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Title: Iraqi PM reveals Soleimani was on peace mission when assassinated, exploding Trump’s lie of ‘imminent attacks’
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URL Source: https://thegrayzone.com/2020/01/06/ ... ed-trump-lie-imminent-attacks/
Published: Jan 9, 2020
Author: Max Blumenthal
Post Date: 2020-01-09 09:43:34 by Ada
Keywords: None
Views: 919
Comments: 41
The Trump administration claimed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani was planning “imminent attacks” on US interests when it assassinated him. That lie was just destroyed, but not before countless corporate media outlets transmitted it to the public. Desperate to justify the US drone assassination of Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted that Washington had made an “intelligence-based assessment” that Soleimani was “actively planning in the region” to attack American interests before he was killed. President Donald Trump justified his fateful decision to kill the Iranian general in even more explicit language, declaring that Soleimani was planning “imminent attacks” on US diplomatic facilities and personnel across the Middle East. “We took action last night to stop a war,” Trump claimed. “We did not take action to start a war.” Trump’s dubious rationale for an indisputably criminal assassination has been repeated widely across corporate media networks, and often without any skepticism or debate. At a January 3 State Department briefing, where reporters finally got the chance to demand evidence for the claim of an “imminent” threat, one US official erupted in anger. “Jesus, do we have to explain why we do these things?” he barked at the press. Two days later, when Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi addressed his country’s parliament, Trump’s justification for killing Soleimani was exposed as a cynical lie. According to Abdul-Mahdi, he had planned to meet Soleimani on the morning the general was killed to discuss a diplomatic rapproachment that Iraq was brokering between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Abdul-Mahdi said that Trump personally thanked him for the efforts, even as he was planning the hit on Soleimani – thus creating the impression that the Iranian general was safe to travel to Baghdad. Soleimani had arrived in Baghdad not to plan attacks on American targets, but to coordinate de-escalation with Saudi Arabia. Indeed, he was killed while on an actual peace mission that could have created political distance between the Gulf monarchy and members of the US-led anti-Iran axis like Israel. The catastrophic results of Soleimani’s killing recall the Obama administration’s 2016 assassination of Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansur, a Taliban leader who was eager to negotiate a peaceful end to the US occupation of Afghanistan. Mansur’s death wound up empowering hardline figures in the Taliban who favored a total military victory over the US and triggered an uptick in violence across the country, dooming hopes for a negotiated exit. Since Soleimani’s assassination, Iraq’s parliament has voted to expel all US troops from the country and Iran’s Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has sworn to exact a “severe revenge” on the “the criminals who have stained their hands with [Soleimani’s] and the other martyrs’ blood…” Trump, for his part, tweeted a litany of gangster-like threats, promising to destroy Iranian cultural sites if it retaliated and pledging to sanction Iraq “like they’ve never been before” if it ousted US troops. Trump’s treacherous assassination has brought the US closer to war than ever before against a country more militarily potent than any adversary it has faced since the Korean War. And as with the failed US invasion of Iraq, Washington’s casus belli for triggering this conflict was based on falsified intelligence sold to Americans by administration officials, and on a pliant Beltway media acting as their megaphone. With its claim of “imminent attacks,” the Trump administration has essentially re-mixed Condoleeza Rice’s 2003 warning that “we don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.” Back then, the US attacked a sovereign state to rid it of WMD that did not exist. This time, it killed the second-most important Iranian official to prevent a killing spree that was not on the way. And Trump administration officials knew they were lying. In fact, Pompeo pitched assassinating Soleimani to Trump several months ago, well before any attacks were “imminent.” And in the wake of the general’s killing, a US official revealed to the New York Times that the NSA had intercepted “communications the United States had between Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and General Suleimani showing that the ayatollah had not yet approved any plans by the general for an attack.” But the preponderance of evidence exposing Trump’s basis for killing Soleimani as a titanic lie has not generated the same level of media interest as the lie itself. On January 3, CNN assigned three reporters to disseminate the Trump administration’s disinformation about Soleimani, claiming without a hint of critical detachment that he was “planning specific attacks on US interests, including US personnel.” After the story went live, CNN’s lead reporter, Jim Sciutto, reached out to another official US source to “confirm” his now-discredited piece of war propaganda. In Sciutto’s mind, if more than one US official says a thing, it must be true. Sciutto is not just any run-of-the-mill national security reporter. During the Obama era, he accepted a job as chief of staff at the US Embassy in Beijing, placing himself at the center of Washington’s gathering Cold War with China. Now back behind CNN’s anchor desk, Sciutto poses as a ferocious critic of Trump while providing the Pentagon and State Department with reliable stenographic services. No president in recent history has been despised more viscerally by the Beltway press corps than Trump. Nearly everything he says is met with disdain and suspicion, even when he is telling the truth. But when Trump and his administration attempt to lie the public into war against a designated evildoer, a swath of the corporate media responds with reflexive trust, then shrugs when the lie is exposed in broad daylight.
