Trump’s Foreign Policy Philosophy Hard to Pin Down
Masood Farivar, Voice of America
Is President-elect Donald Trump a foreign policy realist or idealist? Is he bringing Richard Nixon’s hard-edged realpolitik to his foreign policy or following in the footsteps of the more idealistic Ronald Reagan?
The question has become a parlor game among Washington's policy pundits.
Trump’s frequent invocation of Reagan’s “peace through strength” mantra and campaign pledge to rebuild America’s “depleted” military has invited comparisons to the Republican icon credited with winning the Cold War.
His advocacy of a foreign policy based on America’s national interests has led some to liken it to Nixonian realism, while his aversion to foreign interventions has won him the label of a non-interventionist and even isolationist.
Don’t Fence Trump In
Trump has professed no great power doctrine and his advisers discourage applying labels to his vision of the world.
“I’m not going to be put into the little academic, graduate school box because I think it doesn’t suit, and it doesn’t apply in a rapidly changing world,” said K.T. McFarland, Trump’s incoming deputy national security adviser, when asked to describe the Trump doctrine.
While Trump’s call for “peace through strength” reflects Reagan’s view of deterrence, “there are parts of Nixon and (Henry) Kissinger that Donald Trump has also advocated,” McFarland said at the U.S. Institute of Peace, alluding to Trump’s interest-based approach to world affairs.
Trump’s Speeches
A foreign policy neophyte, Trump has shied away from declaring any grand foreign strategy during the campaign, though he did give two major speeches devoted to foreign policy and national security.
In the first speech, delivered at the realist-leaning Center for the National Interest in Washington in April, Trump outlined what he called a “coherent foreign policy based on American interests” and called for “getting out of nation building,” creating stability and quashing “radical Islam.”
“Containing the spread of radical Islam must be a major foreign policy goal of the United States and indeed the world,” Trump said. “Events may require the use of military force, but it’s also a philosophical struggle, like our long struggle in the Cold War.”
In the second speech, at Youngstown University in Ohio in August, Trump ratcheted up his rhetoric about terror, warning countries around the world that they’d be judged based on their commitment to the U.S. goal of fighting terrorism.
“All actions should be oriented around this goal, and any country which shares this goal will be our ally,” Trump told a rally of supporters.
‘Strategic Surprise’
It was a theme that Trump would repeat, in one iteration or another, throughout the campaign, but his advisers say Trump’s pre- and post-election pronouncements on foreign policy, often delivered off the cuff, should not be read as policy prescriptions.
“Actually, he didn’t say a lot about foreign policy and national security on the campaign trail, and what he did say really doesn’t add up to a policy,” said James Carafano, director of foreign policy at the conservative Heritage Foundation who advises the Trump transition team on foreign affairs. “That’s very frustrating because the people want to know what’s this guy going to do.”
With the new administration yet to take office, McFarland, too, cautioned that Trump’s foreign policy is in an early stage of development.
“That’s what a new administration does: It takes time to rethink things and to come up with policies,” she said.
If history is any guide, Trump could quickly find himself facing a set of foreign policy crises different from the issues he campaigned on. Political scientists have a term for an unexpected world event that drives a new president into uncharted territory: “strategic surprise.”
For former President George W. Bush, who campaigned on pursuing a “humble foreign policy,” the strategic surprise came September 11, 2001.
For President Barack Obama, who vowed to end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the “Arab Spring” protests in North Africa and the Middle East marked a strategic surprise, leaving his administration more deeply mired in the region than he’d hoped.
What international crisis might alter the trajectory of the Trump administration’s foreign policy agenda has become a guessing game, with the number of scenarios exceeded only by the variety of foreign policy labels attributed to Trump.
A game-changing terrorist attack on American interests is one possible candidate. Another contender: an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) launch by North Korea.
“I think the world is not necessarily going to allow President Trump to do everything he’s planned on,” said Blaise Misztal, director of the national security program at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington. “I think you’re going to see a triangulation between what he’s said, what he’s advised to do, and what is actually feasible on the world stage.”
Flip Flopping on Issues
While Trump has flip flopped on some issues, NATO and torturing terrorists, for example, he’s held steady on others. Among them: terrorism, trade, China and Russia.
In the weeks since his election, he’s reiterated his pledge to make terrorism a focus of his foreign policy, talked tough on trade, challenged the “One China” policy, and iterated again a desire to reset relations with Russia even as he embraced intelligence findings that Moscow interfered in last year’s presidential election.
Brian Katulis of Center for American Progress, a liberal Washington think tank, said the “most radical shift” Trump will likely undertake will be “engagement and involvement” with Russia, something Obama unsuccessfully attempted during his first term in office.
