Our love affair with Israel is gonna destroy our nation. And we did it voluntarily. Just as we voluntarily dismantled and shipped our industrial base overseas. We're done. Put a fork in us.

After 9/11, there were a few days where people started to question the cost our foreign policy was having. That was obviously quickly shut down, but I am saddened to say that it may take more tragedy, a intellectual revolution of sorts if you will, before that fork gets extricated. The challenge is that the mental training people get in this country through the public schools is criminal at best, and contrived at worst.

There's more to it than the money of Adelson and Saban and the Saudi and Gulf sheikhs. There's a lot of money floating around from many different sources for political influence operations.

What makes the zionist influence different is what Col. Lang noted, that key elements in the US policy making gene pool are fervent believers in Manifest Destiny. And that Destiny includes ensuring the dominance of Israel in the Middle East. This belief is akin to a religious belief. And it has permeated through the body politic.

The first note of dissonance on a national platform was Trump during the last GOP primary. Of course there is Ron Paul and Pat Buchanan but they are dismissed as fringe elements. It is fascinating that on the left there is no one offering a critique on a national level. Yes, there are a few like Kucinich. In this context it is remarkable that Trump has placed neocons in the top foreign policy positions.

Rocket Man, on the other hand provides an interesting contrast. He pushed ahead despite the threats and developed a nuke capability. Now he is being fêted as he's willing to trade his weapons but not his technological capability.

This is why I keep repeating the litany "liberals are not the left", liberals have kept the gates to any mainstream presence securely shut on the left until they badly underestimated Sanders in 2016. They won't make that mistake again and are fighting the left more aggressively in the primaries than they fight the GOP in the general.

Banished to the wilderness, this is what the raving voice of the left sounds like:
https://www.counterpunch.or...

No, no, no. You are completely underestimating the role of Protestant Churches (e.g. Seven Day Adventists) in this. They bear major responsibility in hijacking the Secular Enlightenment State and perverting it to their misguided religious cause. Neo Salafis are not the only religious fools in the world.

Yes, the Christian Zionists are plenty stupid, but don't exaggerate the power of the Christians over the government. After all, if they're really that powerful, how come they can't ban abortion? Or homo-marriage?

They are not powerful enough domestically. And per the FarNorthSolitude's comments, most people in US pay no heed to foreing affairs.

IMO, people of US, and now more evidently also people of Europe, are not given a balance choice to become interested to participate in foreign affairs. Majority of Citizens generally wouldn’t become interested and wouldn’t participate, if they are constantly given one side of story and no choice. Where in US outside of few blogs one can hear an alternative foreign policy choice, not in schools, not in think tanks and not in MSM, in all this institutions all we heard is the official Borg version. Under this conditions why and how the citizens can become intreated to participate in any policy choice debate. Masses of people are not going to investigate and participate in their own, (specially if they know they will not be given a chance to be heard) unless they are invited to do so by thier 4th state the MSM. Those elites that control us, they know this well, that’s why we didn’t hear an alternative choice unless we come to this blog.

I am reminded of the night that I was exposed to the hatred and anger of this German graduate student of Neuroscience against Iran and Islam. That was more than 30 years ago. I wondered then and I still wonder now why he was so worked up against Iran and Islam. Any antagonisms between Iran and US should have been irrelevant to him.

In US, the Fly-over America hates Islam and specially hates Iran, ergo Travel bans and his JCPOA cuteness, he is giving them what they want.

And the simple baker who told me that he was going to vote for Trump because Obama was not sufficiently robust against Putin.

Based on these types of observations, I have come to the conclusion that the Western Fortresse's foreign policies - hoever hare-brained - are accepted/endorsed/approved by their respective electorates. In fact, when the plebs revolted in UK in opposition to bombing of Syria, UK government abandoned that attempt. And in UK, where Liberal Democracy is still healthy, the population Brexited rather than watching England be vanished.

https://www.zerohedge.com/n...

Does anybody really think that Israel will do that fighting on its own?

I have seen a poll today that indicates that 61% of the American people approve of the FUKUS missile strikes against the fictional chemical weapons target set in Syria. The gullibility involved in that is impressive.

This is testimony to the efficacy of coordinated, corporate media propaganda. It reflects well on Americans trust in their Press, the corporate arm of that Press deserves no such trust, but that I'm afraid will be a painful lesson when Americans do learn it.

I am impressed that 39% of the American people DIDN'T approve.

Me too! And I don't care if they don't know where Syria is, or if they bother to follow current FP events. I appreciate every anti-war poll or vote or sentiment, no matter the knowledge or intelligence level or political or religious affiliation.

It's a good start. Fisk compares it to the baby milk plant bombing: https://www.independent.co....

And then there is the Bill Clinton 'toothpaste factory' bombing: https://www.jacobinmag.com/...