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#1. To: Ada (#0)
Stop there. “The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.” ~ H. L. Mencken
The """ADA""" anti-democratic America group, churns out more Horseshit than the average propaganda HORSE.
Do tell, Lod.
_____________________________________________________________ USA! USA! USA! Bringing you democracy, or else! there were strains of VD that were incurable, and they were first found in the Philippines and then transmitted to the Korean working girls via US military. The 'incurables' we were told were first taken back to a military hospital in the Philippines to quietly die. – 4um
Are peace and moderation anti-democratic, Cyni?
_____________________________________________________________ USA! USA! USA! Bringing you democracy, or else! there were strains of VD that were incurable, and they were first found in the Philippines and then transmitted to the Korean working girls via US military. The 'incurables' we were told were first taken back to a military hospital in the Philippines to quietly die. – 4um
Most certainly when it is appeasement at its worse. In real time, in my lifetime, Chamberlain and Daladier were hailed as the peace champions of the world. That war monger Churchill was an arch villain of peace. In Sept. 1939 they gave Germany parts of other countries, imagine that? They were peace loving moderates. Hitler laughed all the way to the bank and one year later started WWII. Obama sent a moderate planeload of cash to Iran and was hailed by many here as a savior.
What has caused you to now trust the government?
You're dead wrong on all of this and you know it. We are garrisoning those countries on the excuse that we can't run our own properly (9/11 whoppers). The Constitution condemns it, all logic rips it, the rest of your worldview clashes with it. The idea the that District of Criminals has the right to assassinate foreign dignitaries, much less heads of state, is obscene on the face of it. Either we're America or we're Israel's junkyard dog. You've just signaled that permanent war is fine with you, that ameriKa can't go on living without killing the Ayrabs off. Check. _____________________________________________________________ USA! USA! USA! Bringing you democracy, or else! there were strains of VD that were incurable, and they were first found in the Philippines and then transmitted to the Korean working girls via US military. The 'incurables' we were told were first taken back to a military hospital in the Philippines to quietly die. – 4um
Abdul-Mehdi said that Trump was refusing to complete infrastructure and electricity grid projects unless they were promised 50% of oil revenues, which Abdul-Mehdi refused. Abdul-Mehdi claims that Trump threatened him on the phone with large-scale demonstrations if the Iraqis went ahead with Chinese finance and reconstruction of national infrastructure projects. I can't say that I put alot of stock in what this character has to say because if any of it were true, it would be all over the NYT and WaPo. I smell a Steele dossier level operation.
Why should America's entire existence be wrapped around countries full of towelheads and their infrastructure problems? With ameriKa's history of brutal, tyrannical sanctions -- what Trump is threatening here, in effect -- what moral right does it have to order any country around. _____________________________________________________________ USA! USA! USA! Bringing you democracy, or else! there were strains of VD that were incurable, and they were first found in the Philippines and then transmitted to the Korean working girls via US military. The 'incurables' we were told were first taken back to a military hospital in the Philippines to quietly die. – 4um
I stopped reading there. Cease using the word "you", discuss the subject matter or villans and I would love to respond in a totally impersonal way. TU
Won't work, Cyni -- because "you" and I are conversing. This ain't Romper Room!
_____________________________________________________________ USA! USA! USA! Bringing you democracy, or else! there were strains of VD that were incurable, and they were first found in the Philippines and then transmitted to the Korean working girls via US military. The 'incurables' we were told were first taken back to a military hospital in the Philippines to quietly die. – 4um
Too bad, my loss. College level for me is minimum, preferring mature-adult discourse. Geo/political level is a bonus.
