Knee-jerk reaction when someone speaks fondly about a former KGB Communist leader. The MSM can hardly criticize or express outrage over a pure capitalst business leader like Donald Trump. Obama can be called a Socialist, just like Bernie Sanders but not Hillary Clinton and her corporate friends. As I have stated early on, Trump is a teflon man, little to nothing sticks on him. He acts and talks as a populist speaker like Marine LePen and Geert Wilders. The 21st century has evolved after 9/11 in xenophobia, specifically Islamophobia. Any political leader can benefit from harsh rhetoric as any  nationalist would. One can witness this daily across Europe and likely halfway across the globe. The western world is more individualistic, uses social media to vent anger and turns anti-establishment. Hillary Clinton doesn’t provide answers to today’s generation in search of happiness and security from foreign threats. HRC belongs to a generation that bears responsibility to the state of affair perceived by the masses. Republican nominee Donald trump is looking a lot more viable than two months ago. Will he falter and what will be the trigger?

Vladimir Putin calls Donald Trump a ‘very colourful and talented man’ | The Guardian |

Trump, who caused huge controversy earlier this month by calling for all Muslims to be banned from entering the US, has spoken fondly of Putin during the campaign. Trump tweet on Oct. 17, 2015:

○ “Russia and the world has already started to respect us again!”

    “He does not like [Barack] Obama at all. He doesn’t respect Obama at all.
    And I’m sure that Obama doesn’t like him very much. But I think that I
    would probably get along with him very well. And I don’t think you’d be
    having the kind of problems that you’re having right now.”

Trump also backed Putin’s response to Turkey shooting down a Russian fighter jet last month.

…
Russian president speaks warmly of US presidential hopeful at press conference in Moscow, following Trump’s praise for him.

    “He is a very colourful and talented man, no doubt about that,” said Putin, speaking after his annual press conference in Moscow. “He is the absolute leader of the presidential race, as we see it today. He says that he wants to move to another level of relations, to a deeper level of relations with Russia. How can we not welcome that? Of course we welcome it.”

○ Putin wraps up 2015: Three hours of questions, 1,400 journalists & one star of the show | RT |

In a post-conference huddle, Putin praised Donald Trump, the US businessman turned Presidential candidate, “There is no doubt that he is a very bright and talented man,” he claimed. “It is not our business to assess his merits; that is up to the US voters. But he is an absolute leader of the presidential race.” Oddly, Trump is a kind of ideological bedfellow of Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the clown prince of Russia’s opposition.

* This article was amended on 18 December 2015. An earlier version quoted Putin as saying Trump “is a very bright and talented man”. To clarify: the word Putin used was “yarkii” (яркий), which can mean bright or brilliant, but not in the sense of intelligent; it can also be translated as colourful, vivid or flamboyant.  

○ Making An Enemy – Demonizing Putin Endangers America’s Security

I got my inspiration after reading BooMan’s fp story – In Your Heart, You Know He’s Wrong.

More below the fold …

In the country I grew up in, no politician would have had anything nice to say about the Soviet premier {you forgot glasnost and Mikhail Gorbachev? – Oui], nor would they have excused their suppression of a free press. That’s not to say that we didn’t often make ourselves stupid through our refusal to see nuance and our enforcement of taboos, but that’s definitely not what is going on with the love affair between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. This morning, Trump appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe and was questioned by the hosts, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.

By Rational Thought, You Know He Is Wrong

Obama looking forward to his second term and a close relationship with Vladimir Putin …

Obama: Lesson In Statesmanship to Build a Relationship | by Oui @BooMan - Aug 8,, 2013 |

When Obama came to Russia in July 2009, Putin was prime minister but still the dominant figure in Russia under the presidency of his protege Dmitry Medvedev, and the former KGB spy invited Obama to his dacha, or country house.

“We may not end up agreeing on everything, but I think that we can have a tone of mutual respect and consultation that will serve both the American people and the Russian people well,” Obama told Putin.

Diplomatic sources said that despite this, Putin went on to give Obama a political lecture and they failed to break the ice. Russian officials, however, say Obama was frosty and has always been high-handed.

The relationship has never developed into a friendship, with Obama appearing to find more in common with the relatively liberal Medvedev. During Putin’s re-election campaign in 2012, he accused the United States of funding his opponents.

The relationship is also a far cry from the back-slapping bonhomie between Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s, when their rapport survived their countries’ differences during crises such as the collapse of former Yugoslavia into war.