But former CIA director Michael Hayden said Trump is likely to reconsider his approach to Russia once he learns from intelligence agencies and allies that Russia and Syria are not committed to fighting IS.
“I’m personally very, very skeptical of any convergence between American and Russian interests in this part of the world,” Hayden said. “In fact, I’d offer the view that American and Russian interests are actually heading in different directions.”
Another major change: downplaying a postwar American foreign policy tradition of promoting democracy and freedom around the world.
“Trump has signaled as a candidate and in the transition a proclivity to appreciate authoritarian and repressive leaders around the world,” Katulis said. “And this may be the biggest departure that is historic, that there really won’t be as much of a values-based approach that focuses on human rights democracy and freedom in other countries. And that I think puts the United States itself on shaky territory.”
But McFarland played down those concerns, saying “the three bedrocks of (postwar) American foreign policy” — American leadership, American values and international alliances — will remain under the Trump administration.
Unpredictability
There is usually some continuity between administrations on foreign policy, but “that rule actually may not apply under Trump,” Katulis said.
“We’re dealing with something here that is just fundamentally different and off the charts,” Katulis explained.
That 'something' is Trump’s well-known unpredictability. Trump has criticized President Obama for telegraphing his policy moves and has vowed to remain unpredictable. But experts say unpredictability can be dangerous in the international arena where both allies and adversaries expect a certain degree of predictability from the United States.
"Predictability is the cornerstone of deterrence," said Clarke. "You need to be predictable if you’re the United states, both in what your allies know you’ll do and in what your adversaries know you’ll do and how you’ll respond."
Comments
NOTICE that the Russians are anticipating a quid pro quo on something...so what did in fact the Trump FP promise that has not been made public based on the strong Ukraine support in the Senate....that forced the Obama WH to pass the 350M USDs in the first place....?????
http://tass.com/politics/933887
From the Russian propaganda media outlet TASS.....
Foreign Ministry: Moscow can only welcome proposals to cut US military aid to Ukraine
Russian Politics & Diplomacy March 03, 15:52 UTC+3
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has commented on reports concerning the proposal to earmark $150 mln for military aid to Ukraine in the 2017 fiscal year instead of $350 mln
MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/. Russia can only welcome the proposal by US congressmen to cut Washington's military aid to Ukraine by more than half, if this prompts Kiev to comply with the Minsk agreements, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told TASS on Friday.
He thus commented on reports on the proposal by the US House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations to earmark $150 mln in military aid for Ukraine in the 2017 fiscal year instead of $350 mln.
"The budget process in the United States is an internal affair of that country. If decisions and steps, which encourage the implementation of the Minsk agreements by Kiev, are taken, we can only welcome this," Ryabkov said.
"As before, we urge our counterparts in Washington to weigh the consequences of certain actions more than once. For example, if our American and other colleagues heeded our appeals not to take steps that would mean destabilization (in Ukraine - TASS) or lead to the appearance of illusions in Kiev that, instead of implementing the Minsk agreements, it can solve the existing problems by using force, the situation there would have probably been much better now," he said.
"We urge them to think twice before making decisions that could lead to further destabilization," Ryabkov added.
The bill discussed by the US House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations says that the Pentagon can spend $150 mln in aid for Ukraine until September 30 (the end of the current fiscal year). These funds can be spent on training troops, purchasing equipment, defense weapons etc. However, these funds cannot be used to acquire or transfer man-portable air defense systems.
Money allocated for weapons aid to Ukraine can tempt Kiev to opt for a military solution to the conflict in Donbass, said Frants Klintsevich, first deputy of the Russian upper house’s defense and security committee.
Commenting on the reports that the US Congress had suggested to halve military aid to Ukraine, allocating $150 mln instead of $350 mln, the Russian senior lawmaker said, "The fact should not inspire tenderness in us since any such ‘aid’ pushes Kiev to a military operation in Donbass."
Under the bill, the money will be channeled to supply Ukrainian military with lethal weapons, he said.
The current Act on the activity and the financing of the US Department of Defense for fiscal year 2017 allows the head of the Pentagon to provide defensive lethal force weapons to the Ukrainian army. Most frequently, anti-tank weapons are mentioned among these armaments. A total of $150 million has been set aside for these purposes until September 30 (the end of current fiscal year).
In all of these Trump tweets...he has yet to fully and completely state that if one states under oath in a Senate confirmation hearing something that is in fact a lie then that individual has basically committed perjury.
Sessions fully understands the law and he used that same very argument to hound for years both Clinton and Obama threatening both with court cases.
