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

[littlebabyjesus]

I'm adopting the position of the Oxford English dictionary , were Litvinenkos activities on behalf of the British intelligence services clearly fall under the categories of spy, treason, treachery and traitor .

Nope. nowhere near good enough. You can't justify your position on behalf of power by saying that another position on behalf of power would say the same.

Do better.

 

[DotCommunist]

more smiley than bond.

Trump loves Brexit:



Trump's first UK post-election interview: Brexit a 'great thing'

he was vocally behind it before he was elected. All spoken of at the time. Farage and him seem to get on very well. So this news isn't.

 

[Casually Red]

Nope. nowhere near good enough. You can't justify your position on behalf of power by saying that another position on behalf of power would say the same.

Do better.

To you perhaps . I can justify it to myself just fine .

A spook got whacked by other spooks . It's what they do to each other from time to time . Soldiers kill other soldiers . This is no different except for the weapon of choice and lack of uniform . They are actual enemies .

 

[Raheem]

Nope. nowhere near good enough. You can't justify your position on behalf of power by saying that another position on behalf of power would say the same.

Do better.

No, the best you can do it point up hypocrisy. But the Snowden example doesn't do that. I don't think anyone has imagined he might be assassinated on the orders of the US government, although now who knows. Under business as usual though, if he were one day extradited he would at least get a trial and immunity from execution (given that Russia is an ECHR country).

 

[Casually Red]

No, the best you can do it point up hypocrisy. But the Snowden example doesn't do that. I don't think anyone has imagined he might be assassinated on the orders of the US government, although now who knows. Under business as usual though, if he were one day extradited he would at least get a trial and immunity from execution (given that Russia is an ECHR country).

I don't know we're you got that idea from . The consensus on here during his flight to Russia was very much that snowden would need to watch his back no matter where he was . US politicians have openly called for him to be killed . And when you've the likes of Clinton talking about sending a drone after Assange it's hardly
a huge leap to think they'd like to do something very bad indeed to Snowden .

Is this spies killing other spies stuff actually news to anyone ?

British spies carried out assassinations during Cold War, claims former agent Le Carre | Daily Mail Online

 

[Raheem]

I don't know we're you got that idea from . The consensus on here during his flight to Russia was very much that snowden would need to watch his back no matter where he was . US politicians have openly called for him to be killed . And when you've the likes of Clinton talking about sending a drone after Assange it's hardly
a huge leap to think they'd like to do something very bad indeed to Snowden .

Is this spies killing other spies stuff actually news to anyone ?

British spies carried out assassinations during Cold War, claims former agent Le Carre | Daily Mail Online

50 years ago, maybe. But, in any event, Snowden is too public to do anything other than put him on trial. The main US politician I'm aware of that has called for Snowden to be killed is Mike Pompeo, who Trump is putting in charge of the CIA. Hence "now who knows".

 

[littlebabyjesus]

No, the best you can do it point up hypocrisy. But the Snowden example doesn't do that. I don't think anyone has imagined he might be assassinated on the orders of the US government, although now who knows. Under business as usual though, if he were one day extradited he would at least get a trial and immunity from execution (given that Russia is an ECHR country).

You're doing the same thing though. Why talk from the position of power?

 

[Raheem]

You're doing the same thing though. Why talk from the position of power?

No I'm not, I'm probing for hypocrisy and equivalence.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Obama 2008:

Obama 2016:

It will be interesting to see how well Trump will stand up to the stresses and demands of the job.

 

[DotCommunist]

I suppose an embolism or a stroke is too much to hope for.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

“That PEOTUS Trump would attack Congressman Lewis on MLK Day weekend for ‘all talk…no action’ when he bled to actually “Make America Great” is why far less than half the country supports him at the dawn of his presidency.”

Atlanta newspaper enters Trump, Lewis feud with front-page story

 

[Tankus]

Obama 2008:
It will be interesting to see how well Trump will stand up to the stresses and demands of the job.

It won't be 8 years...methinks 2 .....then the GOP begin manoeuvres for 2020....the seasons going to come early this time..and it will be President Pense looking for a full term in office ....but he will still have trump stains all over his shirt ...,never wash out ...

 

[redsquirrel]

It won't be 8 years...methinks 2 .....then the GOP begin manoeuvres for 2020....the seasons going to come early this time..and it will be President Pense looking for a full term in office ....but he will still have trump stains all over his shirt ...,never wash out ...

You're the second person to make this claim that Trump won't last a full four years. Can you or coley say how this event is going to come about?

 

[Yossarian]

You're the second person to make this claim that Trump won't last a full four years. Can you or coley say how this event is going to come about?