NOT believable. AT ALL. The biggest, most obviously take away from this singular quote (“intelligence-based assessment”) is a simple matter of credibility. QUESTIONS: WHY would or should any thinking person give any creedence to the very same "intel" orgs AND sources who've fudged facts with respect to the entire Iraq/Afghan/Middle East situation since 2001?? Isn't it these very same orgs who've also launched a coup against a sitting President (and America itself?). THIS is whose word we're asked to believe on matters of life and death and war? There is absolutely NO way this narrative and all others authored by the Alphabet Orgs can be believed a single iota. Then again, it's not our fault. They've recklessness trashed their reputation, wrecked all their credibility, and worst of all -- atomized whatever righteousness & integrity we *thought* they had. We basically can't put a lick of stock into ANY narrative from ANY side. The MSM rep & cred is just as trashed as the Alphabet Agys "intel." The entire ME narrative for 20 years and counting has been one yuge Steele Dossier. We The People are truly stuck in a quandary. What do we do when NO ONE in our govt possesses any credibility and no authority has earned any trust? What do we do now that it appears the Military-Indutrial/NWO-Globalists Complex now call the military shots? Since we are the ones who destroyed their infrastructure, we think we should be paid for restoring it.
Yes, the world sure seemed to make sense when the NYT, AP, and UPI were penning their stories and "history" of WW2. "GOOD OVERCOMES EVIL", right? Not so fast. The problem with using the pre-WW2 world to measure world events, national tendencies, and sovereign power grabs & plans is that THAT world no longer exist. (After 1913, DID IT?) In the wake of the multi-nationalism power structure called, "The Allies" from 1941-1945, it soon became a Globalist New World Order, HQ'd at the UN. The Press and Media (together with its barrels of ink & paper, words, narratives, and "history") have been purchased and scripted -- much like everything else since 1913. With respect to Hitler and his unlikely rise to power... ...his six-year "laugh" was practically over before it began. The World War 2 slaughter was scripted and underwritten by this world's true PTB -- the Banksters -- belonged to and still do belong to demonic but real "Secret Societies." It is they who've lit their cigars and toasted lucrative wars from 1914 till this day forward, planning and financing both sides to nearly every war and it's subsequent blood-bath and death toll since. Merely another attempt at finding the flimsiest excuse possible to keep tyrannizing people Israel don't like.
_____________________________________________________________ USA! USA! USA! Bringing you democracy, or else! there were strains of VD that were incurable, and they were first found in the Philippines and then transmitted to the Korean working girls via US military. The 'incurables' we were told were first taken back to a military hospital in the Philippines to quietly die. – 4um
There is more than one faction at work in this country, in the West, and at work within the operations of our adversaries. There are more than a few competing interests around the world attempting to channel events their way. There are moderate and moderating voices still to be heard. This is 20 odd minutes long.
Amen, Liberator. These monsters are scripting, producing, scoring life for billions of people like they're just movie extras!
_____________________________________________________________ USA! USA! USA! Bringing you democracy, or else! there were strains of VD that were incurable, and they were first found in the Philippines and then transmitted to the Korean working girls via US military. The 'incurables' we were told were first taken back to a military hospital in the Philippines to quietly die. – 4um
IF the OP is true, whomever gave the information that was erroneous needs to go to prison. In Iran.
GRAB LIFE BY THE PUSSY!
Not so fast. The problem with using the pre-WW2 world to measure world events, national tendencies, and sovereign power grabs & plans is that THAT world no longer exist. (After 1913, DID IT?) That statement displays a TOTAL LACK OF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND. Any person steeped in recent history would never make such a statement. Why?? Because it is totally lacking in factual basis. Without looking, checking or asking others, answer one question??? Our WWII started with Japan in 1941, most accept that as fact. Now, when was the first indication and by whom that Japan was going to war and where??? And WHY DID jAPAN OPENLY SAY THEY WOULD GO TO WAR? Answer that to see if we both studied same history with open mind.