So now that the shoe is on the other foot so to speak it "is the fault of the Democracts" that Sessions lied to Congress.......
Donald J. Trump
Verified account
@realDonaldTrump
Jeff Sessions is an honest man. He did not say anything wrong. He could have stated his response more accurately, but it was clearly not....
Donald J. Trump
Verified account
@realDonaldTrump
...intentional. This whole narrative is a way of saving face for Democrats losing an election that everyone thought they were supposed.....
Donald J. Trump
Verified account
@realDonaldTrump
...to win. The Democrats are overplaying their hand. They lost the election, and now they have lost their grip on reality. The real story...
Donald J. Trump
Verified account
@realDonaldTrump ...is all of the illegal leaks of classified and other information. It is a total "witch hunt!"
REMEMBER Trump recently stated in public the Dreamers will not be touched by ICE ..guess what either ICE has gone rouge or Trump lied again....
22-year-old Daniela Vargas, who came to the U.S. at age 7 and had a work permit, is set to be deported.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dreamer-deportation-daniela-vargas_…
She has a valid work permit and yet......
Just keeps getting deeper and deeper and deeper....
Lewandowski approved Carter Page July trip to Moscow, former Trump campaign official tells
Interesting is that while Lewandowski was supposedly working as a CNN pundit he was also still being paid by the Trump campaign.....
Lewandowski was former Trump campaign manager, got replaced by Paul Manafort reportedly under investigation for Russia ties...
So why did Lewandowski approve the trip if he was working for the campaign yet Trump knew nothing about the trip???
during a recent Moscow speech by Page he was introduced to the Russian audience as "a special advisor to Trump".....
Judy Woodruff
Verified account
@JudyWoodruff 6h
6 hours ago
frmr Trump adviser tells @ChrisLHayes he met w/Russia Amb; on Feb 15 he told me he met w/NO Russian ofcls last yr
So yes even Page has difficulties with this "memory"....appears that many of the Trump WH and Cabinet seem to be suffering from dementia...and that at a relatively young age....
BUT THEN....
Carter Page on @MSNBC: "I'm not going to deny that I met Kislyak." Next breath: "I may have met him, it may have been in Cleveland."
Together with Sessions????
Page won't say who brought him into Trump's orbit. "Maybe I'll write a book about it later to cover all my legal fees."
What legal fees......why does he suddenly think he needs a lawyer?
After the latest Trump WH revelations...a social media comment out of Ukraine.....
So GOP platform was changed to reflect Trump's view that arming Ukraine would start WW3. Funny how yrs of cultivation suddenly yield pro-Russia views
THEN this interesting piece today....
Frustrated Russian Officials Struggling To Get Any Policies Through Dysfunctional Trump Administration
https://lnkd.in/gz7iCKX
So exactly what do those Russian policies they want look like?
Bottom line...there are actually any number of correct and honest reasons to be meeting an ambassador or a foreign country......
THEN simply state them and move on....WHY lie...disinfom..deny they happened and then bash the MSM for their "fake news" which now appears to have been highly correct???????
Let's see what we now have.....
Russian Ambo meets multiple Trump advisers at RNC; all dissemble about it.
Day after RNC, Wikileaks releases Russian hack of DNC emails.
THEN we have a sudden RP U turn on Ukraine policy with the RP Platform taking on an anti Ukraine proRussian proposal
THEN we have the current AG truly lying about his meetings with the very same Russian Ambassador
THEN we have Flynn lying about his contacts with the same Russian Ambassador on the exact day of the Obama spy toss out
THEN we have the following
And here's Russian ambassador Kislyak attending Trump's April 27 Russia alignment speech which was shaped by Gazprom lobbyist Richard Burt
BTW..Gazprom is the favorite choice for Russian soft power via corruption and massive money payments...
THEN we have Manafort pulling out of the campaign after it known he had received 11M USD in Ukrainian payments for his "lobbying efforts inside Ukraine"...
THEN Jeff Sessions used political funds for expenses in Cleveland, where he met Russian envoy CLAIMING it was Senate business an illegal use of campaign funds and lying about it being Senate business.
THEN we have the following...
So there are actually five Trump cabinet members who've said untrue things to Congress. Here are the details:
https://www.propublica.org/article/five-trump-cabinet-members-made-fals…
THRN Donald Trump's golf courses would benefit from his water-rule
rollback
THEN Wealthy parents appear to get most of the help in Trump’s child-care plan
THEN J.D. Gordon a nat sec advisor for Donald Trump's campaign just told Jim @Acosta that he had meetings w/ Russian Ambassador during campaign
THEN Trump is not going to fill 600 critical government political positions....