Impeachment or resignation is seen as so likely that Ladbrokes is only offering evens on it - sadly, they're not offering him offering odds on him being assassinated, keeling over from a massive heart attack, spontaneously combusting, or dying in a plane crash or Trump Tower elevator accident.

My money would be on him dying on the Oval Office toilet within his first year in office and becoming known to future generations mostly as a ghost rumored to haunt the White House's plumbing.

 

[Yossarian]

Paddy Power has Trump at just 7/4 to complete his first term - tempted to put a bet on so I'd secretly feel a little relieved over the next four years every time he somehow survives yet another scandal.

 

[existentialist]

To you perhaps . I can justify it to myself just fine .

I'll bet

 

[DotCommunist]

Paddy Power has Trump at just 7/4 to complete his first term - tempted to put a bet on so I'd secretly feel a little relieved over the next four years every time he somehow survives yet another scandal.

am gutted I didn't lay a score on corbyn when he was at long odds. Could have cleaned up, new trainers and evertything

 

[CrabbedOne]

Not far off Trump's position either.

 

[CrabbedOne]

Hints of another coming trade war.

 

[Pickman's model]

Hints of another coming trade war.

That's more like it

 

[CrabbedOne]

The Pentagon becoming more anti-Russian may be one of Trump's biggest challenges. The politically devious simple soldiers that run the place often railroaded Obama.

 

[CrabbedOne]

Use the remote Donald. Use the remote.

 

[Idris2002]

 

[existentialist]

 

[Pickman's model]

i think the main lesson from all of this is that weltweit's political predictions aren't worth shit

 

[CrabbedOne]

On Bloomberg Trump Slams NATO, Floats Russia Nuke Deal in European Interview

...
In line with his threats against other automakers, Trump said Bayerische Motoren Werke AG would face a 35 percent import duty for foreign-built BMW cars sold in the U.S. BMW should scrap plans to open a new plant in Mexico and build the factory in the U.S. instead, he was quoted as saying. BMW plans to start building 3 Series sedans at San Luis Potosí in 2019.

Other Trump comments, according to Bild:

• The Bush administration’s decision to invade Iraq may have been the worst in U.S. history
• Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, is a natural talent who will bring about an accord with Israel
• Trump plans to keep using social media, including Twitter, once he’s in the White House to sidestep the press and communicate directly with his followers
• People entering the U.S. will face “extreme” security checks, possibly including some European nationals

This is going to be interesting, awful lot of GOP voters really like their Beemers even if they are going to be built in Bolivia.

The other thing we've got is a pro-EU collapse US President who seems to hold views that simultaneously undermine the other pan-Europe institution NATO. The latter is what Leave Tories often see as all that has kept Europe relatively stable and secure. It was confidence in that older institution that enabled a Leave vote. They often worry that a bumbling federal EU would try to supplant a reliable NATO. Well if the US starts to look like an unreliable ally NATO may be as fucked as Poland in 39. Alternatives may need to emerge.

That's a thought the historically fiercely anti-Russian Poles facing weak guarantees from other allies nearly allied with the Nazis but did also toy with siding with the USSR only to get invaded by both set on wiping out their intelligentsia and doing a fair job of it. The Poles still hate and fear the imperial Russians whose authoritarian thumb they were under not so long ago. This gets very real in Warsaw in a way it doesn't in smug London. The Poles where very happy with the US deploying the Iron Brigade recently. Will Trump withdraw it?

I've heard it suggested that more agile alliances, between the Balts for instance, other than a hesitant NATO may be needed. Indeed that might have been a safer idea than aggressively expanding NATO up to Russian borders.

The Germans safe behind a good deal of strategic depth have a far calmer relationship with Russia resting on energy security but does stay that way without US security guarantees?

 

[Pickman's model]

The Germans safe behind a good deal of strategic depth have a far calmer relationship with Russia resting on energy security but does stay that way without US security guarantees?

from the archives...

it's probably worth reminding people that france, russia and germany are bound by treaty to coordinate their actions when all three are members of international institutions, eg g8, sec council...

 

[hot air baboon]

interesting to see Tilletson's examination before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee - Rubio & some other bloke VERY keen to get Tilletson to say on the record that Putin was a war criminal for the Aleppo assault & to commit to full sanctions...funnily enough Israel's conduct towards Gaza & Saudi Arabia's in Yemen didn't make it onto the agenda

 

[CrabbedOne]

from the archives...

G7!

 

[Pickman's model]

G7!

you will no doubt have noted the post dates from 2005, and things were different then