Wow. This was SPECTACULAR insight and analysis! Thanks for the great heads up! I realize many don't or won't deem this worth watching/listening too, but Randge found the definite antidote and clarity in helping de-fog this confusing situation and narrative we were told might create WW3. These two analysts and dot-connecting are brilliant. Please watch this vid -- pass it vid along to the confused. (and somebody please send this to Free Republic. Anyone who doesn't want to still blow Iran up -- like Tucker Carlson -- is deemed a "traitor.") In short, this is my breakdown from the video convo: 1) Trump took the bait from the usual Alphabet "intel" suspects and usual War Mongers. (Pompeo proved who HE works for as he catapulted a dayum lie. Heads are said to roll for this.) 2) The Neocons conspirators waited until the holiday was in full swing and President Trump was caught off guard at Mar a Lago. Initially he was flat-footed, relying on the accuracy of the "intel" AND reason for the Hit to begin with. Once he returned to DC and regained his footing and REAL facts, Trump then REALIZED HE'D BEEN PLAYED, AWAKENING TO THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER (So yes, Trump/America is STILL being sabotaged by the DS) 3) The unwarranted assassination of the Irani Generalissimo (yes, he was an evil man) was based on the usual FAKE intel and Pompeo's BS (and well as likely pro-war Israeli Hawks.) This incident actually MIGHT have helped launch WW3 -- if not for Trump etal quick damage control and diplomacy. 4) Trump was rapidly aided by many in the international communitah who acted behind the scene (including Iran itself), taking great measures NOT to ratchet up WW3. WE admitted the US mistake. Cooler heads have prevailed. 5) Iran was allowed to save face by launching a "retaliatory strike", which was then carefully orchestrated out so their 13-US base attacks would NOT cause American casualties. (An Iraqi heads-up was also given to the US and Trump as to what and where it was coming so as not to escalate what was already a very dangerous situation.) Where things stand today: Trump calmed things down, dismissed the "retaliatory strikes," declared an end to hostilities and hopes for future "friendship." (MUCH to the chagrin of the insane pro-war Neocons in the US and Israeli, the Military-Industrial Complex, the Democrats, the Globalist Kabbalists, AND the MSM puppets.) Scary way to put it, but...it works, doesn't it? At the end of the day, billions of us are and have always been expendable movie extras and props in a nightmare script produced by an insane sun-worshiping 1% Elite. These monsters indeed believe the world is already over-populated by 90%, which is the reason for War all the Time, toxic chemtrails, foods, water and vaccines, fires in Australia and CA, unfettered invasions by third worlders, etc etc. George Guidestones: The Good News: GOD WINS AT THE END Hey DC... This info -- was it "erroneous," or just fluffed by so-called intel analysts to help facilitate war just like all the WMD BS that got us into the Iraqi war? Well, if you listen to the discussion, the feeling is heads will indeed roll. Now whether it's immediate or after the Election -- who knows. Our WWII started with Japan in 1941, most accept that as fact. Or DID "our WWII" start with Germany in 1940 as they'd begun torpedoing US supply ships with U-Boats? Now, when was the first indication and by whom that Japan was going to war and where??? And WHY DID jAPAN OPENLY SAY THEY WOULD GO TO WAR? Answer that to see if we both studied same history with open mind. Japan sent diplomats to DC to supposedly ratchet down talk of hostilities and impending war over trade embargos over SE Asian oil and other war materiel. They were IN DC on Dec 7, 1941 as the skeleton fleet in Pearl was bombed (pretty fortuitous that ALL US carriers were out at sea that day, wasn't it? ;-) Here's a question for YOU: Did the US have foreknowledge of the "surprise attack" on Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1941? They certainly did. FDRs cousin warned of Japan in 1898. Any interest in list of people that warned Japan was coming, YEARS BEFORE FDR WAS PRESIDENT. No dark shadows at noon, no vile networks, just plain olde history.
Oh, I want to believe that -- but God is so long at the fair :-s
_____________________________________________________________ USA! USA! USA! Bringing you democracy, or else! there were strains of VD that were incurable, and they were first found in the Philippines and then transmitted to the Korean working girls via US military. The 'incurables' we were told were first taken back to a military hospital in the Philippines to quietly die. – 4um
Even someone who hasn't been to college might know that the implied subject of such an imperative is that always-to-be-eschewed bad, bad y-word.
