I just listened to Trump’s speech on Afghanistan: American heroes are unique and better than all others… 9/11 was planned in Afghanistan… together with the Saudis will will fight terrorism… and that is when I stopped listening. In a few short sentences Trump just overloaded my capacity to listen to inanity. Just before I switched him off I heard him say something about “we will win in Afghanistan“.
Yeah, right. Good luck with that.
I think I am truly done with this man. From now on I won’t listen to a word he has to say. I still will monitor what the USA will do, but in terms of setting time aside to listen to what this guy has to say, I am done. Okay, I will listen to his resignation speech once the Neocons force him out of office. But that’s about it.
My disgust with him is total.
The Saker
I liked Patrick Lang’s headline … The Generals Rolled Him, as they Rolled Obama.
http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2017/08/httpswwwwashingtonpostcomnewspowerpostpalomadaily-20220170822daily-202-a-dozen-key-lines-from-.html
“IMO this speech was written in McMaster’s national security policy shop. It is filled with mutually conflicting and sentimental items the foolishness of which are compounded by very imperfect understandings of the peoples of the region. The conditions for “victory” are unattainable. There will always be insurgent movements in Afghanistan, movements that threaten the country’s stability and there will alway be jihadis hatching plots in Afghanistan againt the US.
Therefore, this is a recipe for unending colonial stye war waged by the US in South Asia. “
As the saying goes – Afghanistan is the graveyard of Empires…..
Welcome back, Saker.
I like that. Watch what someone does, not what they say.
By their fruits you shall know them.
Read what they say and watch what they do. Never watch what they say.
Yeah, but how do your feel about his definition of Victory? “Killing Terrorists.”
As a military analyst, Saker, you could offer us how unique this concept truly is.
Sort of like ‘body count’ on steroids but bigger.
Everyone is a terrorist and the US intends to kill ’em.
Combined with “conditions on the ground” as his key value for “strategy”, these guidons eclipse
Sun Tzu, no?
What else does the US DOD have but empty triumphalism?
The Exceptional America has just been pushed out of ME hegemony. And it has traded Montenegro
for Turkey in NATO. With these accomplishments and the timely loss of two Predators at Incirlik in just four days, while its great destroyer fleet in the Pacific has punctured two of its finest vessels by impaling themselves on nearby tanker and container ships.
Now it is demanding Russia leave Eurasia and the planet Earth or else. We see this clever demand at the Minsk meeting of Volker and Surkov yesterday, while Tillerson has affirmed that the US will reclaim, not only Donbass, but Crimea. Mattis is due there in Banderastan to add verity (or levity, depending how you take it) to the Exceptional Demands of the Empire. “Disappear or we will destroy you”, they are telling Russia.
Why not more war for Americans? It is the only proof they exist in a world of humans and only means for them to be #1 on the globe. They kill, therefore they exist. (A turn on the maxim of Descartes.)
No one wants to emulate their society or system. No one wants their present values of Cult Liberalism.Though Ukraine seems to be adopting any deviance, publicly, that gains for them one more American dollar or loan extension. Gay parades and the beating of women some of the latest Kievan exploits.
The bright shining light on the hill is now white phosphorus burning flesh to the bone. And Trump has used it to brand his name on Afghanistan. The Death Ideology of the Defense Department has its new Director of Sales, Donald J. Trump. The Trump War is on.
NATO, as a good lackey, through the words of Rasmussen is eager to further participate with the US in “defending Afganistan from terrorists. Of course, all the countries in that block are very happy (sic)
Agree on your comments, saker.
I could not listen but he is not the first puppet for more war who I could not find the stomach to listen to. I tend to see the fine hand of petraeus in this as he and mcmaster go back a ways. this will be the third moar war puppet he has rolled: bush, obama, trump.
I’m not sure neo cons will force him out-they have everything they could wish for, trump completely neutered, the only thing missing is a leash around his neck. Thanks to romney, neo cons thoroughly infested in admin.
I don’t think Trump believes any of this, or has any heart in this policy. He asked Mattis to go back to the drawing board for Afghanistan, but the Pentagon had no new ideas, so this is all there is that gets put on Trump’s desk. He even tweeted that all this is against his instinct.
I don’t think Trump’s running things. And I note that those who are running things seem to be failing at every material thing they attempt, from running a navy to running a war. This is important, given Trump’s management style of letting people run with their ideas until they succeed or fail.
I don’t think of Trump as a man leading any certain direction, I think he’s fighting to stay afloat in a swamp full of really bad alligators. Every day he remains in office his opponents exercise the free rein he gives them, and dig their own graves a little deeper.
