Iran 3
Bolton Controls Trump
John Bolton Controls the Government and Trump
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Exclusive for the daily POR ESTO! of Merida, Mexico.
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.
Donald Trump’s government has been, for U.S. foreign policy, something like an elephant in a china shop. It’s not only because he concentrated on achieving benefits and privileges for his nation to the detriment of the rest of the world, however. It’s also thanks to the economic and military power they have achieved on the basis of the unjust global economic relations imposed by the current capitalist system.
Jeff Bezos, is founder and executive director of the Amazon emporium. In 2015 Bezos was the fifth richest man in the world and in 2017 reached the top of Forbes magazine’s list of multimillionaires. On his blog, Bezos published information on the struggles and internal discussions within Trump’s team around the inexorable march of the US towards war against Iran and the danger of John Bolton in the swarm that has developed. From them, I extract much of this data.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned Iranian leaders that any attack by Tehran or its people that results in the death of one member of the U.S. military will be met with a military counterattack by Washington. Such a warning was made from Baghdad in May, when he was visiting Iraq. The issue could become critical very soon as in recent days there were rocket attacks in Iraq against targets in which there are American personnel.
Some of these attacks came from areas where there are still clandestine ISIS (Islamic State) groups with improvised and imprecise weapons that could accidentally kill a US soldier.
Concern about an escalation is particularly intense in the Pentagon, where the absence of a confirmed Secretary of Defense has fuelled concern that White House and State Department hawks may push the military beyond its specific mission of destroying remnants of the Islamic state in Iraq and Syria, which, in the current circumstances, increases the potential for conflict with Iran.
It has been reported on several occasions and by different means that Trump is somewhat isolated from anti-war views within his own regime. Government officials interviewed by the Washington Post said National Security Advisor John Bolton has dominated Iranian policy, maintaining strict control over the information that reaches the president and drastically reducing the meetings in which senior officials meet in the White House Situation Room to discuss policy.
The intensification of the “maximum pressure” campaign has triggered internal debates about how best to carry out the President’s orders. At the State Department, a discussion about how difficult it is to pressure Iran through sanctions ended with those with the harshest possible approach prevailing.
While State Department officials were cunningly trying to find the “weak spot” that would weaken Iran through sanctions, without putting so much pressure on Iran that it would withdraw from the nuclear deal. Others argued that Trump’s goal was to destroy the agreement at any price in order to pursue a more expansive policy that would paralyze Iran’s forces throughout the region.
However, Pentagon and State Department officials have complained of the difficulty of getting a presidential hearing for it under Bolton. As a result, arguments about policy do not reach the president.
Regional military commanders always ask for more troops and more ships, which increases the possibility of “accidents” and makes war more likely. John Bolton uses each and every small incident to send more troops!
Unlike his advisors, Trump always seems to minimize the importance of Iran’s actions. So the other scenario is to claim that Trump is a fool and the war hawks use him as a tool to implement their preferred policies.
Former high-ranking British espionage (MI6) official Alastair Crooke asserts that this second scenario is the real one. He says this is not because Trump consciously wants war, but because the hawks around him, particularly Bolton, corner him. Trump’s main mistake may be that he believes that Iran will ultimately seek an agreement.
Crooke argues that Bolton, and Netanyahu behind him, outperform U.S. intelligence on Iran. They transmit “intelligence” to the president and the media, just as Vice President Dick Cheney did in the run-up to the war against Iraq.
Bolton chairs strategic dialogue meetings with Israel (NSC) whose intention is to develop a joint action plan against Iran. This means that Israeli intelligence assessments are being sent directly to Bolton without going through US intelligence for assessment. In other words, Bolton holds the reins in his hands.
June 26, 2019.
This article can be reproduced by quoting the newspaper POR ESTO
US Preparing Something Against Iran
US Preparing Something Against Iran
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Exclusive for the daily POR ESTO! of Merida, Mexico.
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.
“Until now,” says journalist Philip Giraldi, “June has been a lively month in light of the apparent diligence with which the United States intends to remake the world in its own image and likeness.
In an article published on June 20, 2019 on the website Unz.com (in Spanish it is identified as El Ojo Digital), Giraldi, who is also has a doctorate in European history and was a specialist in counterterrorism and a veteran officer in CIA operations in Europe and the Middle East, comments that there is an expectation that the White House is preparing to “do something” against Iran in the military field.
Recent incidents involving alleged attacks on Norwegian and Japanese oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman were immediately attributed to Iran by the Secretary of State of the Trump regime, Mike Pompeo. It had so little regard for the evidence that even conventional US media that are invariably compliant with the standards set for them were left speechless. In its initial coverage of the situation, the New York Times echoed the government’s assertions but, if one reads the readers’ comments on what was published, one appreciates that 90% of those who bothered to express an opinion considered that the version disseminated is not credible.
Several commentators have recalled the entirely false Gulf of Tonkin incident that led to the escalation of U.S. participation in Vietnam in 1964. This fact that was frequently expressed in readers’ comments in both conventional and alternative media. Others recalled, instead, the false intelligence reports linking Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to the September 11, 2001 terrorists, as well as false reports about a secret Iraqi nuclear program and the existence of giant guiders capable of launching biological weapons over the Atlantic Ocean that proliferated in those days.
The final story dates back to early June, when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met privately with American Jewish leaders who expressed concern about the possibility of British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn becoming prime minister. (Corbyn had been targeted by British Jews for being the first high-ranking politician in the UK to speak with sympathy or pity about the plight of the Palestinians.)