QUESTIONS: WHY would or should any thinking person give any creedence to the very same "intel" orgs AND sources who've fudged facts with respect to the entire Iraq/Afghan/Middle East situation since 2001?? Isn't it these very same orgs who've also launched a coup against a sitting President (and America itself?). THIS is whose word we're asked to believe on matters of life and death and war? There is absolutely NO way this narrative and all others authored by the Alphabet Orgs can be believed a single iota. Then again, it's not our fault. They've recklessness trashed their reputation, wrecked all their credibility, and worst of all -- atomized whatever righteousness & integrity we *thought* they had. your beloved donnie hired them, drain the swamp? HA! Yes indeed. Japan went to war to provide the natural resources needed for its people. The raw materials in the Philippines and oil in Dutch East Indies. Even Yamamoto warned that an attack on mainland America would be foolish since "there would be a man with a rifle behind every blade of grass." ;) "When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
I share some of your frustration... That said -- exactly how much of The Swamp did you expect Hillary or McCain or Romney to drain? DO believe it. His reasons are not our reasons. The Lord will allow Evil to be evil and Good to be good. UNTIL THE END. This is why everything is upside down (Isaiah 5:20: "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.") These are the Last Days, my friend. Days of Deception. Hold steadfast and tight, my friend. Of a plan for dominance in the Far East? Any interest in list of people that warned Japan was coming, YEARS BEFORE FDR WAS PRESIDENT. Sure. Shoot. No dark shadows at noon, no vile networks, just plain olde history. When and where we can dig it up. To the victors goes the (re) writing of "history," which is why most of what we're taught at public school and academia warrants much deeper examination and scrutiny. We can only imagine the volume of ancient knowledge and history lost at the Alexandria library. Sent to me in priviate email Read, re-read and digest at leisure Roosevelt as he saw world. History has proven him to be a visionary, like Churchill, not a bogeyman. THEODORE ROOSEVELT : The Threat of Japan Source: Papers of Theodore Roosevelt, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, pp. 120-126. My Dear Senator Knox: You are soon to become secretary of state under Mr. Taft. At the outset both he and you will be overwhelmed with every kind of work; but there is one matter of foreign policy of such great and permanent importance that I wish to lay it before the President-to-be and yourself. I speak of the relations of the United States and Japan. It is utterly impossible to foretell as regards either foreign or domestic policy what particular questions may appear as at the moment of most engrossing interest. It may be that there will be no ripple of trouble between Japan and the United States during your term of service. It may very well be that you will have acute trouble about Cuba, or with Venezuela or in Central America, or with some European power; but it is not likely that grave international complications - that is, complications which can possibly lead to serious war - can come from any such troubles. If we have to interfere again in Cuba, or take possession of the island, it will be exasperating, and we may in consequence have to repeat our Philippine experiences by putting down an annoying but unimportant guerrilla outbreak. But this would represent merely annoyance. The same would be true of anything in Central America or Venezuela. I do not believe that Germany has any designs that would bring her in conflict with the Monroe Doctrine. The last seven years have tended steadily toward a better understanding of Germany on our part, and a more thorough understanding on the part of Germany that she must not expect colonial expansion in South America. As for England, I cannot imagine serious trouble with her. The settlement of the Alaskan boundary removed the one grave danger. The treaties now before the Senate are excellent, and all we have to fear is some annoying, but hardly grave, friction in the event of the failure of the Senate to ratify them. But with Japan the case is different. She is a most formidable military power. Her people have peculiar fighting capacity. They are very proud, very warlike, very sensitive, and are influenced by two contradictory feelings; namely, a great self-confidence, both ferocious and conceited, due to their victory over the mighty empire of Russia; and a great touchiness because they would like to be considered as on a full equality with, as one of the brotherhood of, Occidental nations, and have been bitterly humiliated to find that even their allies, the English, and their friends, the Americans, won't admit them to association and citizenship, as they admit the least advanced or most decadent European peoples. Moreover, Japan's population is increasing rapidly and demands an outlet; and the Japanese laborers, small farmers, and petty traders would, if permitted, flock by the hundred thousand into the United States, Canada, and Australia. Now for our side. The events of the last three years have forced me to the clear understanding that our people will not permit the Japanese to come in large numbers among them; will not accept them as citizens; will not tolerate their presence as large bodies of permanent settlers. This is just as true in Australia and Colombia as in our Rocky Mountain and Pacific states; but at present the problem is more acute with us because the desire of the Japanese to come here has grown. The opposition to the presence of the Japanese, I have reluctantly come to feel, is entirely warranted, and not only must be, but ought to be, heeded by the national government in the interest of our people and our civilization; and this in spite of the fact that many of the