Majorityrights News > Category: U.S. Politics

The Russia Investigations: Trump Reportedly Wanted To Fire Mueller; D.C. Dumbstruck. A journalist describes Robert Mueller, pictured in 2007 when he was FBI director, as “about as apolitical and nonpartisan a figure as you could find in Washington.” (photo credit Susan Walsh/AP).

NPR, “Mueller’s Reputation In Washington Is ‘Stunningly Bipartisan,’ Journalist Says”, 1 Feb 2018:

As the investigation into the Trump campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 election forges on, Robert Mueller, the Justice Department special counsel leading the investigation, has managed to stay largely out of public view.

Journalist Garrett Graff says that is in keeping with Mueller’s personality: “This is not someone who in any way has tried to grab the spotlight, but instead has kept his head down and worked hard throughout his career.”

Graff’s 2011 book, The Threat Matrix, explores the transformation of the FBI under Mueller’s leadership. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Mueller took over as director of the FBI one week before the Sept. 11 attacks. After Mueller completed his 10-year term as FBI director, President Barack Obama reappointed him for a two-year term, which required a special act of Congress.

“Bob Mueller is probably about as apolitical and nonpartisan a figure as you could find in Washington, particularly at the levels of government in which he has served,” Graff says. “This is someone who really, truly believes in truth, justice [and] in the American way, in a way that very few people in American life today anymore do.”

Interview Highlights

On Mueller’s bipartisan record

We know him most recently, obviously, as the FBI director, but his tenure in government really dates back to the Reagan years. And he’s been appointed or held top jobs in the administrations of all five of the last presidents, and was appointed to the Justice Department, the head of the criminal division, under George H.W. Bush’s administration, then was appointed a U.S. attorney by Bill Clinton, then appointed the acting deputy attorney general by George W. Bush, and then later FBI director — a position he was reappointed to, in an unprecedented move, by President Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate by a vote 100-0, a stunningly bipartisan track record in today’s times.

On Mueller’s military service

Part of what makes Bob Mueller such a fascinating character is he has dedicated his life sort of time and again to public service. ... Mueller and a handful of other colleagues ... [signed] up for Vietnam after college. This was early in the 1960s, so it was before Vietnam became the cultural touchpoint that it did later.

White House Touts ‘Unprecedented’ Cooperation Amid Mueller Interview Talks

Second Lt. Marine Corps Bob Mueller ended up leading a platoon in the jungles of Vietnam for a year and really distinguished himself in combat. He received a Bronze Star with valor for his leadership in an ambush that his unit suffered in the fall of 1968, and then was actually shot himself in a separate incident in April 1969 where he received, of course, the Purple Heart and was quickly back on patrol, serving out the remainder of his year.

He came into the F.B.I. in part, in the summer of 2001 because he was known inside the department as a computer-guy. He had help found the Justice Department’s first real computer crime unit. And, the FBI in the summer of 2001 had this incredibly outdated computer system…

On how the FBI changed after the Sept. 11 attacks

Bob Mueller, in the days after Sept. 11, sees this incredible sea change in the mission of the FBI, which until then for most of its first 90 years had primarily been a law enforcement agency focused domestically on solving crimes after the fact. And on Sept. 11, we saw an international plot that focused on a suicide attack with catastrophic results, and that that necessitated this top-to-bottom change in the way that the United States approached counterterrorism issues, that after-the-fact investigation was going to be inadequate in the face of these threats.

So Mueller was given a mission by [former Attorney General] John Ashcroft and President Bush to not just investigate attacks afterwards, but to stop plots in the first place, to disrupt the attack before it happened.

It led to this massive reorganization that Bob Mueller spent the next 12 years of his tenure working on, to move the FBI from what was traditionally a domestic law enforcement agency into something that is more akin to an international intelligence agency.

On how Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign is similar to other FBI investigations

This is, in many ways, a perfectly standard and routine FBI investigation. The FBI, as an investigative agency, takes down corrupt organizations, that’s what it’s designed to do, go after street gangs, drug cartels, organized crime families, and the way that they do that is by starting on the outside and working their way in. And so that can either mean starting at the bottom of an organization, or starting with ancillary charges and working their way inwards, the equivalent of getting Al Capone for tax evasion.