One day all of Trump’s team will have dug a hole so deep that they can’t get back out of it. At this point, if Trump is still alive and in office, we may yet see some changes from him. Only then would he have the power to make real changes in his team and his direction.
I don’t say he is the man who will do these things. I only say that the way is not yet open for any person to do these things. Not until the generals and the neocons have exhausted their last bit of power. Then, history may still have a use for Trump as an agent of disruption and change – either wittingly or unwittingly, I don’t see that it matters. History is what matters.
Why is history so important? Because the world has a large and wicked empire to let down to the ground in as gentle a way as possible. This is the imperative of history, the principal task on the planet. The only way we need to judge Trump is in terms of this imperative. Personally, I see him aiding this task, wittingly or unwittingly doesn’t seem to matter – and I don’t think there’s actually enough data to tell yet, so I don’t give much thought yet to either his wits or his witlessness.
The rate that money increasingly amasses to the few is a sure sign they are succeeding at every material thing they attempt.
+1
Trump doesn’t make foreign policy, and what gets delivered to his desk is just the same old same old.
His cabinet is in constant turmoil. He’s just fighting to stay afloat.
Maybe he can fight for what he wants another day, but it’s very doubtful.
Foolish. Trump hired his cabinet. Trump can/could fire his cabinet. Noting who HE has hired and who HE has fired should tell you all you need to know. He has done quite the opposite of what he said.
The man is a filthy liar, a judas (oh the irony), a quisling.
Good!
Now Saker can we get back to more of your analysis of what is actually happening.
I never believed Trump would be any different as soon as he started employing all the neocons – that was the real Trump. Bannon was just used to get blue collar votes.
Now with the announcement about Afghanistan
-The criticism of Pakistan and praise for India
-can we have an analysis on what this means for Russia China Iran and the Stans?
I totally agree. His balls have been cut off by the Neocons and has become their puppet. God help us!
not so fast George….is not over yet…..
Looks like it is.
The meaning of democracy to the Western elites is the “intelligent manipulation of the people”. I think it has reached the point were the only useful thing a peon can do at the ballot box is spoil the vote — all the candidates are controlled in all elections.
If anyone reading this is from the UK then yes, I also include Jeremy Corbyn in the list of controlled shills waiting in the wings. I can prove it to you in an instant.
The only consolation is that it might, just might, make Merkins realise that they do not live in a democracy and have not done so for a very long time.
He was given a clear warning when the Secret Service complained publicly about how much it was costing to ‘protect’ the Trump clan in and around the Whitehouse….
I’m afraid it was illusory to think that a man of Trump’s background and skills would have had the courage, brains and determination to resist the likes of neo-cons. His public speeches and addresses were meant to be a vent for the American masses and their dissatisfaction. Apart from his tweets and speeches, the man practically does nothing. What could we expect him to do anyway?
Fighting the neo-cons proved to be a daunting task even for the men of much greater stature than Trump.
I stopped on day eight.
Are the generals zionists or nationalists?
It would depend on the general. Probably they are “both” mainly. They “somehow” think foolishly they can be both.When in reality,being zionists negate any of their claims to be nationalists.
The USA has been led into wars it can’t win for decades now and the humiliation must be building within the armed forces. Not to mention the bills. The army is at the command of the president whose policies until recently have been developed by zionists.
The country now has a nationalist president (?) who has surrounded himself with generals, presumably as his best protection against the zionist occupiers of power and influence.
It is not credible to me that Trump is on the same team as the now hysterical ziomedia.
In the 6 months since his presidency started he’s had the media expose themselves, cheering when he talks war and baying for his blood when he talks peace. Everything he says is contradicted soon after by someone or other in his circle and the media are bamboozled, tripping over their own narrative, looking and sounding like the fools they are.
Meanwhile, isis is capitulating, an olive branch is held out to the taliban and the drums of war quiet down a little.
I think it’s safe to assume that his intentions or beliefs are the exact opposite of what he says.
Who’s on first, Watt’s on second and I Don’t know’s on third.
Mr Trump is playing a very dangerous game for the highest of stakes and I for one STILL haven’t given up on him.
It doesn’t matter that the “USA” can’t win them so long as those who profit from the MIC keep doing that.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brettnelson/2011/05/26/americas-richest-living-veterans/#6ca85b66792e
“They flew jets, captained brigades and broke codes. They hailed from all corners of the U.S. armed forces: Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. They fought in theaters from World War II to Korea to Vietnam.
And when they finished serving their country, they got to work serving customers and amassing billion-dollar fortunes.
