Frank Li — Is President Trump Losing It?

Yes, he is losing it - the ability to govern as the President! The most recent example: he lost his temperament, totally, in response to the Mueller TV appearance, on top of having lost all the four games in the major league (President Trump's Major League Score: 0:4). He will continue to lose in the coming weeks and months.

No, he is not losing it, because he has never had it!...

Frank Li is out of paradigm with MMT, but he is an interesting social and political analyst even though his understanding of economics is off, displaying deficit and debt phobia.

econintesect.com
Is President Trump Losing It?
Frank Li | Chinese ex-pat, Founder and President of W.E.I. (West-East International), a Chicago-based import & export company, B.E. from Zhejiang University (China) in 1982, M.E. from the University of Tokyo in 1985, and Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in 1988, all in Electrical Engineering

See also

While Prime Minister Abe has refused to clarify his reasoning for the nomination, a February 17 article in Japan’s Asahi newspaper reported that the U.S. asked Japan to put Trump’s name forward. Trump has confirmed that Abe nominated him in a “beautiful” five-page letter.

Other world leaders might have turned down that request. But Abe needs U.S. support to achieve many economic, political and foreign policy goals. From my perspective as a Kyoto-based scholar of Japanese politics, nominating Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize is, for Abe, more sensible than it might seem....

The Conversation
Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize? Japan’s nomination is part of a strategic plan

Chris G. Pope | Researcher, Kyoto Women's University

Andrei Martyanov — MAGA All The Way.

MAGA (Make America Great Again) was a campaign promise that sold Trump. Andrei Martyanov observes that "the real Donald J. Trump" consistently believed in MAAA (Make America Aggressive Again). Now that the campaign mask is off, his erstwhile supporters who voted for him expecting MAGA are wondering what happened to him. Nothing happened to him. He appointed the neocon cabal to power. He was always like that.

Reminiscence of the Future
MAGA All The Way.
Andrei Martyanov

See also

Moon of Alabama
Venezuela - Coup Attempt Part Of A Larger Project - Military Intervention Likely To Fail

Also

Same in Iran. Is the US ready for Iraq and Vietnam redux on a significantly larger scale?

SouthFront
2,000,000 Troops Are Ready: President of Venezuela’s Constituent Assembly Sends Message To Bolton

Pepe Escobar — ‘Resistance’ runs amok in the US Deep Throat War

The current Deep Throat War is more like the case of a fractioned Deep State out for revenge on Trump via its media arm. The one-two tie-in – Woodward’s book and the “resistance” Op-Ed – looks increasingly like a sophisticated psy-ops – a prelude for a Deep State white coup....

It would be hard to dismiss the President when he says: “I’m draining the Swamp, and the Swamp is trying to fight back.”

It would be hard to dismiss the President when he says: “I’m draining the Swamp, and the Swamp is trying to fight back.”...

Asia Times
‘Resistance’ runs amok in the US Deep Throat War

Pepe Escobar

Bob Bryan — Bob Woodward book: Gary Cohn was 'astounded at Trump's lack of basic understanding' about the federal debt

Funny. Trump gets some of the basics of MMT, which the article mentions. Gary Cohn, not so much.

Business Insider
Bob Woodward book: Gary Cohn was 'astounded at Trump's lack of basic understanding' about the federal debt

Bob Bryan

Tom Luongo — Trump Dangles Wooden Carrots at Russia over Crimea

Typically good analysis and assessment from Tom Luongo.

Strategic Culture Foundation
Trump Dangles Wooden Carrots at Russia over Crimea

Tom Luongo

See also

Also good.

DJT read this right. Brilliant on many levels. Even if this is all he accomplishes, he has secured his legacy and may emerge in historical reflection as a great president.

But this summit between what is surely the oddest couple in modern diplomatic history may well launch the most serious effort yet to end the U.S.-North Korean conflict.

To this I would add that a big reason that this is happening is that Kim and Trump are alike in key respects, enabling them to sense that a deal was in the making. 

For example, notice the dismissive way that DJT treated the other G-7 leaders and how he treats Kim, Xi and Putin. And it is not that they are fellow "authoritarians" either. This gives credence to the "great man" theory of history.
US Public Being Misled on Trump-Kim Summit

Gareth Porter

Asia Times Trump, dissatisfied with options presented, wants ‘large strike’ on Syria: Report

President said to be at odds with his defense secretary

Donald Trump is now channeling John Bolton, going against everything he had said in the past, in particular the campaign in which many voted for Trump rather than "warmonger" Clinton.