Click image to hear Roper Report: Kawczynski comes on min. 30:00

Part of the tragedy of right wingers, besides going by and espousing misleading maps, is that they can indeed by very intelligent and spot-on in many crucial ways as well. “Grandpa Lampshade” - one of two podcsaters that I’m sampling here from the Right Wing, “Radio Aryan Network” - has many of the characteristic right-wing foibles: a Christian; he’s supposedly wise to the J.Q., but “Trump is alright”; probably espouses a ridiculous level of concern about the homos that he’d have to go far out of his way as a straight White man to find and who knows why he would care so much about them where they are because they aren’t competing for his women anyway. On the other hand, some of his observations are surprisingly refreshing by contrast: In his show, “Nowhere to Run” Grandpa Lampshade talks about how “I knew that when they put those housing projects in the middle of nowhere that it had to be goverment sponsored housing for black people; and so it came to pass - out in the country (where it was peaceful, where there were no blacks) they brought a bunch of blacks and the area started having criminal problems.” In the same show he calls the bluff of liberal American feminists, saying “you think we’re afraid of your free sexuality? You’re damn right, it’s like a fire outside of a fireplace; whereas it can be an element that saves your life with some sort of limiting condition or structuring around it; outside of that it can burn everything down, and the first person to burn is usually the closest to it - the girl/woman.”

It can be tragic to be at odds with them. Nevertheless, while holding some dubious beliefs, some of their Christian members, like Billy Roper, will Not come out shooting secular Whites first and foremost. Racial self defense and coordinating on that basis is an overriding matter for him, as it is for us: 

In this episode of “The Roper Report”, Billy highlights our argument about Mike Enoch’s (((heritage))) and the inappropriateness of Enoch being a prominent representative and exponent of White advocacy. That talk can be found beginning in minute 27:30; and shortly thereafter, beginning in minute 30:30, he interviews Tom Kawczynski (not to be confused with “unibomber” Ted Kaczynski lol).

Along with promotion of his own PLE (Pioneer Little Europe) in the Ozark Mountains, Billy interviews a rising star in White Nationalism, Tom Kawczynski, founder of “The New Albion Ethnostate” movement, a PLE project for Northern Maine. Tom is using that platform to spearhead a broader initiative to promote explicit White self defense, particularly by this kind of White ethnostatism and its coordination.

Way to go Alt-Right. You’re wise to them, don’t get played by them or anything.

Trump: It’s great to be with Prime Minister Netanyahu, we’ve developed a great relationship, both as countries it has never been stronger and also as personal friends.

The big move is the fact that we will be moving our embassy to Jerusalem, way ahead of schedule by years.

Netanyahu: We also support you on your stalwart position on the Iran nuclear deal, you said it’s a disastrous deal. You said its fatal flaws are now fixed. You should walk away from it and I want you to know that if you decide to do that we will back you all the way.

We also appreciate the fact that you confront Iran’s aggression with us and with other parties in the region as never before.

I’ve never seen the holistic alliance between the Unites States, Israel and your other allies in the region as strong, as unified as it is under your leadership.

The last one is that you stood up for Israel in the UN, in a remarkable way, rock solid support. This is a place, it’s a house of slander against Israel and against The Unites States, and by word and by deed you’ve told them enough is enough ..as you finish your first year in office, I want to say that I look forward to continuing our remarkable, tremendous friendship in the years ahead and I want to express the appreciation of the people of Israel to you - thank you Mr. President.

Trump: Israel has always supported The United States.

There were many deals that came close [with the Palestinians] but we could never get past Jerusalem.

We took Jerusalem off the table so we don’t have to talk about it [with the Palestinians] anymore.

TV: postmortem on passivity induced runaway destruction, including speculation on zombie effects despite the new dawn of interactive media. It’s being a retrospective gives me an excuse to post this older show which I’ve only seen today for the first time. It’s funny as hell. Charlie Brooker is clever. I don’t vouch for his politics, am unfamiliar with that.

But as we say goodbye to the hegemonic days of television and the passive acceptance of its audiences of a world they could not interact with nor hope to change, it is worthwhile to take another look back on the days of how the Televitz shaped and manipulated our attention; and to speculate on some of its lingering effects, both on runaway systems in a world unchallenged, and its parallel tropisms in the computer screen, exponentially better though it is in the choice and interaction the mechanisms attached may provide…

“How Television Ruined Your Life”

Parts 1-6, BBC production, 2012, under Youtube license:

Episode 1 - Fear

Episode 2 - Life Cycle

Episode 3 - Aspiration

Episode 4 - Love

Episode 5 - Progress

Episode 6 - Knowledge

Looking back a year, to the onset of the Russia investigation…

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The Russian Federation is still crying: “Nobody likes traitors. Apparently, Kurds will stay alone with Turkish armed forces. Neither Damascus nor Moscow will provide any assistance to them. And only Kurdish leaders are responsible for that” - Alexandr Dugin.

It is a good sign that they are, along with their People’s Protection Unit (YPJ), putting imperialist Turkey, US, Russia and Israel in a bind.