THEN another former Trump advisor....A man who has been living in Moscow for three years now - Carter Page.
THN VP Pence used his private AOL email servers for State business...and his private use as well....
SO all in all a "finely tuned machine" as Trump stated....
BUT WAIT....Trump fired Flynn for lying supposedly to him and Pence about his Russian contacts...assumption was that Trump did not know about the calls and or meetings...
BUT WAIT...his own son-in-law met as well a Russian envoy together with Flynn so just how was t that Trump was totally unaware of Russian calls and meetings....
Impossible that he did not know....
Now it's also a question of how many people you need meeting one ambassador:
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/03/02/us/politics/kushner-flynn-session…
Appears that Sessions is in far more trouble that the Trump WH appears willing to accept as normal...question is why???
The other shoe drops. Sessions used CAMPAIGN FUNDS for expenses on Cleveland trip when he met Russian envoy.
BREAKING: Sessions used campaign $ to travel to RNC mtg w/ Russia amb. that he said was part of official Senate biz
https://www.wsj.com/articles/jeff-sessions-used-political-funds-for-rep…
EVEN more now....valid question...just hoe many members of the Trump WH do you need to met one Russian Ambassador???
Now it's also a question of how many people you need meeting one ambassador:
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/03/02/us/politics/kushner-flynn-session…
APPEARS now even Trump's own son-in-law met together with Flynn the Russians...
REMEMBER: we have a partially confirmed, possibly fully accurate dossier of intel written by a respected MI6 chief that explains ALL of this.
"Spy" isn't the wrong term for Trump if, as foreign intelligence agencies believe, intelligence he receives is getting passed to the Kremlin.
Unless you believe Carter Page went ROGUE, & Paul Manafort went ROGUE, & Sessions went ROGUE, & Flynn went ROGUE and who is next in the Trump WH...Gorka or Bannon???
Sessions lied. Manafort lied. Flynn lied. Stone lied. Page lied. Trump lied. Kushner lied. Conway & Spicer lie daily...
Steele's dossier is looking more and more like it really was accurate....
Orrin Hatch complains Dems are being "rude" to Sessions--who committed perjury.
As a public defender, I saw poor people go to jail for this.
So when one is actually caught lying under oath..what does Trump and the RP do..find excuses BUT for years every misstep by Clinton is accompanied by threats of arrests...trials..investigations....
Difference is RP holds power now...thus they can break the law at will....
At convention Gordon says he and others advocated for GOP platform to include language against arming Ukrainians against pro-Russian rebels
He also confirmed that it was Donald Trump personally who wanted the amended Ukraine language added to the RNC platform.
Trump Jr. likely paid $50K for event hosted by Russian allies: report
http://hill.cm/ijR8Io3
Suddenly relevant again? DAILY BEAST: Trump Team Changed Ukraine Platform, Lied About It, [& Destroyed the Evidence]
Trump Campaign Changed Ukraine Platform, Lied About It
Top Trump aide Paul Manafort swore that the campaign had nothing to do with a radical change in the official Republican Party position on Ukraine. He was lying.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/08/03/trump-campaign-changed…
BUT WAIT...this was never reported...
Kislyak attended Republican National Convention, but not the Democratic National Convention.
Anyone who truly believes that a senior Russian ambassador especially one based in the US does not work with and for the Russian Intelligence Service SVR is a fool....and does not fully understand the Russian power structures....
Even US Ambassadors know of CIA activities within their Embassies...maybe not in detail and exactly who BUT knows of them...
When caught lying first to Congress and then your own boss Trump because Trump claims he did not know either.AT least that is what he claims....it is not best on go on FOX and give an interview that in itself raises far more questions than it answered...
When caught lying simply admit if nothing is behind it and it is possible that a man of Sessions age "sometimes one can forget".......
BUT when this is the FOX summation...
I never talked to Russia
I talked to Russia, but not about the campaign
I talked to Russia about the campaign but it wasn't "significant"
NOTE:
This really isn't hard: "Have you met any Russian officials?" "Sure. So what?" "OK, thank you."
OR is you are asked in front of Congress then say yes...indicate that you need to pull up your calendar as you are not sure how many of when and where....
BUT you do not answer...NO I have never met an Russians...
There is an old saying for scandals....get in front of it or it will eat you alive....and that is exactly now why Trump cannot get to his creation of any FP...
Misleading the Senate in sworn testimony about one own contacts with the Russians is a good way to go to jail
George W Bush's ethnics lawyer
Senior administration official says White House learned of Sessions’ contacts with Russian ambassador from press reports
........so WH had no idea about Flynn, no idea about Sessions, no idea about ______ yet they expect us to believe they're competent?
