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)

IPA — Attacking Syria “Impeachable”

[Francis] Boyle is professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law. He said today: “Any U.S. attack targeting the Syrian government or its forces would clearly violate both U.S. and international law. When Obama was in a similar position in 2013, his advisor Ben Rhodes [see below] has since commented that they turned back largely because they were afraid of impeachment. That fear is well founded. While the prospect of impeaching Trump is thrown around frequently for partisan purposes, on this issue, the constitution is clear: Initiating a war or any such attack without authorization is clearly impeachable.... 

IPA
Attacking Syria “Impeachable”

Moon of Alabama — James Comey Is Losing His Game With Another Non-News Leak

Moar on fake news and propaganda aimed at removing or neutering Trump. The problem is that this is now becoming obvious to anyone that is awake.

Moon of Alabama
James Comey Is Losing His Game With Another Non-News Leak

b

also

The Unz Review
Are They Really Out to Get Trump?

Philip Giraldi. former counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer of the CIA

Pat Lang — "Did Trump have clear authority under international law to attack Syria?" NY Times

IMO it is very clear that the order for the strike on Shaykat air base in Syria was illegal in both international and US law. The Democrats have been searching for grounds for impeachment. Is commission of a criminal act using the powers of his office not an impeachable offense? pl

US politics would never permit the impeachment of the president for something like this since the narrative is constructed by the propaganda machine and the machine is applauding the attack. If the Democrats want to frame an impeachable offense, this is not it, especially after HRC recommended doing what Trump did hours before he gave the order.

Sic Semper Tyrannis
"Did Trump have clear authority under international law to attack Syria?" NY Times
Col. W. Patrick Lang, US Army (ret.), former military intelligence officer at the US Defense Intelligence Agency

Also

The Duran
Now President Trump hands his enemies REAL grounds to impeach him
Alexander Mercouris

Publius Tacitus — Donald Trump Is An International Law Breaker

Donald Trump's decision to launch cruise missile strikes on a Syrian Air Force Base was based on a lie. In the coming days the American people will learn that the Intelligence Community knew that Syria did not drop a military chemical weapon on innocent civilians in Idlib. Here is what happened:

****

Donald Trump will most likely not finish his term as President. He will be impeached, I believe, once Congress is presented with irrefutable proof that he ignored and rejected intelligence that did not support the myth that Syria attacked with chemical weapons.

Strong stuff. SST is a venue featuring former military and intel personnel.

Sic Semper Tyrannis
Donald Trump Is An International Law Breaker

Publius Tacitus

Iraqi officials said Wednesday that they had removed nearly 300 bodies from the site of an apparent airstrike in west Mosul, the largest civilian death toll since the battle against Islamic State began more than two years ago and among the deadliest incidents in decades of modern warfare.

More bodies were being removed Wednesday as the U.S.-led coalition investigated whether it was responsible, Iraqi officials blamed Islamic State, and the injured continued to suffer....

Los Angeles Times
Nearly 300 died in Mosul airstrike, making it one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in recent memory

Molly Hennessy-Fiske | Contact Reporter

Jon Schwarz — Sessions’s Recusal Gives Senators Powerful Leverage to Demand Russia Special Prosecutor

It was special prosecutor Ken Starr's investigation that spread beyond his brief that resulted in the impeachment of Bill Clinton. This is a step forward in taking down Donald Trump.

The blitz of media propaganda is going to get fiercer, and social media will reflect the dueling factions. The US is in for a ride. 

We knew it would be a reality show but we didn't realize it would get this intense this quickly.

The Intercept

Sessions’s Recusal Gives Senators Powerful Leverage to Demand Russia Special Prosecutor
Jon Schwarz

See also

Zero Hedge
Trump Issues Statement On Sessions' Recusal

Tyler Durden — Trump Impeachment Now Even Odds At Bookies

Ladbrokes are offering bettors 'even' odds that president-elect Donald Trump will leave office via impeachment or resignation by the end of his first term...

Putting a number on it. Another gauge to watch.

Zero Hedge
Trump Impeachment Now Even Odds At Bookies

Tyler Durden

Andreas Nölke — Half-truths about Brazil

You have probably already heard most of this here, but it is a good summary to date.

flassbeck economics
Half-truths about Brazil

Andreas Nölke

Brazil's Impeachment Vote a Political Trial to Subvert Democracy — Sharmini Peries interviews Maria Mendoza

If President Dilma Rousseff is successfully impeached it will shake confidence in the entire Brazilian democratic system, says Maria Mendonca of the University of Rio de Janeiro.