 

Russia and China Veto Western Aggression Against Syria at the UN [excerpt from my diary in 2012]

(Voices from Russia) – Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Syria that called on President Bashar al-Assad to step down. Thirteen of the council’s 15 members voted in favour of the resolution aimed to stop the violence in Syria. After the vote, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin said, “The draft resolution that was put to a vote didn’t reflect Syria’s realities well enough and sent conflicting signals to the political forces in Syria”. Previously, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the resolution didn’t set enough demands on anti-government armed groups, and that Russia was concerned it could jeopardise the national dialogue among political forces in Syria. Earlier Lavrov said he and Foreign Intelligence Service head Mikhail Fradkov would visit Syria and meet with President al-Assad on 7 February. President Dmitri Medvedev ordered the visit. Lavrov didn’t reveal any details of the upcoming the visit.

 « click for more info
Diplomacy between Secretary Kerry and Foreign Minister Lavrov

Lavrov explains why Russia’s opposed to UNSC resolution on Syria

Russia and China Block U.N. Action on Crisis in Syria | NY Times - Feb. 4, 2012 |

President Obama condemned what he called “the Syrian government’s unspeakable assault against the people of Homs,” saying in a statement that Mr. Assad “has no right to lead Syria, and has lost all legitimacy with his people and the international community.” He accused Syria of having “murdered hundreds of Syrian citizens, including women and children.”  

○ Amb. Susan Rice Diplomacy: U.S. is ‘disgusted’ over UN Syria veto | by Oui @BooMan - Feb. 5, 2012 |
○ Humanitarian intervention and rhetorical paralysis : sources and effects of moral rhetoric in the UN

A climate change in US-Russia ties bodes well for Syria

The outcome of the Climate Change Conference in Paris will be known in another 10-12 days’ time, but there has been a takeaway already. For sure, first signs have appeared of a convergence between the United States and Russia as regards political settlement in Syria and this also signals a reset in ties between the West and Russia.

Following the talks with the US President Barack Obama in Paris, Russian President Vladimir Putin assessed that “overall, we have an understanding of where we need to go” in regard of a political settlement in Syria. He envisaged “joint actions” in drawing up lists of extremist groups operating in Syria and “the healthy part of the Syrian opposition.”

Putin summed up: “We are currently seeking a platform to move forward. I hope that our foreign ministers will be able to find more common ground at the upcoming meeting in Vienna; I think we have the prerequisites for this.”

Obama on his part made a hugely significant gesture to Putin by expressing regret over the recent downing of the Russian jet by Turkey. At one stroke, Obama distanced the US from Turkey’s act. Quite obviously, Washington will express solidarity with Turkey, which is a NATO country, and will uphold Turkey’s right to defend its borders (which are also NATO’s borders), but regards the current tensions as a Turkish-Russian issue.

Press Conference by the President  | James S. Brady Press Briefing Room- Dec. 18, 2015 |

THE PRESIDENT:  I think that Assad is going to have to leave in order for the country to stop the bloodletting and for all the parties involved to be able to move forward in a non-sectarian way.  He has lost legitimacy in the eyes of a large majority of the country.

Now, is there a way of us constructing a bridge creating a political transition that allows those who are allied with Assad right now — allows the Russians, allows the Iranians to ensure that their equities are respected, that minorities like the Alawites are not crushed or retribution is not the order of the day — I think that’s going to be very important as well.

And that’s what makes this so difficult.  Sadly, had Assad made a decision earlier that he was not more important personally than his entire country, that kind of political transition would have been much easier.  It’s a lot harder now.  But John Kerry has been doing some excellent work in moving that process forward.  And I do think that you’ve seen from the Russians a recognition that, after a couple of months, they’re not really moving the needle that much, despite a sizeable deployment inside of Syria.  And of course, that’s what I suggested would happen — because there’s only so much bombing you can do when an entire country is outraged and believes that its ruler doesn’t represent them.  

At the same moment as President Obama was speaking, the US climbed down from its policy for regime change and Assad must go. Secretary John Kerry was offering his resolution to the UN Security Council that did not mention the fate of Syrian president Assad. UN Resolution 2254 was adopted unanimously 15-0. Is the president still in the loop?  

○ LIVE – UN Security Council Syria Peace Process Resolution
○ “Regime-Change without State Collapse is Impossible in Syria,” Landis Interviewed by RT’s Sophie Shevardnadze

Last turn of events in the Levant, did Turkey attempt to spearhead an invasion of northern Iraq and Syria? In coordination with a new 34 nation military alliance of Islamic nations founded by King Salman of Saudi Arabia and did president Obama just veto that measure before heading for his Christmas break in Hawaii? Was that the reason the powers came together and voted a UNSC resolution on Syria that was a rough peace plan at best?

The former Turkish military adviser Metin Gurcan in Al-Monitor analyzes the aims of the Turkish invasion of Iraq: Turkey sticks its neck out again, this time in Iraq.

Some U.S. circles like the plan. John Bolton recently wrote an NYT op-ed To Defeat ISIS, Create a Sunni State which endorses the deconstruction of Iraq.

Moon of Alabama posted a link to the above piece with the “Sunnistan Autonomous Administration ” line on Twitter and added: @MoonofA #pt Turkey wants even more: “Annex Mosul and seize the northern Iraqi oil fields.”

