Iran again

?

...

Beast of Burden
This is one of his key texts: Beyond the Axis of Evil: Additional Threats from Weapons of Mass Destruction

He has always had an expansive view and conflated Latin American, Arab and Islamic regimes as similar threats. He likes to scope the outer realms of the possible, way beyond official government policy (although in the Trump administration, who knows?) and enjoys the external opprobrium. He relished his short lived UN ambassadorship, acting in this style.

He has had operational experience, it is not all verbosity. The early chapters of his fairly legalistic memoir Surrender is Not an Option detail his instrumental role as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control during the Bush administration's withdrawal from the ABM Treaty and the ICC.

He always used to be labelled a Neocon but he is more of a basic nationalist security hawk along the lines of Rumsfeld. He is a dyed-in-the-wool GOP Conservative Movement Barry Goldwater guy and that's where he comes from. He never converted from anything; there are no ideological complications or subtleties.
 
Leo

Leo

Well-known member
from axios (actual wapo story behind their paywall)

President Trump thinks some of his top advisers "could rush the United States into a military confrontation with Iran and shatter his long-standing pledge to withdraw from costly foreign wars," the WashPost reports:

"Trump prefers a diplomatic approach to resolving tensions and wants to speak directly with Iran’s leaders."

"Trump grew angry ... over the weekend about what he sees as warlike planning that is getting ahead of his own thinking," per conversations about national security adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Dispute over the intelligence: "The intelligence that caused the White House to escalate its warnings about a threat from Iran came from photographs of missiles on small boats in the Persian Gulf," the N.Y. Times reports:

But there are "questions about the underlying intelligence, and complaints by lawmakers that they had not been briefed on it."

"[O]ther officials — including Europeans, Iraqis, members of both parties in Congress and some senior officials within the Trump administration — said Iran’s moves might mostly be defensive against what Tehran believes are provocative acts by Washington."
Click to expand...
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Yeah, I was under the impression that a part of Trump's popularity was due to his criticism of previous presidents' hawkish foreign policies (GWB more so than Obama, actually) and reticence as regards boots-on-the-ground deployment - to the point that even some on the left were prepared to call him the less-bad option compared to Hillary Clinton. (Of course this doesn't include the incessant drone warfare, and in his need to look 'tough' in Syria and shake off accusations of Russian influence on US foreign policy, I think he topped Obama's eight-year civilian death toll total from drone strikes within the first few months of his presidency - and has recently overturned Obama's disclosure agreement that mandated government transparency on these figures.)

He does actually seem to have achieved something with regard to North Korea, weirdly enough, but it could all still go horribly tits-up with Iran.
 
Leo

Leo

Well-known member
although I'm not sure much of anything tangible has been achieved with North Korea. yes, they haven't bombed anyone yet, so that's good. one could even say kim has come out ahead, since he hasn't curtailed any production or testing, and has had his profile raised at home and on the world stage by meeting with trump.
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Leo said:
although I'm not sure much of anything tangible has been achieved with North Korea. yes, they haven't bombed anyone yet, so that's good. one could even say kim has come out ahead, since he hasn't curtailed any production or testing, and has had his profile raised at home and on the world stage by meeting with trump.
Click to expand...

I guess I wasn't setting the bar very high - I just mean they met face-to-face and it wasn't a total disaster (e.g. recommencement of open hostilities in the peninsula).
 
D

droid

Well-known member
Bolton seems intent on destroying the US's hard power capabilities, as Trump has done with their soft power. The fuckers might go for it too, especially since things are really not looking good for 2020.
 
D

droid

Well-known member
I may be wrong but that seems like quite an advanced capability which would presumably have been noticed by the nearby US carrier group or multiple military bases dotted around the area, unless...
 
D

droid

Well-known member
Trump actually downplaying this. It seems he's trying to keep Bolton and his Saudi and Israeli friends in check
 
Leo

Leo

Well-known member
DJT Tweets

Nov. 29, 2011: “In order to get elected, Barack Obama will start a war with Iran.”

Oct. 6, 2012: “Now that Obama’s numbers are in a tailspin watch for him to launch a strike in Libya or Iran. He is desperate.”

Oct. 22, 2012: “Don’t let Obama play the Iran card in order to start a war in order to get elected – be careful Republicans!”
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I wonder how the disgruntled Bernie bros who voted for Trump because "at least he isn't a huge hawk like Killary Clinton" are taking this.
 
B

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Well this is epic. Wouldn't want to work in a US Embassy anywhere on earth right now (not that i would anyway, but...). Revenge will be served very cold, so this could go on for years

Is this a new era of parasol governance, what with that Australian idiot phoning it in from his holiday in hawaii while the country burns?
 
D

DannyL

Wild Horses
Yeah, I think holy shit is the best reaction right now.

Twitter is alive with hot takes which invariably prove that the prior positions the poster took were right all along.
 
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