Pompeo was asked if, should Corbyn be elected, the United States would be willing to work with them to act against any inconvenience that might arise for Jews in the United Kingdom. The US Secretary of State replied: “It could be that Mr. Corbyn manages to be elected… It’s possible. But you should know that we will not wait for you to do those things before we start to reject them. We will do everything in our power to avoid going to that extreme. It would be too risky, too important and too difficult to do anything after your choice has occurred.
There are some ambiguities in both the question and the answer, but it seems that American Jews want to join their British counterparts in overthrowing or containing such a high-level politician elected to such a high office because Corbyn is not pro-Israeli enough.
Secretary of State Pompeo agrees with them that something has to be done, including quite possibly taking some measures – probably covert – to ensure that Corbyn does not become Prime Minister. But as Pompeo might be thinking of subverting the institutions of America’s closest ally, it is, to some extent, good news that he is being ignored by the media.
June isn’t over yet, but it’s good that the U.S. hasn’t invaded Venezuela yet, despite the claims of opportunist and phony Senator Marco Rubio and the demented Senator Lindsey Graham, says journalist Philip Giraldi.
There were a number of questionable aspects to Pompeo’s version, not least because of the improbability of Iran attacking a Japanese ship while the Japanese Prime Minister was in Tehran making a visit. The attack itself, attributed to Iranian mines, also did not coincide with the damage suffered by the ships. These were well above the waterline, a detail that was pointed out by the captain of the Japanese ship, among others. The ship’s crew also saw flying objects, suggesting that missiles or other projectiles were the culprits, the kind fired by almost everyone in the area.
And then there is the question of motive: the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates want a war with Iran while the Iranians try to avoid a B-52 attack. So why would Iran do something that would practically guarantee a B-52 attack? Why would Iran do something that would virtually guarantee a devastating response from Washington?
June 24, 2019.
This article can be reproduced by quoting the newspaper POR ESTO as the source.
Iran has grown in resistance
Iran has grown in resistance
In 40 years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has resisted all kinds of compromises on the part of the United States, in the imperial eagerness to destroy the Revolution
Author: Elson Concepción Pérez | mailto:internet@granma.cu
February 11, 2019 21:02:44
A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.
This economic war has been imposed on us, but we will stand,” said Hasan Rohani, Iranian president. Photo: AP
In 40 years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has resisted all kinds of compromises on the part of the U.S., in the imperial eagerness to destroy the Revolution.
There have been four decades in which significant advances have been made as a guarantee that its project looks towards the present and future, from the economic, scientific and peaceful nuclear development, among other achievements.
That February 11, 1979, the founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, who had returned to the Persian country after 15 years in exile in Iraq, Turkey and France, became the leader of his nation until his death in 1989.
According to Ayatollah Ahmad Yanathi, the current president of the Assembly of Experts, “Khomeini succeeded in restoring the dignity of Islam and taught the population to fight against the humiliation of the West.
History recalls that, in 1951, Iran managed to establish the first democratically elected government and as leader held the post of Prime Minister, Mohamad Mosadeq, who nationalized the country’s oil industry.
Two years later, in 1953, the U.S. and British intelligence services staged a coup d’état and wiped out the popular government of the time and entrenched Mohamad Reza Pahlavi in power.
Today, the same enemy of that time – the governments of the United States and its ally Israel as a spearhead – maintains and increases the threats against the country and applies more and more economic sanctions with the aim of surrendering to the population.
An unprecedented and very characteristic event of the current US administration of Donald Trump was the unilateral break with the Nuclear Agreement signed by Iran and five other powers in 2015, considered one of the greatest achievements in international relations in recent decades.
In that imperial greed that takes no account of the people at all, National Security Advisor John Bolton assured last year that Iran would not celebrate the 40th anniversary of its Revolution, frankly threatening to reverse that nation’s revolutionary process.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, whose project in all orders has its vision in the autonomous development of the different fronts, including the military, exhibited during these days of celebration a long-range missile with a radius of 1 350 kilometers.
The Iranian Ministry of Defense presented the new cruise missile called Hoveize, manufactured locally and successfully tested, according to the ISNA news agency. The authorities claim that their missiles are only defensive and deterrent.
According to Hispantv, with the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Iran designed great objectives such as economic independence, self-sufficiency, the creation of jobs and a standard of living for its citizens.
Among its achievements is the significant reduction of poverty in the country. In 1977, according to the World Bank, 46% of Iranians lived below the poverty line. This figure dropped to 8% in 2015, according to a World Economic Forum report.
Although Iran is ranked among the developing countries, it has made great strides in aerospace, becoming one of the pioneers in the field. In 2009, it launched its first home-made satellite, Omid, to join the small club of nine countries with such capacity.
Its scientific achievements also stand out in biotechnology. Genetic engineers have started important research in recent years, which has resulted in the production and export of dozens of biomedicines.
Iran is among the top ten countries in the world in stem cell research and technology. It has recorded great successes in animal cloning. It has also excelled in bone marrow transplantation, occupying the second position on the planet, after Italy, reported Hispantv.
The Persian country, undoubtedly, has made resistance a major reason, first to defeat their enemies and then to develop the people and make the nation self-sustainable.
An example of these days is the decision of Iran and Russia to use their national currencies in reciprocal exchange, which implies dispensing with the U.S. dollar.
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