Having their origin in separation from the Jewy treachery of Soviet Russia, its imperialism, its Muslim Turkish cohorts, in favor of left nationalism in order to wrest national independence for the Kurds, it would be ideal if this Asian backed left nationalism could sheer off the eastern half of Turkey and, along with fellow ethnonationalists from the west, put the squeeze on those rats. The imperial Russian Federation is still crying that the Kurds have rejected them. In causing consternation for the JewSA, Russovitz and Israel’s Turkish Friends, they are causing ethnonational consternation for imperial Israel as well.

Now, the Kurds have different facets and we are talking favorably about the ideal form and purpose of their left nationalism, not any assistance or alignment that some of them may have provided for radical Islam - on the contrary, that is just another form of imperialism.

Jerusalem Post, “Turkish and Syrian threats in Afrin put U.S., Russia in a bind, 19 January 2018:

What does it all mean for Israel?

People hold flags of People’s Protection Unit (YPJ) as they walk during a protest against Turkish attacks on Afrin, in Hasaka, Syria, January 18, 2018. . (photo credit: RODI SAID / REUTERS)

On Friday, Turkey increased its shelling of the Kurdish-held Afrin enclave in northern Syria. According to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) up to 70 artillery shells were fired during the night.

While Turkey has threatened to invade the Kurdish area, which it says is being controlled by terrorists aligned with the Kurdistan Workers Party, Syria has threatened to shoot down Turkish warplanes in case of any attack on Syria’s territory. The war of words in northern Syria puts the US and Russia in a bind because the US is allied with the Kurds in eastern Syria while Russia has been a close ally of the Syrian regime.

Since mid-January, there have been rumors and threats of a Turkish invasion of Afrin. The area has been controlled by the YPG since the early years of the Syrian civil war. In eastern Syria, the YPG and its affiliated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been successful at defeating Islamic State. However, in northern Syria, the Kurds have only come to control the thinly populated mountainous area of Afrin.

The autonomous canton is home to around one million people. The area is surrounded by Turkey on two sides and in Syria it borders areas controlled by Syrian rebel groups. The Kurds in this area have remained mostly outside the Syrian conflict because the Syrian rebel groups represent a buffer from most of the heavy fighting.

However, the Kurds here also have a complex relationship with the Syrian regime. They have not opposed Russian military personnel, for instance, who have been spotted in the Afrin area, and the YPG maintains amicable contact with the Russians, who are the Syrian regime’s closet ally.

Since the fall of 2016, when Turkey began to intervene in Syria, the YPG has been targeted by the Turks and their Syrian rebel allies. When Turkey and those allies moved into the area between Jarabulus and Kilis in 2016, it was widely seen as an offensive not only against ISIS, but also to make sure the Kurdish forces did not get any closer to the Turkish border to link up Afrin with the areas they control in eastern Syria.

In March 2017, the US, which has been working closely with the SDF and YPG against ISIS, sent vehicles to Manbij to ward off any Turkish attack on its Kurdish partners. This was an important symbol because it showed the US had drawn a clear line around its partner forces and would warn off any attack. The US shot down a Syrian plane in June 2017 that was operating close to the SDF as well.

However, US-led coalition spokesman Ryan Dillon put out a statement on January 16 saying it is not operating in Afrin and the Pentagon told the Turkish news agency Anadolu that it was not involved with the YPG in Afrin. “We don’t consider them as part of our defeat ISIS operations,” a Pentagon spokesman said. This is a clear message to Turkey that the US would not be involved in any sort of operations if they happened in Afrin.

However, the US has indicated the US will be remaining in eastern Syria for the foreseeable future. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reiterated this pledge Wednesday. The US has often urged Turkey to keep its focus on fighting ISIS, rather than mission creep that would lead to conflict with the Kurds. Any conflict with the Kurds would inevitably complicate the US mission in eastern Syria, because it would cause the Kurds in the east to want to aid their comrades in Afrin.

Turkey has posited that any operation into Afrin would be with rebel groups and that the operation is carried out “for them,” and Turkey is “helping our brothers,” according to statements from the Turkish Presidency. However, this poses problems because the Syrian rebels that Turkey wants to work with against Afrin are busy fighting the Syrian regime in Idlib, where they are hardpressed, suffering civilian and military loses.

Nevertheless Turkey’s defense minister Nurettin Canikli vowed on January 19 that Ankara would carry out the operation, according to Turkish media. “The threat level against Turkey is increasing by the day. This operation will be carried out and we will combat terrorism.” At the same time, the Syrian regime warns that any incursion could bring Syrian air defense into the picture. Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Daisal Mekdad warned Friday that any attack on Afrin would be an act of “aggression” against Syria.