What he is proposing done is illegal aggression. Congress needs remove the president from office. "Trump must go." May and Macron too. They must all face the International Court of Justice at The Hague, along with all officials involved in the US, Britain and France.

But Trump's impreachment would just put in Pence, who is probably worse.

Tidbit: [Russian Federation Foreign Minister Lavrov] also said that the alleged chemical attack was “staged” by a malicious country, which the Russian military later identified as Britain.

Asia Times
Trump, dissatisfied with options presented, wants ‘large strike’ on Syria: Report

also

RT
Syria 'chemical attack' staged to provoke US airstrike, London pushed perpetrators – Russian MoD

also

I had surmised this. Neither side wants this to escalate out of control given the stakes. Nuclear winter is guaranteed lose-lose.

As per Suchkov’s report above, which I find very believable, the two are actually haggling over the details of the US giving target locations to the Russians in advance (probably over how much time in advance and for how many / which targets). That is quite unlike any war the US has recently fought — except for the 2017 strikes on Syria when the American side likewise told the Russians (who told the Syrians) that a strike was coming a couple of hours later and where it would hit.

Both sides have drawn their lines and neither is enthusiastic about losing face. Trump has vowed missiles are coming and Russia’s chief general Gerasimov vowed he’ll fire at any ship or aircraft that puts his men at risk. In such circumstances negotiating the details of the coming strike in advance is as wise as it is cynical. Unless Trump manages yet another flip-flop, or Lavrov can pull another rabbit out of the bag, it may be the only and best way to avoid this blowing up into something even far nastier.

That is something we should all be thankful for. Ironically the US-Russian military communication channel that is making this possible isn’t an outgrowth of past good relations, but of their rivalry....

We may just get out of this one alive. Thanks to the fact the two militaries have been forced to talk to each other for nearly three years now.

Russia Insider
US and Russia Are Talking Around the Clock to Choreograph Trump’s Coming Syria Strike

Related

Sic Semper Tyrannis
"Remember the Maine!"Col. W. Patrick Lang, US Army (ret.)

At the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lang was the Defense Intelligence Officer (DIO) for the Middle East, South Asia and counter-terrorism, and later, the first Director of the Defense Humint Service. At the DIA, he was a member of the Defense Senior Executive Service. He participated in the drafting of National Intelligence Estimates. From 1992 to 1994, all the U.S. military attachés worldwide reported to him. During that period, he also briefed President George H. W. Bush at the White House, as he had during Operation Desert Storm.

He was also the head of intelligence analysis for the Middle East for seven or eight years at that institution. He was the head of all the Middle East and South Asia analysis in DIA for counter-terrorism for seven years. For his service in the DIA, Lang received the Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive. — Wikipedia

Also of interest

She gave the interview in fluent English.

Russia Feed
Maria Zakharova OWNS British MSM clown in rare English tete-a-tete (VIDEO)

Xuan Loc Doan — Beijing’s ‘win-win’ Korean Peninsula scenario

Diplomatic ping-pong.

China seeks a "win-win," while Washington regards geopolitics as a zero-sum game.

Asia Times
Beijing’s ‘win-win’ Korean Peninsula scenario

Xuan Loc Doan

See also

Not only Turkey.

Geopolitics Alert
Turkey Breaks with NATO, Refuses to Expel Russians
Jim Carey

Pam and Russ Martens — The Deutsche Bank-Trump Connection: Why House Probe Abruptly Shut Down

It now appears that a major contributing factor to the abrupt shutdown of the Russia-Trump probe by the House Intelligence Committee was a fear that the Committee was getting too close to Trump’s dealings with Deutsche Bank and Deutsche Bank’s dealings with Russia....

The draft report from the Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee also contains this bombshell:

“Moreover, as the Committee has learned, candidate Trump’s private business was actively negotiating a business deal in Moscow with a sanctioned Russian bank during the election period.” 

Wall Street On Parade
The Deutsche Bank-Trump Connection: Why House Probe Abruptly Shut Down
Pam Martens and Russ Martens

Spiegel — The Trade Warrior: Donald Trump's Attack on German Prosperity

U.S. President Donald Trump seems intent on launching a trade war. He is ignoring appeals to common sense coming from Europe and Asia, but one country stands to lose more than any other: Germany.

German business is already fretting about the effects of Russian sanctions. They are viewing Trump's trade policy as a stab in the back, and no way to treat a staunch ally.

