Donald Trump, the road that might not lead to the White House!

[teqniq]

I am not about to repeat it for you as he's since deleted it.

 

[Casually Red]

Fuck all then .

 

[teqniq]

Lol.

 

[CrabbedOne]

On Informed Comment From Syria to Sanctions, Flynn-Russia Quid Pro Quo?

...
The third piece of the puzzle is that the Russians have abruptly invited the United States to join them, the Turks, the Iranians and the Syrians at Astana in Kazakhstan on January 23. Trump will be sworn in on January 20. The Russians had not extended any similar invitation to the US in recent months during Obama’s last months in office. So we may conclude that the Russians hope that the incoming Trump administration will be a more constructive diplomatic partner in Syria than had the Obama administration (at least as Moscow defines constructive). The Russians represent themselves as fighting Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) and the Levantine Conquest Front (i.e. al-Qaeda in Syria) in that country, and so as indeed helping the US versus terrorism. The Obama administration had been dismayed that the Russians mainly focused on al-Qaeda and its battlefield allies. Some of the Salafi groups the CIA had allegedly vetted as moderate are in fact extremist and in recent weeks have been making closer alliances with al-Qaeda. But the Obama administration kept calling them moderates even if they had obviously become Salafi Jihadis. With Obama out and Trump in, the political geography of Syria may well be redefined, so that Washington will see the people the Russians are targeting as bona fide terrorists.

Maybe it is a coincidence that all three stories have broken in the past couple days. Or maybe the stories are threaded together, with Flynn at the center. Flynn perhaps reassures Russia about Obama’s new sanctions. Then Trump hints strongly that he will lift the sanctions on Russia growing out of its unilateral annexation of Crimea and its election hacking efforts. He makes this end of sanctions dependent on Russia helping with terrorism.

And now the US is being suddenly invited again to the diplomatic table regarding Syria at Astana, in what is being advertised as, in part, an anti-terrorism effort.

Flynn already schmoozing with his Russian chums. It's looking like Trump might well drop sanctions if he gets Russian "collaboration" in the GWOT.

Which will probably mean the Russians continuing to do much the same in Syria without being criticised by the US. Trump in business frequently talks up deals that on close inspection aren't really very favourable to him. Expect the same in his showboat diplomacy.

A healthy respect for a truly dangerous adversary like Russia has its merits but there's not much obvious scope for US-Russian collaboration in Syria. US interests lie mainly in Iraq not Syria. The Russian part in a state terror COIN campaign offends against all the tenets of Pentagon COIN doctrine. It's viewed as liable to be counterproductive by the Pentagon though that's rather the pot calling the kettle black looking at our GWOT scorecard. Russia also relies heavily on Iranian support in Syria that's liable to collide with a key US regional interest: Israel. It's very hard to align that with US ME policy even as stated by the now very Israel friendly Trump Team. The Russians are mostly just airpower muscle in Syria. A capability the US isn't short of. They've proved a not very effective intermediary with the regime which has a lot of informers out among the rebels but not IS. Probably the most useful thing the Kremlin has is growing clout with US regional allies but that should worry DC. Like the last reset with Russia this is all liable to run into basic conflicts of superpower interest that can't be bullshitted away.

 

[8den]

Deplorable:



Inside The Alt-Right’s Campaign To Smear Trump Protesters As Anarchists

As an urbanz and therefore baby eating anarchist, can I just say, Melania isn't really our type

 

[8den]

Christopher Steele felt the Kremlin broke the rules when they murdered Litvinenko. That could have clouded his judgement

Theres something enormously funny about CR posting links from the telegraph.

 

[Casually Red]

He said in his best dinner party bore accent .

 

[8den]

He said in his best dinner party bore accent .

You know I struck a bone because he can't call me a "west brit" right now because he himself just quoted the telegraph.

 

[Casually Red]

You're a west Brit .

 

[teqniq]

Theres something enormously funny about CR posting links from the telegraph.

Oh the irony.

 

[8den]

Currently attacking a civil rights veteran on MLK weekend.

 

[8den]

You're a west Brit .

And you're swallowing the torygraph cause it fits your narrative you morally bankrupt, homophobic misogynistic shit.

 

[Casually Red]

An angry Guardian reader

Lol

 

[CrabbedOne]

On Politico Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump backfire
Kiev officials are scrambling to make amends with the president-elect after quietly working to boost Clinton.

Vogel was rather unhappy that this juicy little item got buried by Buzzfeed publishing the Trump dossier.

Given Trump's position on Ukraine and Yanukovych advisor Paul Manafort being a prominent member of a Trump team in which he's not the only fan of Russian ways it would be rather lax if the Ukrainians hadn't tried to influence things. Kiev meddling predictably is producing rather less outrage.

 

[Casually Red]

On Politico Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump backfire
Kiev officials are scrambling to make amends with the president-elect after quietly working to boost Clinton.

Vogel was rather unhappy that this juicy little item got buried by Buzzfeed publishing the Trump dossier.

Given Trump's position on Ukraine and Yanukovych advisor Paul Manafort being a prominent member of a Trump team in which he's not the only fan of Russian ways it would be rather lax if the Ukrainians hadn't tried to influence things. Kiev meddling predictably is producing rather less outrage.