According to Al-Jazeera, Russia has moved military observers in Afrin “away” from the area, closer to Syrian regime-held territory. Any attack would therefore not harm the Russians who have become a key arbiter of issues in Syria. Russia has hosted the Astana and Sochi talks about the future of Syria, meeting with Turkey, Iran and Syria’s governments. In Afrin, Russia is the key player because it has relations with all sides and it has warmed relations with Turkey over the last six months.

However, Russia has remained mum on any potential Turkish operation. It must balance its interests in cultivating relations with Syria, with its support of Damascus and its relations with the Kurds. Wishing to see itself as the broker of peace, Russia would hope that there is not a major Turkish incursion. That means any Turkish action might be limited, as it has been before, and the war of words is intended more to test the waters with the US, Russia and Syria, than lead to a major attack jeopardizing the lives of thousands.

For Israel, what does this mean? A similar scenario will eventually play out near the Golan, without Turkey but with the regime seeking to test the US, Jordan and Israel’s resolve with Russia in the background. Afrin therefore matters greatly to the region and what transpires there will tell us about the future of Syria.

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The Heartfelt Hypocrisy Of The American Conscience

by William Hanna

Note the war drums in the video

While many of us may applaud the commendable outpouring of American public outage over President Trump’s supremacist “shithole” comment, we should not forget that those same Americans have maintained almost seven decades of unconscionable silence over far worse supramacist comments by Israeli leaders who take pride in statements that characterise and dehumanise Palestinians as never having existed; as having to be killed unless they were resigned to live as slaves; as being beasts walking on two legs; as being like crocodiles who when given more meat, wanted even more; as a people whose physical homes should be obliterated to prevent more snakes being raised in them; and as deserving to be bombed back to the Middle ages.

Furthermore, those currently outraged Americans have not only remained silent over rampant supramacism in Apartheid Israel but they have gone a stage further by wholeheartedly supporting and financing Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people: and they have done all this despite the U.S. Department of State’s alleged respect for democracy and human rights.

“Democracy and respect for human rights have long been central components of U.S. foreign policy. Supporting democracy not only promotes such fundamental American values as religious freedom and worker rights, but also helps create a more secure, stable, and prosperous global arena in which the United States can advance its national interests. In addition, democracy is the one national interest that helps to secure all the others. Democratically governed nations are more likely to secure the peace, deter aggression, expand open markets, promote economic development, protect American citizens, combat international terrorism and crime, uphold human and worker rights, avoid humanitarian crises and refugee flows, improve the global environment, and protect human health.”

“The protection of fundamental human rights was a foundation stone in the establishment of the United States over 200 years ago. Since then, a central goal of U.S. foreign policy has been the promotion of respect for human rights, as embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The United States understands that the existence of human rights helps secure the peace, deter aggression, promote the rule of law, combat crime and corruption, strengthen democracies, and prevent humanitarian crises.”

Ultimately, irrespective of how many American lawmakers, TV anchors, and pundits condemn the supremacist comments of their incumbent and ignorant President, the inescapable fact remains that not only did 62,980,160 Americans vote for him, but also the reality that most Americans are nothing but lamentable cowards and hypocrites when it comes to criticising Israel’s blatant and barbaric disregard for the human rights of the indigenous Palestinians. Thanks to their unconditional support for Israel, the American people have lost their moral compass, abandoned the true principles of democracy, and shattered the American Dream.

William Hanna is a freelance writer - details at: http://www.hiramicbrotherhood.com

There are couple of important matters to note in regard to this article. One being that “rights” should not only regard individuals as being in need of protection; but also group rights as the designation of species potentially under threat as a pattern from patterns of aggressors; or even inadvertent destruction from other groups and individuals.

With regard to Trump’s “shit hole country” remarks, it is interesting to note in the context of this article that El Salvador, one of the countries that he referred to as a shit-hole, has apparently taken a large number of Palestinian refugees - there are approximately 100,000 Salvadorans with Palestinian ancestry; and with that, it is a country more wise than many to the hypocrisy of Israel. This may in part explain why it is not highly regarded by Trump and his ZOG. Why, in fact, in terms of deportation schedule, it is ranked even less urgent a matter than Haiti - the Haitians of which slaughtered entire French peoples, men, women and children the moment they disembarked from ship upon arrival in Haiti; despite their having come there upon fervent assurances that there would be no violence against them and pleas for help to rebuild the country after the Mulatto supremacist revolution had already slaughtered the prior French colonists and troops; and where after the Mulatto supremacists were, in turn, slaughtered by the blacks proper. These blacks are forbears of present day Haiti. Some of us wouldn’t mind having, and could have done a great deal better with, the kind of aid money that has been sunk into that s*** hole.

Israel is facing a possible international criminal court war-crimes probe over its 2014 assault on Gaza, which killed more than 2,100 Palestinians, including over 500 children.

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