Spiegel Online
The Trade Warrior: Donald Trump's Attack on German Prosperity

Der Spiegel Staff

Also

Sputnik International
Merkel: Europe Must Respond to Unilateral Actions by US on Trade

Alasdair Wilkins — Expert [L. Randall Wray] Says Trump's State of the Union Infrastructure Plans Don't Add Up

Interview with Randy Wray.

Inverse Innovation
Expert [L. Randall Wray] Says Trump's State of the Union Infrastructure Plans Don't Add Up

Alasdair Wilkins

Nikolas K. Gvosdev — Trump Unveiled These Key Geoeconomic Plans in His State of the Union

Why the globalists — "Davos man" — are so opposed to Donald Trump's vision for domestic and foreign policy. America Fist and Making American Great Agains are Jacksonian nationalism and populism instead of Post WWII liberal globalization.

The National Interest
Trump Unveiled These Key Geoeconomic Plans in His State of the Union

Nikolas K. Gvosdev is the Captain Jerome E. Levy chair of economic geography and national security at the Naval War College. He is also a contributing editor to the National Interest.

Pat Lang — Trump kicked the Islamic world in the teeth today, and loved doing it.

Stirring up the hornet's nest.

Sic Semper Tyrannis
Trump kicked the Islamic world in the teeth today, and loved doing it.
Col. W. Patrick Lang, US Army (ret.)

At the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lang was the Defense Intelligence Officer (DIO) for the Middle East, South Asia and counter-terrorism, and later, the first Director of the Defense Humint Service. At the DIA, he was a member of the Defense Senior Executive Service. He participated in the drafting of National Intelligence Estimates. From 1992 to 1994, all the U.S. military attachés worldwide reported to him. During that period, he also briefed President George H. W. Bush at the White House, as he had during Operation Desert Storm.

He was also the head of intelligence analysis for the Middle East for seven or eight years at that institution. He was the head of all the Middle East and South Asia analysis in DIA for counter-terrorism for seven years. For his service in the DIA, Lang received the Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive. — Wikipedia

Moon of Alabama — Trump Offloads Foreign Policy Problems - Lets EU Grow A Spine

The question is becoming, "Who lost Europe?"

Moon of Alabama
Trump Offloads Foreign Policy Problems - Lets EU Grow A Spine

b

related

Une parole franche
Rex Tillerson in "The New York Times": Pride and PrejudiceGilbert Doctorow | European Coordinator of The American Committee for East West Accord Ltd.

Patrick Armstrong — Trump Cuts the Gordian Knot of Foreign Entanglements

 

Interesting theory along the lines of Scott Adams, who has pretty consistently been proved correct by events and who Armstrong cites.

(All real theories must be falsifiable; let's see in a year's time whether the US is more entangled or less entangled. It should be pretty apparent by then and, by the end of Trump's first term, obvious to all.)

Strategic Culture Foundation
Trump Cuts the Gordian Knot of Foreign Entanglements

Patrick Armstrong

Thomas Piketty — Trump, Macron: same fight

It is customary to contrast Trump and Macron: on one hand the vulgar American businessman with his xenophobic tweets and global warming scepticism; and on the other, the well-educated, enlightened European with his concern for dialogue between different cultures and sustainable development. All this is not entirely false and rather pleasing to French ears. But if we take a closer look at the policies being implemented, one is struck by the similarities.

In particular, Trump, like Macron, has just had very similar tax reforms adopted. In both cases, these constitute an incredible flight in the direction of fiscal dumping in favour of the richest and most mobile.

Le Monde — Le blog de Thomas Piketty
Trump, Macron: same fight

Thomas Piketty | professor (directeur d'études) at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS), associate chair at the Paris School of Economics, and Centennial professor at the International Inequalities Institute, which is part of the London School of Economics (LSE)

Alexander Mercouris — The Trump – Putin call: summary and analysis

Everything you might want to know about the phone "summit" without actually listening in.

Positive overall. The Trump-Putin relationship seems to be developing along the lines of the Trump-Xi relationship. Basically good relations.

The Duran
The Trump – Putin call: summary and analysis

Alexander Mercouris

Pat Lang — And now, a civics seminar ...

I have long been an originalist, strict construction libertarian believing as did Mr. Jefferson (the slave owner and sage) that "the best government is the least possible." The trick being to discern what the least possible might be.