You assume that 39% of the American people know what "Syria" is.

Or missile strikes, for that matter.

We also shouldn't overlook the deregulation of US media ownership rules. This was done ~15 years ago under FCC Chairman Michael Powell (son of Colin), and it concentrated the control of TV stations, radio stations and newspapers into a relatively small number of hands. That in turn reduced the number of audible voices and facilitated the propagandizing of the population. This did not happen by accident.

Apparently the situation is still too restrictive for the owners, and we can look forward to greater concentration of ownership and consequently even greater misinformation in the future: https://www.tvtechnology.co...

Never trust polls the questions they ask can have many meanings to get a desired answer and besides aren't these the same people that picked Hilary Clinton the Transgendered Obama to win the Presiduncee!

Funny how they used an illegal attack under international and disregard all precepts of it and UN Charter and Articles for their own self aggrandizement to "allegedly liberate" the Syrian people against their own wishes from the Syrian legitimately elected government. Seems the US media Adage "we tell you what you think so be quiet" sounds like it harkens to the days of the bolsheviks and fascists trying to control the people's thoughts. This is truly sad times we are in when the MIC is so bent on controlling everything to further their own objectives in staying relevant before the people demand an end to this type of "Tyranny of the Masses" , yet we all have this to protect a slim and minute possibility of Israel losing it's dominance of being the only Nuclear armed Nation in the region forcong them to negotiate with words and not rhetoric and weapons of mass destruction.

Why can no one learn that having a old fashioned "Detente" is necessary to keep all parties honest and respectful of one another.

Forgive me for beating the point to death, but just about every American was I knew practically orgasmic with delight during the initial stages of the War on Iraq.

That ecstasy quickly cooled off.

Forgive me if I wish to trot out Aesop's fable of the wolf and the lamb once more.

I would be cautious in accepting the truth of this or of any poll. From what I have seen all or almost all Americans are sick to tears of war and are especially sick of paying for them to their own detriment. I also think people don't tell their real opinion in polls, look at the polls that had Hillary winning by a landslide, this poll may be a similar case. Something to consider anyway:)

I think Americans prefer War to Peace.

It's because they've never experienced it at home -the savagery of their civil war of course is something that they have forgotten.

Not in the South

True.

Americans like wars when they are winning, or when they think they are.

To name the most recent example, the War on Iraq became real unpopular, real fast.

"Apart from Jordan's small but competent forces, the rest have no armed forces capable of doing anything but oppress civilian populations."

Oof. Nailed it, Col.. This, right here, is widely known--maybe not amongst the general public but certainly amongst the Arabs themselves and by almost anyone who has had any experience whatsoever in the ME. I remember reading a study, years ago, something to the effect that--generally--an O-6 in an Arab military has as much power and authority as an E-3 in any western army. They're mostly jumped up police forces or toy armies. Much in the same way Americans will derisively refer to police as "pigs," average Arabs will often refer to their armies (jaysh) as "djaysh" a play on words using the word for chicken (djej).

Though as with anything coming out of Hair Furor's mouth, it's hard to tell if this is the usual three-card monte grift or a legitimate plan. Though, it's improbable to see such a plan coming to fruition--particularly given his statement the other day that none of the Arab states receiving US military aid wouldn't "last a week without our protection." I'm more inclined to believe that this is likely a play to get the khaleejis to underwrite our (mis)adventures instead of dipping into US coffers.

See here please. https://www.meforum.org/art....

That's the one ! Thanks for digging it up!

Brother Babak,

Thanks for the reference. Quite an interesting article. Any idea as to whether any of this applies to the non-Arab armies of the Middle East ?

It applied to Iranian Army under the Monarchy, no so since its demise.

It also no longer applies to the Army of the Syrian Arab Republic or Hezbollah.

Ismael Zachariah could comment on Turkey's and FB Ali on Pakistan's.

Babak

That is a good point. For all the decades long bleating by the Israelis/Neocons about degrading rival Arab military capabilities (and SAA/Hezbollah capabilities in particular), all that has really happened since 2011 has been to provide both with hardened battle experience and given them the ability to morph into a legitimately professional, competent fighting force (really SAA more so on that point, though) that is far more capable than they were previously.

I agree, I do think the Trump plan may be to get the Arab countries and possibly Israel to pay for mercs, Blackwater or whatever it is called now comes to mind. Wasn't he visiting the ME a short while ago, probably getting some logistics to prepare his bid for the job:)

What I don't see, and really want to see, are projections - and yes, I know predicting is hard, especially about the future *(TM)(c) Yogi Berra*. Even our township board has to go through a 20-year projection from time to time. But I never see the Keanes of this world spelling out, in detail, where their wonderous schemes will drop us even a few years ahead.

