Trump Promotes Longtime Russia Hawk Just As Russiagate Loses Momentum
Rex Tillerson, whose hotly scrutinized ties to Russia have been a centerpiece of Rachel Maddow's conspiratorial ravings for many months, has been fired. Replacing him as Secretary of State will be Mike Pompeo, who has been a consistent and longstanding Russia hawk for years, going so far as accusing President Obama of endangering America by simply agreeing to meet with Vladimir Putin in 2015.
Like pretty much everything that happens anywhere ever, this occurrence is being cited as evidence of collusion between Donald Trump and the Russian government.
"Tillerson Fired by Trump Hours After Blaming Russia for Chemical Attack in U.K.," blared a headline from the increasingly pro-establishment Intercept, referring to a comment Tillerson had made about the plot hole-riddled claims of the UK government that a Russian double agent had been poisoned by the Kremlin.
"By firing Tillerson one day after he publicly stated that Russia behind a WMD attack on British soil, we now have proof Trump is colluding with Putin," tweeted Vanity Fair editor and tentacle porn connoisseur Kurt Eichenwald. "I don’t know if he did in the election. But he is doing it NOW in front of our eyes. He is Kremlin-owned."
"Interesting that Tillerson's ouster came one day after he very publicly broke with the official WH line and said the poisoning of Sergei Skripal 'clearly' came from Russia," said a popular tweet from The Atlantic's Natasha Bertrand.
"WH saying Tillerson was informed Friday, but State Dept statement today seems to indicate he just found out today. Which really makes one wonder about the role of the Russia statement yesterday," chimed in MSNBC's Chris Hayes.
This is plainly stupid, and the exact opposite is likely the case. Rex Tillerson had been making comments against Russia throughout his brief career as Secretary of State just like Pompeo and many others in Trump's cabinet, recently blaming Moscow for chemical attacks in Syria and warning of future interference in US elections in the 2018 midterms. He was not replaced by a far more virulently anti-Russia hawk because he sided with the establishment narrative on Russia as he had many times before.
For his part, Trump told reporters "it sounds to me like it would be Russia" in response to questions about who was responsible for the UK poisoning, and cited differences with Tillerson on the Iran nuclear deal as a reason for his firing. If you take Trump on his word (not that I am suggesting anyone should ever do such a thing), his administration is likely to side with the UK on any escalations it chooses to make against the Russian Federation, and he fired Rex Tillerson because this administration and its allies want to advance a more aggressive agenda against Iran.
And that could very well be among the reasons for Tillerson's firing; Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did reportedly talk "Iran, Iran, and Iran" in their recent meeting. It could also have something to do with the possibility that Pompeo is being groomed for a 2020 presidential candidacy, as sources have reportedly told WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange.
I think another possibility worth considering is the timing of the fatal blow the Russiagate narrative has suffered as House Intelligence Committee Republicans officially ended their investigation with the conclusion that there is no evidence of Trump-Russia collusion, and no evidence that Vladimir Putin tried to help Trump win the election. The Mueller investigation still continues, as does the Senate Intelligence Committee investigation, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer stating that "We have a responsibility to get to the very bottom of what happened in the 2016 elections and to report on those findings in an unbiased way. If the House isn't going to do it, the Senate must."
But going by what we're hearing from the Senate Intelligence Committee it looks like their investigation might be heading in the same direction, with Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr telling CNN on Monday that he's seen no evidence of collusion either.
"I've read a lot about it, but haven't seen any," Burr said.
It is worth weighing the possibility that now that the American public has been paced into supporting new cold war escalations with Russia, the Russiagate psyop which was used to harness rank-and-file Democrats' fear of Trump to inflame fears of Putin is no longer necessary, and is now being let go in place of more brazen hawkishness. As far as the US intelligence community and its allies are concerned, Russiagate's only purpose has been to manufacture public support for escalations against Russia to secure strategic regions and ultimately hobble the Russia-China tandem, and that scaffolding can safely be removed if Russia hysteria no longer requires fear of Trump collusion to be sustained.