manifestations of the opposition are unwise and improper to the highest degree. To permit the Japanese to come in large numbers into this country would be to cause a race problem and invite and insure a race contest. It is necessary to keep them out. But it is almost equally necessary that we should both show all possible courtesy and consideration in carrying out this necessarily disagreeable policy of exclusion, and that we should be thoroughly armed, so as to prevent the Japanese from feeling safe in attacking us. Unfortunately, great masses of our people show a foolish indifference to arming, and at the same time a foolish willingness to be offensive to the Japanese. Labor unions pass violent resolutions against the Japanese and almost at the same moment protest against strengthening our military resources on land or sea. Big corporations seek to introduce Japanese coolies, so as to get cheap labor, and thereby invite agitation which they are powerless to quell. The peace societies, and senators and congressmen like Burton of Ohio, Perkins of California, Perkins of New York, Tawney of Minnesota, McCall of Massachusetts, and Bartholdt of Missouri blatantly or furtively oppose the Navy and hamper its upbuilding, while doing nothing whatever to prevent insult to Japan. The California legislature is threatening to pass the most offensive kind of legislation aimed at the Japanese, and yet it reelects a wretched creature like Perkins to the Senate although he has opposed, with his usual feeble timidity and so far as he dared, the upbuilding of the Navy, following Hale's lead. We are therefore faced by the fact that our people will not tolerate, and ought not to tolerate, the presence among them of large bodies of Japanese; and that so long as they are here in large bodies there is always chance either of violence on the part of mobs or of indiscreet and improper action by the legislative bodies of the Western states under demagogic influence. Furthermore, in Hawaii the Japanese already many times outnumber the whites, and have shown on more than one recent occasion a spirit both truculent and insolent. In Hawaii the trouble is primarily due to the shortsighted greed of the sugar planters and of the great employers generally, who showed themselves incapable of thinking of the future of their children and anxious only to make fortunes from estates tilled by coolie labor. Accordingly, they imported, masses of Chinese laborers and, then masses of Japanese laborers. Throughout my term as President, I have so far as possible conducted our policy against this desire of the sugar planters, against the theory of turning Hawaii into an island of coolie-tilled plantations, and in favor of making it so far as possible the abode of small settlers. With this purpose, I have done everything I could to encourage the immigration of southern Europeans to the islands, and have endeavored so far as I could in the absence of legislation to restrict the entrance of Asiatic coolies. So far as possible our aim should be to diminish the number of Japanese in the islands without any regard to the fortunes of the sugar planters, and to bring in Europeans, no matter of what ancestry, in order that the islands may be filled with a white population of our general civilization and culture. As regards the mainland, our policy should have three sides and should be shaped, not to meet the exigencies of this year or next but to meet what may occur for the next few decades. Japan is poor and is therefore reluctant to go to war. Moreover, Japan is vitally interested in China and on the Asiatic mainland and her wiser statesmen will, if possible, prevent her getting entangled in a war with us, because whatever its result it would hamper and possibly ruin Japan when she came to deal again with affairs in China. But with so proud and sensitive a people neither lack of money nor possible future complications will prevent a war if once they get sufficiently hurt and angry; and there is always danger of a mob outbreak there just as there is danger of a mob outbreak here. Our task therefore is on the one hand to meet the demands which our own people make and which cannot permanently be resisted, and on the other to treat Japan so courteously that she will not be offended more than is necessary; and at the same time to prepare our fleet in such shape that she will feel very cautious about attacking us. Disturbances like those going on at present are certain to occur unless the Japanese immigration, so far as it is an immigration for settlement, stops. For the last six months under our agreement with Japan it has been stopped to the extent that more Japanese have left the country than have come into it. But the Japanese should be made clearly to understand that this process must continue and if there is relaxation it will be impossible to prevent our people from enacting drastic exclusion laws; and that in such case all of us would favor such drastic legislation. Hand in hand with insistence on the stopping of Japanese immigration should go insistence as regards our own people that they be courteous and considerate, that they treat the Japanese who are here well; and above all that they go on with the building of the Navy, keep it at the highest point of efficiency, securing not merely battleships but an ample supply of colliers and other auxiliary vessels of every kind. Much of the necessary expense would be met by closing the useless Navy yards. By the way, the fighting Navy should not be divided; it should be kept either in the Pacific or in the Atlantic, merely a squadron being left in the other ocean, and this in such shape that, in the event of war, it could avoid attack and at once join the main body of fighting ships. All this is so obvious that it ought not to be necessary to dwell upon it. But our people are shortsighted and have short memories - I suppose all peoples are shortsighted and have short memories. The minute we arrange