Gloves are now off and it looks like Trump has his very own Kremlingate and honesty the more everyone denies there were any contacts and connections to Russia the more the no's look like lies.........
NOW the FBI is being accused of a cover up to protect Trump...
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/schiff-doj-235615
Rep. Schiff accuses Comey of withholding information on Russia probe
By Nolan D. McCaskill 03/02/17 01:16 PM EST Updated 03/02/17 01:35 PM EST
The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday accused FBI Director James Comey of withholding crucial information about its probe into Russian interference in the election, and raised the prospect of subpoeanaing the agency.
"I would say at this point we know less than a fraction of what the FBI knows,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) told reporters after a briefing with Comey.
“I appreciate we had a long briefing and testimony from the director today, but in order for us to do our investigation in a thorough and credible way, we're gonna need the FBI to fully cooperate, to be willing to tell us the length and breadth of any counterintelligence investigations they are conducting,” Schiff said. “At this point, the director was not willing to do that.”
The briefing came as Attorney General Jeff Sessions is facing calls to recuse himself from an investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia after The Washington Post reported that Sessions met twice with the Russian ambassador last year, and didn’t tell senators about it during his confirmation hearing.
During the briefing, Schiff said, Comey faced “repeated questions about the scope of any investigation they were doing” and “individuals that may be the subject of any counterterrorism investigation.”
“The director declined to answer those questions,” Schiff said.
Schiff also raised the prospect that it could have been Sessions' Justice Department that advised Comey to be less than forthcoming. “It was unclear whether that decision was a decision he was making on his own or a decision that he is making in consultation with the Department of Justice," he said.
Schiff added that lawmakers have yet to be fully briefed on counterintelligence by the FBI. “That can’t persist,” he said. “If we’re gonna do our job, the FBI is going to have to fully cooperate with us, and that means they can't say, ‘We’ll tell you about this, but we won't tell you about that.’”
The definitive guide to Trump’s Russia ties
By Madeline Conway
The House intel ranking member also indicated that Comey and the Justice Department should be more cooperative and forthcoming at their next meeting “because we’re gonna need that information.”
“And we’re better off getting that through the voluntary cooperation of the FBI than having to contemplate whether we need to subpoena the FBI,” he warned.
The embattled attorney general has faced a growing number of calls from fellow Republicans urging him to recuse himself from any investigation into Trump’s ties to Russia, while Democratic leaders have insisted that Sessions resign from his post as the nation’s chief law enforcement official.
“Up until now, I wasn’t sure whether there should be a special prosecutor because that is a function of a couple of things. It’s a function of whether the attorney general can be independent or whether there’s a conflict of interest or an appearance of impropriety — and whether there’s something concrete and specific enough to be investigated,” he said. “I am now convinced that both of those criteria are met and that an independent prosecutor should be appointed. Certainly, the attorney general is in no position to oversee any investigation or prosecution involving any of the counterintelligence issues concerning Russia. So I am now convinced that an independent prosecutor is necessary.”
Has now Trump ordered the USAF to fly combat missions in Syria in support for Assad and Putin?????
As a matter of fact the retaking of Palmyra is almost a US-Russian joint operation, just check a sample of reports in the last 10 days
Assad's retaking of Palmyra comes after 23 coalition airstrikes on city over the last 8 days - APPEARS to be that Trump is now flying air support for both Assad and Russia....main change of US air campaign under Trump.
Charles Lister
✔
@Charles_Lister
This is a big deal:
After very long-drawn out talks, the US-backed SDF have agreed (!) to hand #Manbij's western villages to #Assad regime.
Trump never commented on the right wing white violence in the killings of Muslims in Quebec....
Trump did not comment on the killing of an Indian in Kansas until his Congress speech...which was declared a hate crime....as the white killer shouted "get out of my country"....
Trump took days to respond to the wave of anti-Semitic actions around the US...
Trump has never responded to violence directed against Muslims since his election in the US has he????
https://www.buzzfeed.com/albertsamaha/four-mosques-burn-as-2017-begins?u...
Four Mosques Have Burned In Seven Weeks — Leaving Many Muslims and Advocates Stunned
“The short answer is we haven’t seen anything like this in the past.”
On January 7, the Islamic Center of Lake Travis, in Austin, Texas, which had been under construction, caught on fire. A week later, on January 14, the Islamic Center of Eastside, in Bellevue, Washington, burned.
Two weeks after that, on January 27, several hours after President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries, a fire destroyed the Islamic Center of Victoria, in Texas.