Cheers . Good link . Although I read in a few other places that during the Yanukovych tenure Manafort had repeatedly advised him to sign the EU association treaty . Which obviously would have run contrary to kremlin interests . And which throws a lot of the alleged/ implied skulduggery between Manafort and the kremlin into serious doubt .

 

[existentialist]

I've heard of him - wasn't he the "boat happy" guy?

For one poster to contribute not one but two long-running urban catch-phrases is pretty good going, even if by all accounts he was something of a cunt.

I think he may have contributed more than that. You don't see it much now, but "Tobyjug FACT" was, for a long time, the definition of an opinion firmly-held in defiance of all reality. I think I even had a .gif image of it as a kind of rubber stamp at one time.

 

[maomao]

As an urbanz and therefore baby eating anarchist, can I just say, Melania isn't really our type

You lost the right to eat babies when you got a boner for Killary.

 

[Idris2002]

Here's a strange one, even by the standards of Prince Monster of Orange.

The General who will be commanding the DC National Guard on the day of the inauguration has been told that Trump wants him fired half-way through the day's events.

Trump Orders DC National Guard Chief To Leave In Middle Of Inaugural Ceremony

Squaddies of urban, could there be any real reason at all for this bizarre treatment of the senior military man, which seems to me to be a security risk?

 

[8den]

You lost the right to eat babies when you got a boner for Killary.

It takes a special kind of moron (and to your credit, you are very special) to continue a Hilary pissing contest at this junction.

I'll amend my previous statement in the light of current facts "if my choice is between a misogynistic racist wannabe Oligarch controlled by Putin and Hillary, I'm choosing Hilary".



Right now any Stein voters still saying "oh they're as bad as each other" should be waterboarded with non-homoeopathic Russian prostitute pee.

 

[8den]

Rex Tillerson Basically Promised the Senate That He Would Start a War With China

 

[8den]

I think he may have contributed more than that. You don't see it much now, but "Tobyjug FACT" was, for a long time, the definition of an opinion firmly-held in defiance of all reality. I think I even had a .gif image of it as a kind of rubber stamp at one time.

"A Casually Red fact" gif might be order so.

 

[maomao]

It takes a special kind of moron (and to your credit, you are very special) to continue a Hilary pissing contest at this junction.

I'll amend my previous statement in the light of current facts "if my choice is between a misogynistic racist wannabe Oligarch controlled by Putin and Hillary, I'm choosing Hilary".



Right now any Stein voters still saying "oh they're as bad as each other" should be waterboarded with non-homoeopathic Russian prostitute pee.

Who did you vote for then?

 

[Idris2002]

Honestly the commodification of everything is just so ingrained at this point that they may genuinely feel like this obvious self-promotion of their 'personal brands' genuinely represents 'resistance' to Trump. You have to consume the good product and not the bad product, and they are making the good product that the good people will buy.

They're not making it - they are it. Their very existence.

And sure enough. . .

 

[8den]

Who did you vote for then?

What?

A) Have you had a recent head Trauma?

B) Just being really obtuse?

C) Are just being your usual thick prickish self?


It's C isn't it? It's always C.

 

[maomao]

What?

A) Have you had a recent head Trauma?

B) Just being really obtuse?

C) Are just being your usual thick prickish self?


It's C isn't it? It's always C.

The point is:

You didn't have a vote, you never had a vote, it was always just a masturbatory exercise for you. Go and boil your head.

 

[little_legs]

So, they invested a bit of time and a few rubles on the off chance that this idiot could end up having an influence on American politics, and hit the frigging jackpot?

A businessman spends decades cultivating all kinds of relationships across the entire former Soviet Union, in return the public and private senior Russian figures spend decades cultivating him, not just as a business partner, but as a useful idiot. Big deal.

 

[8den]

The point is:

You didn't have a vote, you never had a vote, it was always just a masturbatory exercise for you. Go and boil your head.

And neither do you, oh and so does 99% OF THE PEOPLE ON THIS FUCKING THREAD, so singling me out for this "sin" makes you look like a total fucking cockmuppet ONCE AGAIN.

 

[8den]

A businessman spends decades cultivating all kinds of relationships across the entire former Soviet Union, in return the public and private senior Russian figures spend decades cultivating him, not just as a business partner, but as a useful idiot. Big deal.

Donald Trump's Many, Many, Many, Many Ties to Russia He was a useful idiot for many reasons for a long time.

 

[Pickman's model]

Here's a strange one, even by the standards of Prince Monster of Orange.

The General who will be commanding the DC National Guard on the day of the inauguration has been told that Trump wants him fired half-way through the day's events.

Trump Orders DC National Guard Chief To Leave In Middle Of Inaugural Ceremony

Squaddies of urban, could there be any real reason at all for this bizarre treatment of the senior military man, which seems to me to be a security risk?

Could it have some relationship to the pigmentation of his skin?

 

[Idris2002]

The point is:

You didn't have a vote, you never had a vote, it was always just a masturbatory exercise for you. Go and boil your head.

I strongly suspect that he's one of those people who vote Fine Gael, because he thinks it's still Garrett's party. Ain't that right, 8den old man?