On Monday, May 30, the U.S. will celebrate Memorial Day, as it has since the Civil War, in honor of those who have died in the nation’s conflicts. There will be religious services, parades and speeches. But there will never be enough thank-yous–which is why Congress, in 2010, signed into law “The National Moment of Remembrance Act,” creating a commission whose charter is to “encourage the people of the United States to give something back to their country, which provides them so much freedom and opportunity.”
Seventeen veterans from the Forbes list of 400 wealthiest Americans seized on that opportunity to dream big and build bigger. Together, their personal empires were worth a recent $50 billion–nearly 10% of the current U.S. military budget.”
…me either … he PDJT is smarter than all those “analysts” here HE will pull out big surprise….
Is the US at a “Russian Empire 1905” moment, with Donald Trump as von Witte? Trump had some sensible ideas, but no friends at court, and his sensible ideas and sensible friends were marginalised by the bloodline crazies. 1905 saw widespread violence and unrest, especially in rural areas and small towns, but apart from “Bloody Sunday” no major engagements, it was all spontaneous. Are we beginning to see this in the US (32 people shot in Chicago last weekend, for example) – relatively small incidents of anti-system violence, but very many of them.
The thought occurred to me as the US Navy provides another link with 1905. Its hugely expensive vessels don’t seem to be able to not bump into things – not only that, but damage to container ships is the maritime equivalent of a fender-bender, but dozens of US sailors die. In an incident probably not reported in the US, because the only reason was negligence, a year or so back a US submarine suddenly turned at a fairish speed on the surface outside Portsmouth harbour, washing some sailors who were on the (treacherous, sloping) deck into the sea, where they drowned (why weren’t they wearing lifejackets?). The bodies were washed up on the local shore, so there had to be a British inquest, which revealed negligence and sloppiness worthy of the ill-fated Admiral Christmas (Rozhdestvensky).in 1905.
He will be known in the US for the sinking of his entire fleet, bar the cruiser Avrora, now opposite the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, by Admiral Togo at the battle of Tsushima. On his way round the world from St Petersburg, though, he engaged the Grimsby herring drifter fleet on the Dogger Bank in the North Sea. It was night, and the fishing vessels were carrying lights, but somehow his (?drunk ? drugged) officers thought they were Japanese torpedo boats. Not stopping to ask what Japanese torpedo boats were doing in the North Sea, nor even why, if they were Japanese torpedo boats, they were carrying lights, the whole fleet opened fire – and only managed to hit six vessels!
I thank Dmitri Orlov for this bit of wisdom on his ClubOrlov blog (paywall on full article):
http://cluborlov.blogspot.ca/
https://www.patreon.com/posts/everything-is-to-13969141
“Although people often bemoan political apathy as if it were a grave social ill, it seems to me that this is just as it should be. Why should essentially powerless people want to engage in a humiliating farce designed to demonstrate the legitimacy of those who wield the power? In Soviet-era Russia, intelligent people did their best to ignore the Communists: paying attention to them, whether through criticism or praise, would only serve to give them comfort and encouragement, making them feel as if they mattered. Why should Americans want to act any differently with regard to the Republicans and the Democrats? For love of donkeys and elephants?”
I’ll be curious to see the reaction from Pakistan. I’d think they would be livid over that speech. I think Trump (and the generals) haven’t looked closely at the map of the World. The easiest and maybe only way they can get their forces into Afghanistan. And supplied once there, is through Pakistan. Its doubtful (or at least should be doubtful if they are smart) that Russia,China,or Iran,will let the US forces go through or over their territories to Afghanistan. That only leaves them Pakistan. Threatening to openly bomb in Pakistan (they do now,but its not openly. And already causes problems for the Pakistani regime among their population). And seeming to favor India,Pakistan’s blood enemy.Is not a way to get Pakistan’s help.If anything it should move Pakistan even closer to Russia,China,and Iran. And if the Pakistanis halt “all” US military movement over their borders and airspace into Afghanistan. The US military is stuck in a giant cauldron/pocket.The Pakistanis hold the “whip-hand” there if they really want to use it.
UB1,
Here are two sites I go to read Pakistan news. Beware that they both full with commentators from India:
The one with moderated comments:
https://www.dawn.com/
the one with unmoderated comments:
https://tribune.com.pk/
Pakistan wouldn’t use the “whip-hand” now. Situation is not that as bad for them as it seems.
Just before announcement of new (or re-announcement of old) US policy on Afghanistan, U.S. Central Command chief Gen. Joseph Votel met COAS Gen. Bajwa followed by American ambassador just after the announcement. Both of them said mostly positive things. There is no clarity on HOW pressure will be applied on Pakistan. Coalition Support Fund last year was a meager 70 million $. Sanctions are a step too far which would bring the “whip-hand” to the fore.
