Monday, April 10, 2017

Robert Parry — Neocons Have Trump on His Knees

After slapping Donald Trump around for several months to make him surrender his hopes for a more cooperative relationship with Russia, the neocons and their liberal-interventionist allies are now telling the battered President what he must do next: escalate war in the Middle East and ratchet up tensions with nuclear-armed Russia.
Star neocon Robert Kagan spelled out Trump’s future assignments in a column on Sunday in The Washington Post…
And confrontation is surely what Kagan has in mind, adding:
“Instead of being a one-time event, the missile strike needs to be the opening move in a comprehensive political, diplomatic and military strategy to rebalance the situation in Syria in America’s favor. That means reviving some of those proposals that Obama rejected over the past four years: a no-fly zone to protect Syrian civilians, the grounding of the Syrian air force, and the effective arming and training of the moderate opposition, all aimed at an eventual political settlement that can bring the Syrian civil war, and therefore the Assad regime, to an end.
“The United States’ commitment to such a course will have to be clear enough to deter the Russians from attempting to disrupt it. This in turn will require moving sufficient military assets to the region so that neither Russia nor Iran will be tempted to escalate the conflict to a crisis, and to be sure that American forces will be ready if they do. …
“Let’s hope that the Trump administration is prepared for the next move. If it is, then there is a real chance of reversing the course of global retreat that Obama began. A strong U.S. response in Syria would make it clear to the likes of Putin, Xi Jinping, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Kim Jong Un that the days of American passivity are over.”…
[The neocons] will not be satisfied with anything short of a massive U.S. military intervention in the Middle East and a full-scale confrontation with Russia (and perhaps China).
This sort of belligerence is what the neocons and liberal hawks had expected from Hillary Clinton, whom Kagan had endorsed....
Now, with the neocons regaining influence on the National Security Council via NSC adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster, a protégé of neocon favorite Gen. David Petraeus, the neocon holding action against the New Détente has shifted into an offensive to expand the hot war in Syria and intensify the Cold War with Russia....
America elected Donald Trump and got Hillary Clinton instead in less than three months. Tell me there isn't a US Deep State.

Consortium News
Neocons Have Trump on His Knees
Robert Parry

See also

Fort Russ —  Op-ed
Trump has obviously decided to join Neo-Cons and Netanyahu
Vladimir Golstein

10 comments:

Penguin pop said...

I still have that burning image of HRC at DJT's wedding with Melania or the time DJT went golfing with Bill. Did anyone really think he'd be any different from them? He's turning out to be a total goofball combined with all the worst aspects about Billary.

Penguin pop said...

And didn't Bill Clinton encourage DJT to run by phone or was that just a rumor? Why the hell is HRC is happy about what DJT did the other day with Syria?

Peter Pan said...

Congress is playing a cheerleader role, in concert with the "Deep State". They could decide to do their jobs for a change.

Matt Franko said...

Russia buzzed the destroyer after Trump took over. ... it was a big mistake....

Now their client has used WMD again with Trump there, big mistake...

The China situation with NK seems to be going better (for now...)

Tom Hickey said...

The China situation with NK seems to be going better (for now...)

How do you figure that?

Peter Pan said...

Tillerson: China agrees on 'action' on North Korea as navy strike group sails
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/09/us-navy-strike-group-north-korea-peninsula-syria-missile-strike

Tom Hickey said...

Reuters

China hopes all parties on the Korean peninsula will remain calm and exercise restraint, President Xi Jinping told a visiting North Korean envoy on Wednesday, state news agency Xinhua reported.

China sets great store on developing friendly relations with North Korea, Xi added, during his meeting with one of North Korea's highest-profile officials, career diplomat Ri Su Yong.

China hopes all parties on the Korean peninsula will remain calm and exercise restraint, President Xi Jinping told a visiting North Korean envoy on Wednesday, state news agency Xinhua reported.

China sets great store on developing friendly relations with North Korea, Xi added, during his meeting with one of North Korea's highest-profile officials, career diplomat Ri Su Yong.

John said...

"Russia buzzed the destroyer after Trump took over. ... it was a big mistake.... "

So all of Trump's recent behaviour is due to this nonsense? If so, then the man is the biggest fool in the world.

"Now their client has used WMD again with Trump there, big mistake..."

Zero evidence for Syria using WMD, and it's looking very likely that the story the Syrians and the Russians are telling is true. In any case, the deaths weren't due to WMD. It was an unknown chemical. Unknown because no one has investigated, or has been allowed to investigate because a decision has been made to debilitate the forces fighting the jihadis. You seem to forget that jihadis have been caught with chemical weapons.

"The China situation with NK seems to be going better (for now...)"

What on earth are you talking about? The situation is spiralling out of control. China is doing all it can to stabilise the situation. China doesn't want a war on its border. The only grown-ups involved are Russia, China, Syria and Iran. All four are doing what they can to destroy the US-Sadi-Qatari jihadi monster, and China is doing its best to keep some semblance of peace in the Korean peninsula. Trump's certifiably insane. It won't be long before the wacko neoconservatives denounce him as a lunatic. Dubya was bad, but Trump's something far, far worse.

Matt Franko said...

Well maybe China could give NK some of their 1T of USDs and NKwill go away again for a year....

Trump is working with China to take care of the NK situation... he is trying to hand it off to China to deal with...

Noah Way said...

Congress is playing a cheerleader role, in concert with the "Deep State". They could decide to do their jobs for a change.

They are. The people paying them are very well served.