Then, this past Friday, February 24, a small blaze broke out at the front entrance of the Daarus Salaam Mosque, near Tampa, Florida.
Authorities have ruled that three of the four fires were caused by arson. An official at the Travis County Fire Marshal told BuzzFeed News that the investigation into the cause of the fire at the Islamic Center of Lake Travis remains open.
“We’ve never seen four mosques burned within seven weeks of each other,” said Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups around the country. “It’s part of a whole series of dramatic attacks on Muslims.”
The mosque fires come amid increased fear about hate crimes against minority religious groups. In recent weeks, scores of bomb threats were called into Jewish community centers and schools around the country and graveyards in Jewish cemeteries in three states were vandalized. On Sunday, somebody threw a rock through a window of the Masjid Abu Bakr mosque in Denver. In Redmond, Washington, vandals destroyed the Muslim Association of Puget Sound mosque’s entrance sign on two occasions within two months of the election. Two days after the Inauguration, a woman shattered the windows of the Davis Islamic Center, in California, and left strips of raw bacon on a door handle. In January, a white nationalist fatally shot six people at a mosque in Quebec City, Canada. Last week, a white man shot two Indian men, one fatally, at a Kansas bar after making racial slurs, questioning their immigration status, and shouting, “Get out of my country.”
“The short answer is we haven’t seen anything like this in the past,” Potok said, referring to the overall surge in reported hate crimes across the country. “This is my 18th year here and I haven’t seen anything remotely like this.”
To have three mosque fires ruled arson within six weeks is highly unusual, said Corey Saylor, director of the Department to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia at the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “In normal times, I will see one to two mosque incidents of any type per month, and rarely is it arson,” he said. “I can tell you for sure I have not seen levels of violence like this since I started tracking this stuff” in 2009.
The fire at the Islamic Center of Lake Travis — which nearly two months later is still under investigation — destroyed the partially constructed frame. Community members began raising funds for the building four years earlier.
“There are a lot more people who are in support of us building this back again than people who oppose us but it takes one crazy guy to do something,” Shakeel Rashed, an executive board member of the Islamic Center of Lake Travis, told the Texas Tribune in January.
“Everybody believes we need to be more vigilant. When we start reconstruction we definitely want to plan the security of the place better, have more cameras,” Rashed said.
In Bellevue, Washington, six days before the inauguration, surveillance cameras caught a man walking toward the Islamic Center of Eastside while carrying a backpack and a gallon jug shortly before 2:45 am, the Seattle Times reported. Less than a minute later, the mosque was on fire. Investigators at the scene found a melted gallon jug and a gas can. Officers arrested Isaac Wayne Wilson, who remained at the scene, smelled of gasoline, and confessed to setting the blaze, according to police. Authorities said there was no evidence it was a hate crime. A year earlier, Wilson, who has a history of mental illness, had been convicted of misdemeanor assault after an incident at the mosque.
Hours after President Donald Trump signed the controversial executive order banning immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries, someone intentionally set fire to the Islamic Center of Victoria in Texas in the middle of the night, according to investigators, who have yet to identify a suspect. The blaze caused more than $500,000 in damage, and completely destroyed the 16-year-old mosque, shaking the Muslim American community in south Texas. The mosque’s president, Dr. Shahid Hashmi, told the Texas Tribune his community would forgive whoever set the fire, but added, “there’s no way we can forget. There’s no way our children can forget.”
The fire at the Daarus Salaam Mosque in Thonotosassa, Florida, on Friday was at least the third time in seven months that a mosque in the Tampa area had been set on fire, following incidents at the Islamic Education Center in July and the Masjid Omar mosque in August.
.@realDonaldTrump address Twitter numbers appear to be boosted by 'bots'
http://politi.co/2lgVvVi
Research out of Europe on the Russian use of their botnets that were supporting proTrump throughout the election campaign indicated that 36% of all proTrump tweets which then drove a higher US retweet and or like came from a Russian owned Macedonian company....
Can the GOP find anything better for excuses.....???
He was grilled for hours????
BUT he was specifically and correctly asked a single set of questions that he could have hedged on but did not..."have you had any contact with and or communicated with Russians"....
Simple straight forward question that one has to answer for a high level Government security clearance...
Nothing more nothing less....
Sessions said in Jan. 10 confirmation hearing 'I did not have communications with the Russians.' Latest here:
http://reut.rs/2m0QYnb
BY THE WAY...this public lie is enough to deny Sessions the required US Government security clearance needed to work for the US government...