Pakistan has two major concerns and no matter what Trump says, unless and until they are not addressed, forget about Pakistan helping US in Afghanistan – I mean FORGET IT. Afghan Taliban have time on their side and Americans don’t – they are spending 4 Million $ an hour there.
Firstly, India is using using Afghan soil and their intelligence agency NDS to destabilize Pakistan. Pakistan has time and again raised this issue but mostly people are unaware of this because media doesn’t cover this. Instead MSM feeds propaganda that Pakistan has an inexplicable, unchangeable and permanent hatred and fear of India causing them to falsely doubt India’s role in Afghanistan. India uses Afghanistan (and Iran) as bases to support insurgencies in Baluchistan and RAW colludes with NDS backing up terrorist attacks in Pakistani cities. Americans know about this and tacitly support this.
Secondly, Pakistan is skeptical about US role vis-a-vis Daesh or ISIS. There is apprehension that US uses ISIS in pursuit of its geopolitical ambitions. Russian President has also implicitly mentioned this many times (with regards to Syria and Iraq) and Pakistan also gave an implicit warning to USA. Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria ZAkharova spoke of unidentified possibly US helicopters assisting ISIS in its operations in Afghanistan.
Therefore, Pakistan’s Army Chief said in response to Trump’s speech that Pakistan will put its national security and interests first and foremost. If Americans want Pakistan’s help they will have to address these issues.
So, maybe it really is the men in dark suits (and dark ties) with their briefcases that really run things?
I am done with Trump since his missile strike on Syria.
However, for 9/11 Trump knows better. Much better. On that same day 9/11 he gave this interview in which he states that bombs were used in the basement of WTC:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt-ldMj9y9w
They must have strong material to blackmail him.
Saker, totally agree with you.
There is great opportunity for Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan to counter Zionist War games in Afghanistan. A total defeat would stir up the USA, and secure borders from terrorists. So instead empty statements it is a time to start shipping secure radios, ammo like PG-7VR and TBG-7V to Taliban.
This was my thoughts too. So, welcome US to stay in Afghanistan forever!
During the 2016 Election US citizens were forced to choose the lesser of two weevils; what was known was Hillary’s position and inclination, what was not known was Trumps. All that has happened is that Trump has now been brought under control by the combined might of an unleashed press, a partisan judiciary, and a collusion of both political parties against him. This should not be unexpected as the only way a private citizen of the USA can influence any of these entities is if the citizens organize and go after their financial backers. There is no organization backing Trump able to do this, and he has run out of time to build one. The private US citizen is therefore irrelevant to the sequence of events and their wishes ignored. Attempts to organize now will be under the watchful eyes of the FBI, NSA, CIA, and other alphabet agencies too numerous to mention. Any group supporting Trump would be infiltrated and disintegrated from within.
My money would be that a 3 letter organization had a meeting with Trump that displayed in very graphic fashion exactly how his family would be treated if he tried to initiate any of his campaign promises. My money is that he understood at that meeting that his chance to really drain the swamp was gone before he even put his name in the hat for President.
A long time ago I wrote these words in an article ” … In the USA today the evidence of decline should be obvious to any astute reader, and I personally place the USA at the late decline to end stage.
Is there a possibility that the USA can pull back from collapse? I think so, but it will take men and women of courage, principal, and leadership. The task will be dangerous as the parasites that have infected the body politic will organize to defend their interests, probably leading to violence.
For certain, to survive intact, the USA will have to lose the overseas empire and become, for the first time, a true democracy.
Of greater concern than the parasitic politician/financier class is the current social drift that is happening in the USA. The ideals of courage, honour, duty, and social cohesion that drive societies to adapt and survive have been replaced with hedonism, greed, and self interest. No society composed of these disruptive virtues has ever managed to reconstitute itself.”
Very sad. It’s questionable if he was ever sincere during his election campaign. On the other hand he had the backing of 200 admirals and generals. We now know why. He is turning out to be a bigger puppet than Obama ever was. Just to point out that the rest of the world is watching, and what it sees, it does not like one bit. The US is losing the little esteem it has left. On the other hand, the elite in the US, with it’s imperial tastes, is turning Vladimir Putin into an international super star.
I turned him ‘off’ about a month ago and now just browze the headlines to see how WW3 is coming along.
May as well have had the Clintons (2.0) for all the ‘outcomes’ delivered etc… and marginally less msm froth would have been involved.
Only upside I can see is Trump has managed to make the whole US-charade a touch more transparent and exposed the unfathomable depths of idiocy and non-democracy at work.
“/…/ together with the Saudis we will fight terrorism”
Sounds promising in a way. Trump’s residence came out unscathed in the 911 fireworks. Better luck next time.