This is the real issue. Sounds banana republic but the GOP did essentially the same thing in the case of Bill Clinton who was impeached but not removed and Barack Obama, who the GOP leadership declared they intended "break."

Capitalism is antithetical to democracy.

Real News Network

Brazil's Impeachment Vote a Political Trial to Subvert Democracy
Sharmini Peries interviews Maria Mendoza | Director of Brazil's Network for Social Justice and Human Rights and she's also Professor in International Relations at the University of Rio de Janeiro

See also

Vice President Michel Temer, who would take over if Rousseff is impeached, met with close advisors in Sao Paulo to study plans for a new government that, aides said, would move quickly to restore economic confidence and growth.…

Murilo Portugal, the head of Brazil's most powerful banking industry lobby, has emerged as a strong candidate to become finance minister if Temer takes power, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

Capitalism is antithetical to democracy.

Reuters
Brazil's Rousseff going to U.N. over impeachment; cabinet in crisis

OK, Venezuela is a banana republic except the bananas are now oil, but still.

nsnbc international
Venezuelan Parliament Goes on Offensive to Oust Maduro

David Miranda — The real reason Dilma Rousseff’s enemies want her impeached

Regime change.

The country’s elite class and their media organs have failed, over and over, in their efforts to defeat the party at the ballot box. But plutocrats are not known for gently accepting defeat, nor for playing by the rules. What they have been unable to achieve democratically, they are now attempting to achieve anti-democratically: by having a bizarre mix of politicians – evangelical extremists, far-right supporters of a return to military rule, non-ideological backroom operatives – simply remove her from office.

What so-called liberals can't manage at the ballot box they seek to do with other means. The right wing in the US did the same with Bill Clinton almost from the get go and finally managed to impeach him but not remove him. Similarly, as soon as Barack Obama was elected, the leadership of the opposition announced that they would "break him."

The Guardian
The real reason Dilma Rousseff’s enemies want her impeached
David Miranda

Matias Vernengo — Some thoughts on the impeachment and the right wing turn in Brazil

Details. Here are some of the highlights.

On the strength of the social record of her policies, Dilma won a narrow reelection in 2014, with the promise to expand social spending, to promote economic growth and to stand against banks' greediness, reducing interest rates. After the reelection, however, the government did a 180-degree turn, appointed a Finance Minister, Joaquim Levy, who came from one of the largest banks in the country, and adopted austerity policies, fiscal adjustment and higher interest rates to control inflation. Growth, not surprisingly, collapsed with a decline of GDP of about 3.8% in 2015.…

Interestingly enough, while Aécio Neves, the PSDB candidate that lost the last election in 2014, has been named in the corruption scandal, president Rousseff seems to be completely untainted by accusations of corruption. More importantly, the central issues related to corruption are the structural ones. That is the elements that make corruption a necessary feature to manage the country, like the need to buy votes in congress to pass legislation, something that has made the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB in Portuguese) an essential element for governability. In fact, PMDB is at the center of all corruption scandals and the beneficiaries of the impeachment, including the Vice-President [who stands to become president], are members of that party.…

Clearly, the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff is not about corruption, and the actual process hinges on the delay in the payments to public banks (the so-called 'pedaladas'), which in the view of some imply the government is borrowing from public banks, which is against the Law of Fiscal Responsibility, but not on the corruption scandal per se. Note that this fiscal accounting devices were a common practice, even in previous governments, were never questioned, and can hardly be considered a crime that requires the impeachment of the president. Further, although her government is highly unpopular, since even left of center groups have been protesting, and more so since she embraced the austerity policies after reelection, it is not true that the impeachment was popular. Public manifestations against the impeachment have been as large, if not larger, than pro-impeachment protests, and the country remains essentially evenly divided, as it was during the 2014 election. In that sense, the impeachment is certainly not about the preservation of democratic institutions.

Socioeconomically speaking the poorer and the afro-descendants tend to be against impeachment, and that was reflected in the votes in Congress, to a great extent because these groups were the main beneficiaries of PT’s social policies, and real wage increases. On the other hand, the middle class and the business groups, as represented by Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (FIESP in Portuguese), have been decidedly in favor. There is a clear class, and that in Brazil means race too, component to the impeachment process. So there are good reasons to believe that the impeachment represents a modern type of coup, based on the utilization of media for the mobilization of public opinion, and for bringing down a government, that, even if moderately, has reduced inequality in one of the most unequal countries in the world. The impeachment is about social class and inequality, and the possibility of a left of center project.