I'd love to make Gen. Keane and his neocons spell it out for us bumpkins. Kaplan et al are saying that if we put in another X number of our military in Y country this will stabilize the politics of that country. But they never map it out - how is that going to be accomplished? Show your work! What are your assumptions? Did you factor in population growth? The effects of continuing desertification on crop yields? Are you counting on oil revenue to fund things? What happens to oil prices when Europe, China and the U.S. essentially go all-electric from solar, wind, and nuclear in coming years? If automation and robotics will dominate Western economies what happens in the ME? What happens to these countries if / when unemployment reaches 30%? 50%?

Maybe we don't get details from these people because they don't have any, that they operate based on fact-free, wholly imaginary assumptions. If so, we do indeed live in 'interesting times'.

Once Bolton et al. come to grips with the patently fantastical nature of these plans, how long will it take them to realize that there is only one Sunni majority country in the region willing & able to relieve the US military presence in NE Syria? If they really do want out and want to keep Assad & Iran out, it has to be Turkey. This would of course be very bad news for the Kurds, but then it seems to me a happy ending for them was always equally fantastical.

More likely in the short term, in my view, is that Gulf money & some nominal force will be forthcoming, the latter being sold as 'replacing' US troops, which will remain. If Erdogan wins power on June 24th I'd expect him to ratchet up the pressure on the US presence in all sorts of ways, together with Iran. And Iraq, who recently bombed ISIS in Syria seemingly without coordinating with the US. For its part, Russia would surely be happy to permit some limited additional Turkish occupation of N Syria (not the oil fields) in order to eject the US & end the war - Assad would just have to live with it. Molotov–Ribbentrop pact?

After the SAA liberates Idlib, it will be able to retake its land in the east, except in the north, where a lot of negotiation will be required. When the SAA moves east, the US better be ready to turn over the oil fields and other land it is illegally occupying, or some unfortunate things will probably happen. Did you see the videos of all the young men recently liberated in E. Ghouta and Douma chanting that they want to join the Army and get revenge on the terrorists?

What about a Trump-Assad meeting after the Trump-Kim meeting? Some sort of direct negotiation between Trump and Assad might be a face-saving solution for all. What Trump needs now is a good face-saving option that will allow him to withdraw from Syria without being called a coward by the MSM and the neocons. How about a US-brokered and guaranteed Syria-Israel Nonagression Treaty? Hafiz Assad tried to do one of those about thirty years ago but failed. Maybe the time is ripe now. And Trump has called Kim a lot worse things than "animal," so previous anti-Assad rhetoric should be no stumbling block.

That ain't gonna happen. Israel wants Syria turned into a failed state. Saudi Arabia wants Syria as a sort of MiniMe.

IMO, strategically, balance of force speaking, for some states in the region (Iran, Iraq, Syria) Kurds have a balance of power value, meaning they will not allow Kurds to become too powerful to become independent, but at the same time they will not allow Turks to eliminate the Kurds.

Fares Shehabi, a Syrian MP for Aleppo, was interviewed yesterday on BBC HardTalk. The interviewer, Stephen Sackur, was as one would expect; smug, haughty, aggressively "on message", but Fares didn't give an inch. More than that, he returned fire with great passion. An unexpected pleasure.

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Shortly after General Keane retired he founded, or co-founded, a firm titled "Keane Advisors LLC".
I visited its web site on 2008-09-15, and found it described its interests as:
"Business Focus Private Equity : M&A : Advisory Services : Real Estate".
("M&A", of course, means "Mergers and Acquisitions".)
How applicable is Gen. Keane's no doubt outstanding Army career to such a field?
On the other hand,
there are a lot of fervent supporters of Israel both in finance and real estate,
making it quite easy for them to, as they say, "reward our friends."

As well as that, he has been, and may still be
Chairman of the Board at the Institute for the Study of War.
Does anyone know what his compensation is in that capacity?

Beyond that, according to
http://www.bloomberg.com/re...
Keane has most extensive positions in the business world,
including, like General Petraeus, a connection with KKR.

The following is from the Bloomberg web page:

Dr. John M. Keane, also known as Jack, Ph.D.,
is a Senior Partner at SCP Partners since 2009 and also serves as a Venture Partner.
Dr. Keane serves as a National Security Analyst at ABC News, Inc.

He serves as an Advisor to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at URS Corporation.
He has been the President at GSI, LLC since 2004.
He co-founded Keane Advisors, LLC and served as its Senior Managing Director.
He served as Managing Director of Keane Advisors, LLC (consulting) from 2005 to 2009.
He served as a Senior Advisor at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. ( now KKR & Co. L.P.).
He served as the Chief Executive Officer at W.R. Grace & Co.