matters so that for the moment everything is smooth and pleasant, the more foolish peace societies, led by men like ex-Secretary of State Foster and ex-Secretary of the Navy Long, clamor for a stoppage in the building up of the Navy. On the other hand, at the very moment when we are actually keeping out the Japanese and reducing the number of Japanese here, demagogues and agitators like those who have recently appeared in the California and Nevada legislatures work for the passage of laws which are humiliating and irritating to the Japanese and yet of no avail so far as keeping out immigrants is concerned; for this can be done effectively only by the national government. The defenselessness of the coast, the fact that we have no army to hold or reconquer the Philippines and Hawaii, the fact that we have not enough battleships nor enough auxiliaries in the Navy - all these facts are ignored and forgotten. On the other hand, the Japanese, if we do not keep pressure upon them, will let up in their effort to control the emigration from Japan to this country; and they must be continually reminded that unless they themselves stop it, in the end this country is certain to stop it, and ought to stop it, no matter what the consequences may be. There is no more important continuing feature of our foreign policy than this in reference to our dealing with Japan; the whole question of our dealings with the Orient is certain to grow in importance. I do not believe that there will be war, but there is always the chance that war will come; and if it did come, the calamity would be very great. And while I believe we would win, there is at least a chance of disaster. We should therefore do everything in our power to guard against the possibility of war by preventing the occurrence of conditions which would invite war and by keeping our Navy so strong that war may not come or that we may be successful if it does come. Sincerely yours, THEODORE ROOSEVELT [Handwritten] P.S. I enclose a copy of my telegram to the speaker of the California Lower House; this was really meant almost as much for Japan as for California, and sets forth, seemingly as incidental, what our future policy must be. [Handwritten] If possible, the Japanese should be shown, what is the truth, that our keeping them out means not that they are inferior to us - in some ways they are superior - but that they are different; so different that, whatever the future may hold, at present the two races ought not to come together in masses. “The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.” ~ H. L. Mencken
You have picked out the most significant bullet points from that video. It is plain to see that there are forces at work here whose loyalties are not always possible to discern because their individual members don't wear uniforms. It's also not easy to tell who has come out on top when the dust settles after a major tussle. I'm afraid that the average guy is very much in the dark about what really going on, and you just hope and pray that some among our "betters" don't set a match to the explosives crate - again.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT : The Threat of Japan, 1909. On the eve of the inauguration of Wm Howard Taft as 27th president of the United States. It is interesting to see the thinking on Roosevelt's part at the end of the Russo-Japanese War. Roosevelt helped broker the The Treaty of Portsmouth which gave the nod to the Japanese presence in south Manchuria and Korea and ceded the southern half of Sakhalin to Japan. Teddy Roosevelt wanted to keep Japan busy in the East.
Good heavens, Teddy Roosevelt warning of Japan way back in 1898...
I would hope the Horseshit purveyors here would read what Lod has posted. Also perhaps some here KNOW what started Teddy into thinking that Japan was going to move via the ocean????
Outstanding. Thanks... Wasn't it refreshing to see such honesty and frankness from a politician/President? (A letter like this and subject matter from Teddy Roosevelt was NOT something we were going to be taught in Public School or college, was it?) The perspective discussed in his letter used to be our expectation of a "Statesman." (No panel of "Advisers" or "Think Tank" necessary to help explain geopolitics to Teddy Roosevelt.) He understood and articulated with clarity the importance of preparation and establishment a strong navy as a deterrent to aggression. AND, what was best for America. T. Roosevelt had a thorough understanding of not only the Japanese mind set and tendencies but also of their probable political motives and the geopolitical ramifications of immigration to America by people who were very different than the US citizenry (mostly European, mostly Christian) at the time. It's also not easy to tell who has come out on top when the dust settles after a major tussle. EXACTLY. All we are told by the Usual MSM Suspects is ...to take things at face-value. AND...to just blindly accept THEIR narrative (yes...*before the dust settles*.) I'm afraid that the average guy is very much in the dark about what really going on, and you just hope and pray that some among our "betters" don't set a match to the explosives crate - again. The good news is as you also infer -- at least a good number of observers realize the above dynamics are going on behind the scene... Alternative sources of inside info at least are able to give the rest of us an honest assessment and heads up (via alternative news outlets) before we fall prey to the immediate analyses of "our betters" (like Meet The Press) *before* all the facts are in. How many times are we ging to witness so-called "intelligent conservatives" taking the bait from the usual MSM parrot-act and same ol' jumping-the-gun head hysteria and paranoia? That too. TR's insight a fascinating. Trump’s dubious rationale for an indisputably criminal assassination has been repeated widely across corporate media networks, and often without any skepticism or debate.