The soulless Mike Pompeo would be a fine overseer of that agenda, and as Secretary of State, the position Hillary Clinton used so effectively to spearhead the decimation of Libya, he'd be in an excellent position to do so.
Also noteworthy is the fact that Trump just promoted a torture supporter in Mike Pompeo and an actual torturer in his replacement as CIA Director Gina Haspel, yet leading Democrats are largely concerned that the administration won't be "tough" enough.
"If he’s confirmed, we hope that Mr. Pompeo will turn over a new leaf and will start toughening up our policies towards Russia and Putin," said Chuck Schumer, arguably the most powerful Democrat in America, who recently sparked controversy for citing religious voodoo in defense of the oppression and warmongering of the Israeli state.
This administration is continuing and expanding all of Bush and Obama's most bloodthirsty agendas, and if it attacks Iran it will likely surpass both of them in terms of psychopathic bloodshed, and yet they're worried he's not "tough" enough. They criticize Trump for weakness over his willingness to meet for peace talks with Kim Jong Un after feigning shock at his obnoxious tweets about the North Korean leader, and they blast him for being too cuddly wuddly with Russia despite this administration's already having caved to the longstanding neoconservative agenda to arm Ukraine against Russia, killed Russians in Syria as part of its insane regime change occupation of that country, adopted a Nuclear Posture Review with greatly increased aggression toward Russia and blurred lines between when nuclear strikes are and are not appropriate, sent war ships into the Black Sea "to counter Russia's increased presence there," forced RT and Sputnik to register as foreign agents, expanded NATO with the addition of Montenegro, assigned Russia hawk Kurt Volker as special representative to Ukraine, shut down a Russian consulate in San Francisco and thrown out Russian diplomats.
In short, both parties appear to be doing everything in their power to get as many people killed as possible, and nobody seems to have their foot anywhere near the brake pedal. Heads up.
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Very solid article. And you have been right all along about Trump. His actions diverge enormously from his words and is a master at fooling people. The blood on his hands is already thick and with all this Iran rhetoric it looks like he is indeed in bed with the MIC, not to mention the parasites from the CIA, cough cough, I mean Deep State / Shadow Gov't of course.
Already looking forward to your next piece.
Have a nice day.
Hillary had the support of the deep state, MIC and mainstream media behind her. Trump had only the Israel lobby. Perhaps we all underestimated the power of one over the others.
But at least we can all feel safer now that the decision to give an Israeli General the final say on whether US troops will be used in their upcoming wars of aggression (on Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip).
Once Syria has fallen, we can make Lindsay and Chuck happy by doing an insane McCain dance to bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran, before imposing democracy on China and Russia.
Fun times ahead.
Trump has made the monumental mistake of supporting Zionist factions of Israel. For those you are properly informed on the matter, there is a difference between Jews and Zionists. Bibi Nuttinyahoo is a staunch Zionest killer. Kushner also appears to be in this faction; I hope he is next to be axed out of the administration!
Couldn’t agree more . Good point .
The MSM and Institutions blaming Russia once again without one shred of evidence put forward, is another cog in the wheel towards more escalations of a new cold war. The reality is that the possibility of the West being behind the 'assassinations', is a lot more likely. Looks like they are cleaning house and trying desperately to control and silence anyone to make sure that no actual truth comes out about the whole Steele dodgy dossier affair. After all Steele (MI6) was the handlers of the two double agents that were assassinated!
TRUMP ?
Thank you for posting this interview with the Tea Party Triumphalist Pompeo (and Wichita Liberty TV for preserving this artifact). During this interview he prides himself on opposition to the Economic Development Agency, one of the parts of the government bureaucracy that helps communities revitalize economically. His remarks there show him to be completely unsympathetic to any kind of government action which would revive decaying local economies. With regard to the environment, despite not having ever worked directly for an oil company, like Tillerson, he seems much more in the thrall of Big Energy (Pompeo is a darling of the Koch Bros.), and much less sympathetic to environmental imperatives, as he talks about letting the market suffice for renewables.