Dr. Keane serves as the Chairman of W.R.
Grave & Co. He has been Executive Chairman and Director of AM
General LLC since October 26, 2016. Dr. Keane has been a Director of
General Dynamics Corporation since February 2004. He serves as a
Director of CDC Real Estate Opportunity Fund I, L.P., MacAndrews &
Forbes and George C. Marshall Foundation. He served as a Director of
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company since October 21, 2003. He serves as
a Member of Advisory Board at Defense Finance and Accounting Service.

He served as a Member of Board of Managers of Allied Security Holdings LLC
at AlliedBarton Security Services LLC since March 2005. He served as a
Director at International Battery, Inc. He is Chairman of the Knollwood
Foundation.

He is a Member of Department of Defense Policy Board and the Council on Foreign Relations.
He serves as the Chairman of the board of Institute for the Study of War.
He is a Member of Advisory Council of U.S. Department of Defense and
American Corporate Partners. He is on the Board of Trustees of George C.
Marshall Foundation and sits on the board of Fordham University and
Center for Strategic Budgetary Assessments. He served as a Director of
MetLife, Inc. since October 21, 2003 until April 28, 2015. Dr. Keane
served as a Director at Cyalume Technologies Holdings, Inc. from
December 2008 to March 2011. He served as a Director at FedBid, Inc. He
served as an Independent Director at M&F Worldwide Corp. from
September 2008 to December 21, 2011. He served as a Trustee of The Rand
Corporation. Dr. Keane served as a Director of Scientific Games
Corporation since April 23, 2014 until April 29, 2014. He served as a
Member of Corporate Advisory Board at MCPc Incorporated. He served as
Member of the Board of Advisors at Whitney, Bradley & Brown, Inc.

Never before has so little talent been spread so thinly. Someone should tell DC Comics.

Is the "Dr." an honorary degree?

Indeed it is, according to this web page:
https://www.bloomberg.com/r...
That is all I know about the matter.

It is bad form to style oneself "Dr." on the basis of an honorary degree.

That is a very true point.

Evidence from Douma collated by Channel 4 -

https://www.channel4.com/ne....

Interesting, that. From the Heart of Darkness, if that's not too kind a way to refer to English TV, just the tiniest squeak of dissent. Heard it after Racqa too, from the BBC itself. And there I was, thinking that when our TV got disciplined after the Kelly affair Mr Blair and Mr Campbell had knocked the fight out of them for good.

There's more. A more careful squeak this time but it's there. Channel 4's been chasing after Russian bots - .

https://www.channel4.com/ne....

That's a relief. I'd be sad to think of Syrian Girl as a Russian bot. One can never be sure of course.

Then one starts to approach more familiar territory. This (via MOA) is one of our English Russian bots -

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

And with that last I reach stone cold certainty. Amongst all the experts and specialists on SST I can for once speak with unassailable authority. Based on a lifetime of diligent research and investigation into English pubs I can state that that man is no Russian bot.

Don't ask me how I know. It's a gift I have, distinguishing between Russian bots and the man in the pub. Challenge me who dares.

I didn't, incidentally, know much about Ian 56 until now. But unless I read him wrong, there's a dogged insistence there on the truth as he finds it that to me is worth more, so much more, than the Guardian and the NYT and all the rest of them put together.

At the end Ian mentions his wake up call and recognizing how much we were being lied to was going after Iraq as a response to 9/11 when Iraq had nothing to do with it. That was my experience also. It made zero sense that a Baathist secular government was at the heart of the attack.

You and he were more awake than me. I ran out of excuses for what we were doing abroad around 2014. That late.

I have less excuse for it because I spent the early part of my life amongst farmers who took it for granted that most of what the media said was fake, and much that the politicians said. It didn't bother them a lot because there was no point in getting bothered. It was just something inevitable, like rain.

A realistic if somewhat acceptant attitude. Trouble is, the rain's got so very much heavier since then.

Meanwhile Gen. Mattis is defending the JCPOA https://news.antiwar.com/20... So he might as well write his resignation letter now, or perhaps that is old fashioned in the age of being fired by tweet. As time goes by, our core area of competency is managing public opinion.

When Syria cleans out enough rebel pockets they will eventually take back their oil fields. If they have S300 systems and assemble their forces they will be able to defeat any force that is located their bar none. Whenever the SAA and allies have been able to concentrate their forces they have always won decisively. Gen Keane who disparages the SAA as being a shell of an army, entirely dependent on Hezbollah and Iran, will see them slice through that area like a hot knife through butter.

Our response will be to successfully demonize the Syrians for regaining control of their own territory, to portray that as Iran taking the oil. How dare a country regain their own territory and use their resources to rebuild their own war ravaged nation? Again our core area of competency is managing U.S. public opinion.

What's not to like (from a neocon perspective)? Enough competent US troops to hold Russian and SAA forces at bay, and Saudi troops/contractors to act as death squads if the population gets too restive.