected the “preposterous” UN resolution.

He said in a video on Facebook that Jerusalem “always was, always will be” Israel’s capital. He also said he appreciated that “a growing number of countries” had refused to participate in the “theatre of the absurd”.

Mr Netanyahu also thanked Mr Trump for his “stalwart defence of Israel”. Also joining the US and Israel were Togo, Guatemala, Nauru, Palau, Micronesia, Marshall Islands and Honduras.

Despite the disapproval of so many countries, Richard Gowan, a UN expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told The Independent the vote is still a “win for Trump in a perverse way”.

“It fits with his tough guy, anti-globalist image. If he had backed down in the face of UN pressure he would have looked hollow to his domestic supporters,” Mr Gowan said.

However, it is not a “win” for Ms Haley in his estimation. ”She looks diplomatically isolated and a little inept, and has undone” the work she has put in to build relationships with diplomats, Mr Gowan noted.

The White House has not publicly commented on the vote as yet, but Ms Haley took to Twitter to “appreciate these countries for not falling to the irresponsible ways of the UN”, and included a list of all those that voted “no” and abstained.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 23106.html

Hahahahaha
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Re: Donald Trump, Avatar of his Class, Capitalism & the Decline and Fall of Bourgeois Democracy

Post by blindpig » Sun May 20, 2018 10:27 pm

Russiagate Flopped but Now Comes the Real Scandal: “Israeli-Saudi-Emirati Gate”
Written by Adam Garrie on 2018-05-20

2018-05-19
Donald Trump’s eldest son Donald Jr. may soon be questioned by Special Counsel Robert Mueller over a possible conspiracy to collude with foreign entities in order to meddle in the 2016 US Presidential election which his father ultimately won.

While Mueller’s initial duty was to attempt and find collusion between the Trump campaign and entities from Russia, thus far the only evidence of any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia was when the current US President’s son-in-law Jared Kushner ordered disgraced former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to essentially beg then Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak to delay a UN vote so that the incoming Trump administration could vote at the UN in favour of “Israel”. As it were, Russia did not take the bait and the lame duck Obama administration cast a vote in favour of the Palestinian position.



In this sense, what was supposed to be “Russiagate” turned out to be “Israelgate” as the Trump campaign lobbied foreign governments, including Russia on behalf of a foreign power which happened to be the Tel Aviv regime. Here Russia was the victim rather than a co-conspirator.

Far from the US mainstream media picking up on this treacherous scandal among the Trump family, when a duel US-“Israeli” billionaire Haim Saban praised Kushner for colluding with a foreign regime and implying that he didn’t care whether or not Kushner broke US law, the media went silent.



Now though, it would appear that the Trump family’s collusion with foreign regimes in the alleged procurement of election meddling goes much deeper than that. A new report which first appeared in the New York Times suggests that Donald Trump Jr. met with men from Saudi Arabia, “Israel” and the United Arab Emirates in 2016 where the subject of online perception manipulation was the main topic of discussion. According to the New York Times report,

“Three months before the 2016 election, a small group gathered at Trump Tower to meet with Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son. One was an Israeli specialist in social media manipulation. Another was an emissary for two wealthy Arab princes. The third was a Republican donor with a controversial past in the Middle East as a private security contractor.



The meeting was convened primarily to offer help to the Trump team, and it forged relationships between the men and Trump insiders that would develop over the coming months — past the election and well into President Trump’s first year in office, according to several people with knowledge of their encounters.

Erik Prince, the private security contractor and the former head of Blackwater, arranged the meeting, which took place on Aug. 3, 2016. The emissary, George Nader, told Donald Trump Jr. that the princes who led Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were eager to help his father win election as president. The social media specialist, Joel Zamel [a high level “Israeli political media specialist], extolled his company’s ability to give an edge to a political campaign; by that time, the firm had already drawn up a multimillion-dollar proposal for a social media manipulation effort to help elect Mr. Trump.

The company, which employed several Israeli former intelligence officers, specialized in collecting information and shaping opinion through social media….

...After Mr. Trump was elected, Mr. Nader paid Mr. Zamel a large sum of money, described by one associate as up to $2 million. There are conflicting accounts of the reason for the payment, but among other things, a company linked to Mr. Zamel provided Mr. Nader with an elaborate presentation about the significance of social media campaigning to Mr. Trump’s victory.

The meetings, which have not been reported previously, are the first indication that countries other than Russia may have offered assistance to the Trump campaign in the months before the presidential election. The interactions are a focus of the investigation by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, who was originally tasked with examining possible Trump campaign coordination with Russia in the election”

This would indicate the strong possibility of collusion with an “Israeli” expert in the kind of things that the disgraced and now closed company Cambridge Analytica did – namely to use psychological manipulation techniques to brainwash US voters into voting for Trump. The report also implies that implicit in the alleged deal was that the Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman and UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan would offer their backing for Donald Trump once the previously undisclosed alleged deal was sealed.



A lawyer representing Trump Jr. has admitted that such a meeting took place but has denied that any deals took place. According to attorney Alan Futerfas,

“Prior to the 2016 election, Donald Trump Jr. recalls a meeting with Erik Prince, George Nader and another individual who may be Joel Zamel. They pitched Mr. Trump Jr. on a social media platform or marketing strategy. He was not interested and that was the end of it”.

It is now imperative that Robert Mueller investigates the contents and possible outcomes of Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with the foreign officials in question and to then make a determination about what kind of deal, if any was made.

What is already abundantly clear is that there are two parallel scandals occurring in the United States at the moment. The first is a fake Russiagate scandal that is based around falsehoods, conjecture and wishful thinking on the part of the US mainstream media establishment which seeks to both undermine Donald Trump’s administration as well as to undermine the increasingly remote prospect of even a minor rapprochement between the US and Russia. Such a prospect was unlikely in the first place due to overriding geopolitical disagreements, but now such a reality is almost impossible.



The second scandal and in many ways the more important scandal is that it remains clear that members of the Trump campaign team, including Donald Trump’s family members met with multiple high level representatives of foreign regimes. In the course of this meetings, it has already been established that Jared Kushner conspired with the “Israeli” regime to undermine the independence of the United Nations and now there appears to be a high likelihood that Donald Trump Jr. conspired with an “Israeli” psychological warfare expert as well as representatives of the Saudi and Emirati regimes.

This second scandal could prove that there was indeed illegal collusion between the Trump campaign and foreign agents during the course of the 2016 US Presidential election. Thus, the mainstream media are correct to point out the possibility of foreign collusion in the Trump campaign, but they are wrong in pointing to Russia. The reality is that the Trump family conspired with other regimes whose foreign policies are far less benign than that of the Russian Federation.

https://www.eurasiafuture.com/2018/05/2 ... rati-gate/


Well, mebbe, could be, wouldn't be surprised. Thing is, this narrative does not coincide with that favored by the imperial establishment. And because of that the Dems will not pursue cause they know what side the butter is on. So whatever is here will be ignored, unless the prez gets so out of hand that they'll use whatever means to straighten him out, whatever that might mean.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Donald Trump, Avatar of his Class, Capitalism & the Decline and Fall of Bourgeois Democracy

Post by blindpig » Thu May 24, 2018 2:29 pm

The Donald finally figures out that he was not going to be accepting North Korea's surrender.

Image

So the Pig puts lipstick on the pig.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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