Therefore I find it odd that I am somewhat disturbed by what is being said on the Democratic Party side of Congress, in the MSM...

Sic Semper Tyrannis
And now, a civics seminar ...
Col. W. Patrick Lang, US Army (ret.)

At the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lang was the Defense Intelligence Officer (DIO) for the Middle East, South Asia and counter-terrorism, and later, the first Director of the Defense Humint Service. At the DIA, he was a member of the Defense Senior Executive Service. He participated in the drafting of National Intelligence Estimates. From 1992 to 1994, all the U.S. military attachés worldwide reported to him. During that period, he also briefed President George H. W. Bush at the White House, as he had during Operation Desert Storm.

He was also the head of intelligence analysis for the Middle East for seven or eight years at that institution. He was the head of all the Middle East and South Asia analysis in DIA for counter-terrorism for seven years. For his service in the DIA, Lang received the Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive. — Wikipedia

Scott Adams — President Trump’s 2017 Report Card (first draft)

Scott Adams grades Donald Trump in key areas. A few A's and one F'.

Dilbert Blog
President Trump’s 2017 Report Card (first draft)
Scott Adams

Ray McGovern — Mocking Trump Doesn’t Prove Russia’s Guilt

Good summary of the witch hunting to date. While he doesn't use the McGovern "soft coup" to characterize what is happening, he implies it. It's really about Trump rather than Russia. The US deep state has always had it in for Russia and won't rest until the US controls it, this is really aimed at neutralizing the president and continuing the effort to remove him from power.

Perhaps you saw "news" reports last week calling William Binney, formerly the NSA's technical director for world geopolitical and military analysis and head of the NSA’s Signals Intelligence Automation Research Center, a "conspiracy theorist" in those words. (Details at The Intercept.) Here is what McGovern says about it.

When news of the Binney-Pompeo meeting broke last week, the U.S. mainstream media again rejected the opportunity to rethink the Russia-did-it groupthink and instead treated Binney as some sort of “conspiracy theorist” with a “disputed” theory, while attacking Pompeo’s willingness to discuss Binney’s findings as “politicizing intelligence.”

To control the narrative there has to be only one side presented as obviously true based on "experts" and all other views characterized false, loony, or even faked. This m.o. is central to propaganda and disinformation.

Consortium News
Mocking Trump Doesn’t Prove Russia’s Guilt
Ray McGovern, CIA intelligence analyst for 27 years and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

See also

Detailed geopolitical and geostrategic analysis based on US military reports. 

While it doesn't address Russiagate and Trumpgate directly, it puts this in light of the US deep states' big picture.

It's about not on the Middle East but also Central Asia in an effort to wrest control of the Eurasian land mass from Russia and China. Recall Zbigniew Brzezinski's The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives. The Great Game is still on.

The Syrian War and the Strategic Logic of US Imperialism’s Drive to Dominate the Middle East
Drew Cottle and Paul Antonopoulos
November 2017

Mehdi Hasan — In the Age of Trump, Tom Cotton May Be America’s Most Dangerous Senator

You might call Cotton, who is now being touted as the next director of the CIA, the “Trump whisperer.” In fact, according to the Weekly Standard, in a recent meeting with his top national security and foreign policy advisers, “having failed to receive the decertification option from his own team, Trump called Senator Tom Cotton and put him on speakerphone. The president asked Cotton to make the case for decertifying the Iran deal. Cotton took five minutes and walked Trump and his team through the case, emphasizing one point in particular: re-certifying the deal would be declaring that it was in the national security interest of the United States, something Cotton understood that Trump didn’t believe.”
The Weekly Standard report added that Trump “left the phone call” convinced that the decision to decertify was “the right one.”

Got that? The reality TV star who now occupies the Oval Office defied the advice of his own inner circle, including Defense Secretary James Mattis; ignored the pleas of America’s closest allies; and dismissed the evidence offered by the International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran is in compliance with the terms of the deal. Instead, he decided to go with the advice of a 40-year-old freshman senator from Arkansas, who has zero expertise in Middle East diplomacy and none in the field of nuclear proliferation.

Probably not just Tom Cotton. I suspect that Trump had already made up his mind and Cotton was just a cover. But the fact Trump chose Cotton for this is indicative.

The question now is when Mattis, McMaster, Kelly and Tillerson are going to resign before their credibility and reputations are shredded.

The Intercept

In the Age of Trump, Tom Cotton May Be America’s Most Dangerous Senator
Mehdi Hasan