U.S. President Barack Obama has urged Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to pull troops out of Iraq, amid a row that has split key members of the coalition fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Obama “urged President Erdogan to take additional steps to deescalate tensions with Iraq, including by continuing to withdraw Turkish military forces,” the White House said on Dec. 18 after a phone call between the two leaders. Obama also “reinforced the need for Turkey to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq.”

« click for more info
Obama urges Erdogan to de-escalate

No Islamic military force yet: Turkish Foreign Ministry

A 34-state Saudi-led Islamic alliance does not aim to establish a military force at the moment, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç said on Dec. 16.

Breaking News RT: Unconfirmed reports of an IAF airstrike in #Damascus suburb #Jaramana killing Palestinian terrorist, Samir Quntar. He was released in a 2008 prisoner swap after 30 years of imprisonment. On 8 September 2015, the United States Department of State designated him as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224.

US citizens have become accustomed to what MSM is spoon feeding them and Putin represents evil. It’s a slow proces of a form of mind control or brainwashing, a feature known from the Cold War, highlighted by an impressive British/American production The Prisoner (1955) with Sir Alec Guinness in the role of Cardinal József Mindszenty.

    Hungarian Cardinal
    The inspiration for “The Prisoner” was not only Stepinac, but even more Hungarian Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty. The playwright profiled his hero as a former opponent of Nazism, as Mindszenty was indeed, and even he was arrested in 1944, to be released in April 1945, on the eve of the end of World War II. Rákosi communist regime also arrested him for treason, 26 December 1948, and systematically tortured. On 9 February 1949, he was sentenced to life imprisonment, based on a full confession at the trial, even though he did not remember this later.

Mindszenty played a leading role during the Hungarian Uprising of 1956, and sought refuge/asylum in the American Embassy of Budapest when the Warsaw Pact nations countered the liberation movement.  Video – newsreel footage Warner/Pathé.

○ Cardinal Mindszenty: The Power of the Prisoner

Food for Thought: The valor of Cardinal Mindszenty has been stained by a foundation in his name. A conservative group of fundamental Catholic clergy spreads right-wing propaganda in-line with the likes of Michelle Malkin and Rush Limbaugh

Mindszenty Report Reprints

THE SHADOW CABINET: OBAMA’S DANCE AROUND THE U.S. CONSTITUTION [pdf]
President Obama’sappointment of 30+ czars- their radicalism is clearly documented- has created a shadow cabinet accountable to no one but Obama, and were not properly scrutinized. His continued consolidation of executive power and “dance” around the Constitution should alarm Americans. Ask for 11/09

THE WAR ON WORDS: THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION AND THE SILENCING OF ITS CRITICS [pdf]
Traces the attempt to censor media back to FDR and how the left succeeded in creating a liberal monopoly; explains the Obama Administration’s determination to silence conservative talk radio through Chicago thuggery and the power of the presidency. Ask for 10/09

Don’t blame Russian president Putin for the bloodletting in Syria. It were the western powers including the United States that aimed for regime change to alter the Iranian alliance in the region to favor Israel and the GCC states of the Gulf. Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Erdogan’s Turkey have played a shady role in fomenting terror, provide a route for jihadists, arms and munitions to cross the borders into Syria. Turkey is attempting to reach across its own border into parts of the Ottoman empire of Turkmen across Syria and Iraq. By downing the Russian SU-24 fighter bomber, Erdogan overplayed his hand and lost the protection of Obama and its NATO partners.

Russia’s Intervention in Syria – A View From the Past | Syria Comment | | by Meir Zamir - Oct. 27, 2015 |

Russia’s current military intervention in Syria marks a major turning point in the civil war there and in the regional and international balance of power in the Middle East. The many attempts to decode Putin’s motives are therefore understandable. Various explanations have been put forward …

While these and other explanations are plausible, the historical perspective is lacking, which might give a better understanding of Russia’s objectives. Indeed, the Russian president illustrated that in his address to the General Assembly on September 28, when he praised the collaboration between the three powers at the end of World War II, implying that it should be re-adopted now to resolve the Syrian and other crises in the Middle East and elsewhere, rather than the American policy of “exclusivity”.

The 13 documents included in this post aim to provide the missing historical dimension. These are secret Syrian and British documents obtained by the French intelligence in Damascus and Beirut between 1944 and 1948 and uncovered by the author in archives in France. (They have been selected from 400 such documents recently published in a book examining the secret Anglo-French war in the Middle East during and after World War II*). These documents, together with many others that are not given here, reveal that questions regarding Syria, which greatly preoccupied the Soviet Union in the 1940s, continue to preoccupy Russia today despite the years that have passed and the different circumstances. The similarity between the issues then and now results, to a large extent, from Syria’s unique geostrategic position coupled with its enduring internal divisions.

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