Naked Keynesianism
Some thoughts on the impeachment and the right wing turn in Brazil
Matias Vernengo | Associate Professor of Economics, Bucknell University

Matias Vernengo — New York Times on the Brazilian coup... I mean impeachment

The low down on Brazil, and I do mean "low."

I'll try to have something longer on this later, but in my view the deep causes of the impeachment are ultimately related to class warfare. The improvement in the minimum wage, and the share of wages in income, ultimately caused the reaction from the elites and a good chunk of the middle class.

"Our guys" are winning. And the real is up.

Naked Keynesianism
New York Times on the Brazilian coup... I mean impeachment
Matias Vernengo | Associate Professor of Economics, Bucknell University

Glenn Greenwald — After Vote to Remove Brazil’s President, Key Opposition Figure Holds Meetings in Washington

Politicians and parties which have spent two decades trying, and failing, to defeat PT in democratic elections triumphantly marched forward to effectively overturn the 2014 vote by removing Dilma on grounds that, as today’s New York Times report makes clear, are, at best, dubious in the extreme. Even The Economist, which has long despised the PT and its anti-poverty programs and which wants Dilma to resign, has argued that “in the absence of proof of criminality, impeachment is unwarranted” and it “looks like a pretext for ousting an unpopular president.”

Sunday’s proceedings, conducted in the name of combatting corruption, were presided over by one of the democratic world’s most blatantly corrupt politicians, House speaker Eduardo Cunha (above, center), who was recently discovered to have stashed millions of dollars in secret Swiss Bank accounts that have no possible non-corrupt source and who lied under oath when he denied to Congressional investigators that he had foreign bank accounts. Of the 594 members of the House, as The Globe and Mail reported yesterday, “318 are under investigation or face charges” while their target, President Rousseff, “herself faces no allegation of financial impropriety.”

What the GOP tried to do to Bill Clinton from day one. Owing to the unpopularity of that move, they decided to just "break" Obama by obstruction.

Anyone see a pattern and where it is emanating from? Democracy is not well.

It is highly likely that the Senate will agree to hear the charges, which will result in the 180-day suspension of Dilma as president and the installation of the pro-business Vice President Michel Temer from the PMDB party. The vice president himself is, as The New York Times put it, “under scrutiny over claims that he was involved in an illegal ethanol purchasing scheme.” Temer recently made it known that one of the leading candidates to head his economic team would be the Chairman of Goldman Sachs in Brazil, Paulo Leme.

Coincidence?

The U.S. has been notably quiet about this tumult in the second-largest county in the hemisphere, and its posture has barely been discussed in the mainstream press. It’s not hard to see why. The U.S. spent years vehemently denying that it had any role in the 1964 military coup that removed Brazil’s elected left-wing government, a coup which resulted in 20 years of a brutal, pro-U.S., right-wing military dictatorship. But secret documents and recordings emerged proving that the U.S. actively helped plot that coup, and the country’s 2014 Truth Commission report documented that the U.S. and U.K. aggressively supported the dictatorship and even “trained Brazilian interrogators in torture techniques.”…

Did you see the movie Brazil?

That U.S-supported coup and military dictatorship looms large over the current controversy. President Rousseff and her supporters explicitly call the attempt to remove her a coup. One prominent pro-impeachment deputado who is expected to run for president, the right-wing Jair Bolsonaro (whom The Intercept profiled last year), yesterday explicitly praised the military dictatorship and pointedly hailed Col. Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra, the dictatorship’s chief torturer (notably responsible for Dilma’s torture). Bolsonaro’s son, Eduardo, also in the House, said he was casting his impeachment vote “for the military men of ’64″: those who carried out the coup and imposed military rule.

Fascism is alive and well.

The Intercept
After Vote to Remove Brazil’s President, Key Opposition Figure Holds Meetings in Washington

Glenn Greenwald

Portuguese version
Porque o Sen. Aloysio Nunes foi a Washington um dia depois da votação do impeachment?

Pepe Escobar — Hybrid War Hyenas Tear Brazil Apart

BRICS on the way to becoming RICS? Neoliberals win this round.

Russia Insider
Hybrid War Hyenas Tear Brazil Apart
Pepe Escobar

David Edwards — Gohmert pushes impeachment: Obama ‘getting close to a high crime and misdemeanor’ (via Raw Story )

Gohmert pushes impeachment: Obama ‘getting close to a high crime and misdemeanor’ (via Raw Story )

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) on Tuesday amped his recent impeachment rhetoric by claiming that President Barack Obama was “getting close to a high crime and misdemeanor.” Fox News host Alisyn Camerota pointed out to Gohmert that after two weeks of…

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