#2. To: Lod, Ada, All (#1)
Stop there.
#3. To: Lod, HAPPY2BME-4UM, (#1)
#4. To: Cynicom, HAPPY2BME-4UM (#2)
#5. To: NeoconsNailed (#4)
Are peace and moderation anti-democratic, Cyni?
#6. To: Lod (#1)
#7. To: Cynicom (#5)
#8. To: Lod (#1)
#9. To: randge, Lod, HAPPY2BME-4UM (#8)
#10. To: NeoconsNailed (#7)
You're dead wrong on all of this and you know it.
#11. To: Cynicom (#10)
#12. To: NeoconsNailed (#11)
Won't work, Cyni -- because "you" and I are conversing. This ain't Romper Room!
#13. To: Ada (#0)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted that Washington had made an “intelligence-based assessment” that Soleimani was “actively planning in the region” to attack American interests before he was killed.
#14. To: randge (#8)
I can't say that I put alot of stock in what this character has to say because if any of it were true, it would be all over the NYT and WaPo. I smell a Steele dossier level operation.
#15. To: NeoconsNailed (#9)
Why should America's entire existence be wrapped around countries full of towelheads and their infrastructure problems?
#16. To: Cynicom (#5)
#17. To: Ada (#15)
#18. To: Liberator, Cynicom, NeoconsNailed, Lod, Ada, All (#14)
#19. To: Liberator (#16)
#20. To: Ada (#0)
#21. To: Liberator, Lod, randge, historians (#16)
OVERCOMES EVIL", right?
#22. To: randge, Cynicom, NeoconsNailed, Lod, Ada, Dead Culture Watch, Bill D Berger, All (#18)
There are moderate and moderating voices still to be heard. This is 20 odd minutes long.
#23. To: NeoconsNailed (#19)
These monsters are scripting, producing, scoring life for billions of people like they're just movie extras!
#24. To: Dead Culture Watch (#20)
IF the OP is true, whomever gave the information that was erroneous needs to go to prison. In Iran.
#25. To: Cynicom (#21)
(Edited)
Without looking, checking or asking others, answer one question???
#26. To: Liberator, All history buffs (#25)
Did the US have foreknowledge of the "surprise attack" on Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1941?
#27. To: Liberator (#23)
#28. To: Cynicom (#10)
discuss the subject matter
#29. To: Liberator (#13)
The biggest, most obviously take away from this singular quote (“intelligence-based assessment”) is a simple matter of credibility.
I used to be in a hurry, then I figured out I was just getting nowhere fast.
#30. To: Cynicom (#12)
Geo/political level is a bonus.
#31. To: IRTorqued (#29)
your beloved donnie hired them, drain the swamp? HA!
#32. To: NeoconsNailed (#27)
Oh, I want to believe that -- but God is so long at the fair :-s
#33. To: Cynicom (#26)
FDRs cousin warned of Japan in 1898.
#34. To: Liberator, Cynicom, 4 (#33)
Theodore Roosevelt 1898
#35. To: Liberator (#22)
#36. To: Lod (#34)
#37. To: Lod, All (#34)
There is no more important continuing feature of our foreign policy than this in reference to our dealing with Japan; the whole question of our dealings with the Orient is certain to grow in importance. I do not believe that there will be war, but there is always the chance that war will come; and if it did come, the calamity would be very great. And while I believe we would win, there is at least a chance of disaster. We should therefore do everything in our power to guard against the possibility of war by preventing the occurrence of conditions which would invite war and by keeping our Navy so strong that war may not come or that we may be successful if it does come.
#38. To: randge (#36)
Teddy Roosevelt wanted to keep Japan busy in the East.
#39. To: Lod, Cynicom (#34)
#40. To: randge (#35)
It is plain to see that there are forces at work here whose loyalties are not always possible to discern because their individual members don't wear uniforms.
#41. To: randge, Lod, Cynicom (#36)
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