House Speaker Ryan says Sessions should recuse himself from Trump-Russia inquiries if Sessions is subject of probe
http://cnn.it/2lurnkH
Senior administration official says White House learned of Sessions’ contacts with Russian ambassador from press reports
Key Sessions question is same as was for Flynn: Is there any benign explanation, ie non political, for the mtgs with Kislyak? If so, what?
.@SenatorLeahy on Sessions' meetings with Kislyak: "If it's benign, why did he give the answer he did?"
WTH does this mean?????
GOP House Intel Chair Nunes to reporters: "be careful what you ask for. I'm sure some of you are in contact with Russian embassy"
From the Russian propaganda media outlet Sputnik International...
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201703021051207058-trump-sessions-demo…
Brick by Brick: Democrats Continue Efforts to Tear Trump's Cabinet Apart
20:24 02.03.2017
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has come under fierce criticism from Donald Trump's bipartisan opposition over his alleged ties with Russia. Speaking to Radio Sputnik, Russian expert Viktor Olevich explained why the Democrats are calling for appointing an independent prosecutor and why the fuss over Sessions is actually aimed at impeaching Trump.
© Sputnik/ Kirill Kallinikov
Moscow Condemns MSM Fake Reports About Kislyak, Sessions Contacts
It appears that Attorney General Jeff Sessions may meet the same fate as Donald Trump's former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
On March 1, the Washington Post reported that last year Sessions, then an Alabama senator, spoke twice to Russian Ambassador to the US Sergei Kislyak; the media outlet drew attention to the fact that Sessions didn't disclose this fact during his confirmation hearings.
When asked by Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., whether he knows if anyone associated with the Trump campaign had contacts with the Russians in the course of the presidential campaign, Sessions said that he was not aware of "any of those activities."
The report has prompted a heated debate with the Democrats calling for Sessions' removal from the office.
"We are far past recusal. Jeff #Sessions lied under oath. Anything less than resignation or removal from office is unacceptable," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) tweeted Thursday.
The White House rejected the allegations, saying in a statement that "General Sessions met with the ambassador in an official capacity as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which is entirely consistent with his testimony."
The White House called the fuss over Sessions' alleged contacts with the Russians "the latest attack against the Trump Administration by partisan Democrats."
Sessions' spokesperson Sarah Isgur Flores underscored that there was nothing misleading about his answer to Congress.
Trump and his family Russian connections just keep getting deeper and deeper and money making....
Wall Street Journal
✔
@WSJ
Donald Trump Jr. was likely paid at least $50,000 for October event held by hosts allied with Russia on Syria
http://on.wsj.com/2m0jRzI
BUT WAIT...there was no money talked about...he was suppose to be working some kind of Russian/US/Syrian deal....
Evan Perez just said it on CNN, so I suppose I can here: Kislyak wasn't just ambassador, he was Russia's "top spy recruiter" in D.C.: SVR
So is this the core reason that Flynn lied about his conncections and talks with Kislyak.....
AND Sessions "also conviently" lied when directly asked in front of a Senate Confirmation under oath....
ABOUT his connections and or talks with Kislyak....
@juliaioffe reports on the devastated state of the State Dept.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/03/state-departm…
When reading this article keep in mind that in 1986 that the GDR Intourist travel agency was thoroughly MfS Stasi controlled and answered in the end to the Soviet KGB....
It took in these days roughly 4 weeks to get a visa anywhere in the former East and you had to virtually give up your personal data to just get a travel visa.....BTW it still takes two full weeks for a Moscow visa..with still all your details...any changes since 1986 not really....
The Kremlin began courting Trump in 1987; Putin could easily have decades of kompromat on him https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1988/12/03/trump-and-t…
SO keep in mind that when Trump now claims he never had Russian contacts..check his Soviet contacts....
DoS is not be downgraded.....really?
The White House liaison to State is a malpractice lawyer whose foreign policy experience is she was born in Hungary.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/03/state-departm…
Second ex-Hungarian in the Trump WH.....
AND there are absolutely no Russian connections to the Trump WH...seriously??
New commerce sec. @WilburRoss’ response about possible links b/n Bank of Cyprus, Russian agents & Trump officials wasn’t released to Senate
WHY was it not released????
Cyprus has been the home of Russian banks...conducting money laundering of Russian oligarch black money....confirmed by Europol and the ECB....
Did Trump’s alleged Russian GRU handler Rybolovlev launder $100m buying Trump's mansion via Putin's Bank of Cyprus? (Trump profited $60m)
Ever wonder if Trump and his entire WH would read this????
Good intro to Russian-Psychological-Warfare article.
https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/welcome-to-russian-psychological-wa…
AND the Trump war on the US MSM just keeps on going even in the face of his lies.....