What a difference between him and Tillerson! Pompeo sounds like he’ll be much more inclined to antagonize Russia, much more like a Mrs. Clinton as a Secretary of State. Much “tougher” on the drawing of red lines and the prosecution of the Greater Israel Strategy (which would see the region surrounding what was granted a right to exist carved up into non-secular Statelets, Sectarian entities which nurture exclucivist narratives; at odds with each other but sharing Tel Aviv as their entrepot).
Tillerson did at least one good thing: He refused to certify the plebiscite that would have rended “Kurdistan” from the carcass of Iraq, and the creation of which would have poured gasoline on the fire in Syria. The stated reason for Tillerson’s replacement by Pompeo is Iran; Tillerson supported honoring the existing arrangement, Pompeo wants to tear it up. Otherwise, Tillerson was among the most knowledgeable in Trump’s team about Russia, in terms of on the ground experience. If there was an opening for rapprochement, one expected to see him at the head of the band.
Pompeo, in the Liberty TV interview, talks about Russia in the most jingoistic of terms. The congressional district that catapulted Pompeo inside the beltway is also home to the Koch Bros. It is reasonable to speculate that Koch money and organizational capacity was behind Trump’s decision to make Mike his right hand; or to speculate that whatever SOS Pompeo does will be influenced thusly. Any ruler governs by overseeing a coalition of constituencies, and the Donald instinctively would know what “needs to be done” to shore up his end. The reason for the removal of the most palpably sane member of this administration could also well involve the failure of the left to express any support for a progressive foreign policy agenda. (Progressive is hereby defined as pro-rapprochement with Russia; pro-Stop the War in Syria; and pro-leave Iran the fuck alone. All of which Tillerson was.)
This is what has made all the nattering of the #McResistance so infuriating. Aside from letting off steam and having a go, these Romper Room radicals did nothing except force Trump into a corner where unsavory met more unsavory. A principled resistance, such as Sanders advocated shortly after the inauguration, would have sought item-by-item agreement on steps toward a progressive agenda. Instead, whatever chits the DCCC had have been squandered on escalating the War for Greater Israel, and “Russia”. Russia, of course, will need to be defeated bloodily in Syria for Team Neocon to triumph. The Russiagate narrative has as a hidden premise, that Russia is our enemy.
That Schumer, the titular opposition to the Trump Administration, would effectively cheer on this change of personnel (hoping that Pompeo will be tougher on Russia), and that this is chorused by the rump of Mrs. Clintion’s coterie, shows the government uniting around a renewal of hostilities in Syria. Conventional thinking is that Syria has to be taken out before Iran can be dispensed with. Russia didn’t meddle in our elections. They blocked us from expanding Greater Israel; they saved Syria, and they’re threatening to save Iran. There’s a method to their madness.
The reason for Russiagate now becomes a bit clearer. (The question Russiagate posed was: Did our enemy Russia meddle in our election? The hidden premise was that Russia was our enemy. It was not. But if you answered the question either way, you had to admit the enemy characterization.) Not merely a cover-up for DCCC miscalculation, we’re primed now to see Russia as the enemy in the war for Syria, the war for the Greater Middle East. Will Americans cheer when a Russian soldier falls in battle? When a plane is shot down or a tank destroyed? They shouldn’t. In this war, if it comes, they should be cheering on the Russians. Does the American left and the progressive community have that much backbone?
I think Caitlan’s wrong about the (Russia-China bicycle built for two) [https://medium.com/@johnmensing/youve-gotten-yourself-into-a-false-dichotomy-here-which-started-by-my-reckoning-when-you-bought-8e89445dc6fb], though. If anything, China would be encouraging the neoliberal establishment to go against Russia. Russia is China’s most proximate rival. China is busy sending settlers to colonize Siberia, and China and Russia go toe-to-toe for influence in the former CIS countries. China and Russia are civilizational rivals. Russia is a democracy; China a Dynastic totalitarian autocracy.
(Developments in China)[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/10/chill-looks-set-linger-reporting-from-xis-china] are [more worrisome](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/china-steps-up-internet-censorship-of-criticism-of-xi-jinping/article38269470/] than those in the U.S.