Trump should also have added Saudi Arabia’s crucial role in the very serious fight for promoting Human Rights, courtesy of the OHCHR.
In view of the abominable Pindo regime and its Saudi offal, men such as Putin, Assad, and Kadyrov show the world what can be achieved by dignity, intelligence, courage, and plain decency.
This was the first Trump speech that I found impossible to listen to. Nothing knew there, at least with Presidents. I found Clinton/Dubya/Obama all impossible to listen to for an entire speech.
But, up till now, Trump had been different. I could at least listen to him. But not this speech. Mainly because he was so obviously lying right from the beginning. And that was always the reason I could never listen to Clinton/Dubya/Obama … I’d go horse from shouting “LIAR” at the TV set.
Trump had none of his usuall speaking rythym. It was plain someone had handed him a speech, and then coached him on how to read it to the TV camera. But it plainly was not Trump. You could almost see the strings on the puppet leading back to the Generals.
This was Trump without Bannon.
President Trump and the American leadership reminds me of King Belshazzar and his friends at the palace banquet. Drunk with power king Belshazzar and his friends drank wine from the golden vessels that were meant for the worship of God at the temple. Belshazzar the undisputed hegemon of his day had defeated all his enemies and was filled with hubris. So much so, that he felt that he was equal to God. Before the wine cup left his lips a frightened Belshazzar and his friends saw a hand write these words on the banquet wall.
“Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin” it meant that God had “numbered” the kingdom of Belshazzar and brought it to an end; that the king had been weighed and found wanting; and that his kingdom was divided and given to the Medes and Persians.
By increasing American military involvement in Afghanistan President Trump is intoxicated by the same wine that caused Belshazzar to lose his kingdom, that of pride. Is there much of a difference between Belshazzar fighting against God and Trump fighting in Afghanistan?
The fact that President Trump has given his speech on the first total solar eclipse to unfold from coast to coast in the United States in 100 years, brings to remembrance my grandmothers folkloric saying, “that a solar eclipse foreshadows that a great nation will fall and a more powerful nation will rise to take its place”. The United states will have another solar eclipse in the year 2024, the writing is on the wall God does not suffer fools neither does Afghanistan.
Trump reminds me of a president that no one will remember 15 years from now. Who remembers President Harding? How about President Coolidge? Trump is yet another slick, brash, “in your face” New Yorker who accomplishes nothing. His persona rubs people in other parts of the country (e.g. the South, the Midwest) the wrong way. Who will remember his worthless tweets?
Trump came from privilege and was mentored by a Mafia lawyer As a businessman he was a shyster of the first class, skimming his profits before leaving his creditors, many ending on the rocks, to take the losses in his several failed ventures. Knowing his character I felt very safe in saying in the run up to the election that no matter who seized the brass ring to expect more of the same only more so. If Trump had really meant his pre-election rhetoric he would not have been allowed to get the nomination and either been given the Ron Paul treatment of total exclusion or the Robert Kennedy treatment if he really posed a threat as much as RFK did, with a real axe to grind, which Trump never did. It was there to see and hopefully in retrospect many in the media business will not be fooled again to again drag the voting public along with them.
Dear Mr Saker,
No offense to you…but have you considered the position that Mr. Trump is in? I’m a black American and secretly support him. He has made a number of changes in critical areas here that make my support for him stronger. I know that he could easily be assassinated. He has already been declared insane. I never expect too much from him. If he survives maybe he will accomplish more of his goals. But for how he has to dance a very delicate dance with the Swamp. Otherwise he’ll end up like Kennedy. Hope you can understand.
Thanks,
Eric
Since The Saker is not listening to Trump anymore I want to give him a little update here.
Trump just declared at the UN that the U.S. will destroy totally (that means obliterate, terminate, exterminate, wipe out, reduce all compounds to elemental atoms, perhaps even into subatomic particles) the DPRK, aka North Korea. Just like what his predecessor LBJ did to North Vietnam.
Now we all know the difference between the military power of the U.S.A. and DPRK. So why does POTUS feel so frighten, so scare that he finds it necessary to make such a declaration at the UN?
Well consider this situation in an African jungle. There is a mighty guerrilla and there is a buffoon, the former a gigantic monster. In a confrontation the guerrilla jump, scream, pound his chest but dare not make a move. While the buffoon just sit relax, smiling. What happened? Why of course the buffoon deposits a stick to plug up the rear of the guerrilla and cut off his dick. The resulting explosive transformation is called The Donald. But the followers of the guerrilla are just so proud that their boss is so strong, so wise. They don’t know Donald is the Eunuch.