"The time for small thinking is over. The time for trivial fights is behind us."
- President Trump
BUT WAIT........
"Trivial fights" should be "behind us," but hours later WH offers @VP Pence interviews to every major US TV broadcaster except @CNN
So do we continue to buy into the simple fact that Trump is totally honest and above board on everything he states????
AND those famous Trump job promises....lies as well......
Trump promises more coal and steel jobs.
China is cutting 500,000
Coal and steel markets are basically dying out....
Interesting angle from @adegrandpre on McMaster's decision to wear a uniform as NSA.
http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/hr-mcmaster-donald-trump-national…
New NatSec Advisor McMaster lobbied against Trump including phrase "radical Islamic terrorism", POTUS overruled - CNN
And there it is: "radical Islamic terrorism" makes it in, over the objection of his new NatSec Advisor McMaster
So now we fully understand what limitations McMaster's is now working under...
Michael Flynn Jr
@mflynnJR
I seem to recall an individual who wrote the book on Radical Islamic Terrorism. What's new NatSec's stance again? #JointAddress
Michael Flynn Jr
@mflynnJR
Hmm...I wonder who just wrote the book on "How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and Its Allies" ??
SO just long does McMaster hold out against Gorka...Miller...Trump and Bannon????
No biggie, he's just a major national security player in the White House helping to craft policies that literally affect billions of people AND he supposedly holds a Ph.D......
On NPR this morning, Sebastian Gorka says Egypt is the most populous Muslim country.
Nope.
That would be Indonesia.
Most populous Arab country. Yes, there is a difference.
There are also more Muslims (Sunni and Shia) in India than Egypt.
AND NOTICE this comment from a highly educated so called Islamic specialist......
Seb Gorka on NPR just now, won’t say the White House believes Islam is a religion. “We won’t get into theological debates.”
THERE are about 1.6B people on each side of this debate....SOMEHOW Gorka missed his religious training in Hungary when he was a member of the Ultra Right Party.....
Islam is recognized as one of the THREE GREAT religions and it even states they share that role with the other "peoples of the book"....and it fully recognizes Abraham and the Virgin Mary who it highly honors...
Trump WH seems to be silent on this Russian announcement...maybe they need Russian translators....
Head of Russian Federation Council Matvienko announced official preparation of Putin & Trump meeting.
https://twitter.com/GazetaRu/status/836901142823071744
NOW it appears the DoS in an "altered state of heightened reality"...
Department of State
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@StateDept
.@POTUS: Our partners must meet financial obligations. Based on our very strong & frank discussions, they are beginning to do just that.
NO... what NATO members have repeatedly stated is that they will start the budget planning cycles necessary in the various NATO member states....BUT they have some very serious reservations about who speaks for what in the Trump WH especially after the Bannon talk with the German Ambassador before Munich Security Conference..AND Dos being sidelined and their budget getting cut.
Interesting that Tillerson feels the need to reinforce the Trump Congress statement from yesterday....another indicator that the DoS no longer has a role in US FP decisions.....
Appears he also did not fully understand EU/NATO return comments to him and their critique of the Trump WH bashing of NATO/EU....
NATO is focusing more right now in increasing manpower and arms and discussing joint arms production among themselves not with the US.....
Under the rubric of ...Really?
‘The money is pouring in’: Trump says NATO allies are starting to pay for defense costs
As someone who resides in Europe and can read three languages and after reading the press after the Munich Security Conference with the statements of Mattis and Tillerson.....and up through today
Europe still does not trust Trump and company.....
AND "the money is pouring in"......just another lie as it is the same now as it was before Trump got elected.....
NATO is expanding simply because of the Russian threat not because of Trump's bashing of NATO or the EU...........
Manafort was the Trump first campaign manager and was responsible for the anti Ukraine RP platform statement...but left after his Russian and Ukrainian connections became known....
Manafort’s daughter held him partly responsible for Berkut's killings of protesters on Maidan, acc to hacked texts
http://politi.co/2lO9q3E
Interesting tie in to the Russian "connection".....
Donald J. Trump
Verified account
@realDonaldTrump
Great optimism for future of U.S. business, AND JOBS, with the DOW having an 11th straight record close. Big tax & regulation cuts coming!
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/feb/28/us-tourism-experiences-a…
US tourism experiences a 'Trump slump'
Analysts estimate that President Trump has cost the US travel industry $185m in lost revenue, with significant drop in flight searches and bookings
Hundreds of thousands will lose their jobs when the U.S. tourism industry crashes
The layoffs will be massive. U.S. tourism industry employs over 6 milllion people directly, more than double that indirectly