Under growing pressure to ease up on states sufffering from the coronavirus, the US has once again gone the opposite way on Iran, announcing yet another new round of sanctions against them on Thursday.
The latest US sanctions targeted a series of Iraqi and Iranian companies, which the US is accusing of having links to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Two of the companies are in charge of maintaining Shi’ite holy sites.
Over the past few weeks Iran has been getting hammered by coronavirus, and has called for a sanctions ease to help get things back under control. The US has imposed three separate rounds of sanctions, and has dismissed the idea of any sanctions cuts.
The new sanctions are likely to fuel more tensions between the US and Iran, and Iraq probably isn’t going to be happy to get dragged in either.
Well, that’s ugly. Iraq dragged in, or thrown under the bus? There couldn’t be that much left to sanction.
Pompeo’s feeling the heat for a triumph for Emperor Trump. Or worse, Pompeo’s backers, far more dangerous than the Imperial Orange, are demanding a triumph.
Iraq needed commerce with Iran just as much as Iran needed Iraq.
Buuut, can’t have Iraq rebuilt by anyone, especially not Iran.
The Chinese are involved too, no doubt. Iran couldn’t do much in Iraq without at least Chinese financial backing.
China-U.S. tensions are more than about who’s tops in telecoms.
“Or worse, Pompeo’s backers, far more dangerous than the Imperial Orange”
I’d say a very large segment of Pompeo’s backers are the same people that back Trump. Trump has said that he rarely disagrees “with Mike”. Two peas in a pod.
Trump needs to dump Pomps like he dumped Bonkers.
I agree. But unfortunately he never replaces anyone who is a piece of sh*t with anyone who isn’t a piece of sh*t.
True. They all allow wallow in shit.
There are degrees of stink associated with various pieces of sh*t.
And any stink is better than Bolton. Wish that meant something.
But Bonkers claims he resigned.
Pompeo hasn’t failed publicly like Bolton.
His trick will be to push failed war policy but stick the fail on Trump, not himself.
Pompeo’s backers are more like the McCainiacs/Cheneys/Bushians/Clintons, who were against Trump in the first place.
There are plenty of backers of those you name who also back Trump and/or Pompeo. To think they are separate from each other is nonsense. Evangelicals? Anti-Iran? Sanction crazy? No difference.
However that was the neocon wing of the former Conservative Party who came out against Trump during the 2016 campaign, primarily because he was an outsider and he had the nerve to say “Wouldn’t it be better to get along with Russia.
“
As if these people exist in a vacuum? They are driven ideologically and are towing the line to the tune of the circle of the Vicious.
And Vicious are cracking the whip.
In Italy, La Stampa is attacking the Italian leadership for accepting Russian aid. Ten cargo planes with supplies, testing equipment, disinfecting vehicles and dozens of doctors and medical technicians — all no good according to this media. Russia is only there to undermine NATO.
This happens when Vicious crack the whip. The world must bend to their will. The Vicious are guiding our Coronavirus policy, still allowing the spread. Just waiting for NY scale disaster hits other large metropolitan areas, like Chicago, Detroit, Nee Orleans. Forget buying medical equipment from Chinese. It is our supremacy uber alles!
“Vicious” is a good term for em. I shudder to imagine the sick smile inside they have when they hear of the results of their sick viciousness.
It’s time for DJT to dump Fat-face Pompass, wars. He should’ve dumped him the same time he had dumped Bonkers Bolton .. After all, Fat-face was and still is just as vicious, but not as loud as Bonkers was.
The other monster DJT should’ve dumped is Treasury Secretary Steven “Sanctions” Mnuchin. It’s Mnuchin who imposes these vicious sanctions (In most cases he does so, in regards to Iran and Venezuela, without authorization from DJT) The only reason Mnuchin imposed new sanctions on Iran is that he hates Iran and its population passionately. It’s that insane sanctions that are preventing Iran from receiving much needed ventilators, gloves, and face masks. These sanctions, I strongly believe, are premeditated murders, for which Mnuchin must be held accountable.
Trump dumped the JCPOA and imposed the sanctions. Everything that happens under Trump is on Trump.
Mnuchin isn’t as exposed as Pompeo. Not many people intuitively understand the mechanics of monetary policy and trade.
Mnuchin can afford to be careful and not step into the limelight until he knows he’ll look good; Fed Chair Jerome Powell takes all the heat.
Even the economic crisis is neatly blamed on the social panic foisted by the COVID-19 hybrid hoax, where Mnuchin can play the hero, at least for a time.
Sanctions as an alternative to hot war allows Mnuchin to appear civilized. Even if they fail, doing the ‘civilized’ thing is not an embarrassment.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/14/mnuchin-us-isnt-weaponizing-dollar-sanctions-are-alternative-to-war.html
Yup, two overweight gonzo slobs.
Technically that’s correct. Trump is backed whenever he does what the war machine wants. The policy of ending the 9/11 wars has not gone over well in the Washington imperial court and half the country.
Trump has little if any backing from the political establishment. They’ve certainly fought hard enough to get rid of him.
Trump also said he got along with Bolton. Bolton failed publicly, and is gonzo.
The 9/11 wars may go the way of the Vietnam War; ended for lack of money. Pompeo has been the face of U.S. aggression.
Best to focus ire on Pompeo, and hope for yet another swamp creature downed.
“Trump also said he got along with Bolton. Bolton failed publicly, and is gonzo.”
Actually, Trump said him and Bolton did have some differences. He made that point when he was making the point that he NEVER disagreed with “Mike”.
I hope he does get rid of “yet another swamp creature”. But it matters little when he replaces one swamp creature with another swamp creature.
Bolton was a far more controversial figure than Pompeo, even for the neocons.
There’s kind of a mixed message when Trump said he “never” disagreed with Mike, actually, like it was kind of unwise to do so.
Nonetheless, they contradict each other constantly, with Trump going off-script saying North Korea was no longer a nuclear threat, China’s Huawei being on or off the trade table, Trump questioning the importance of protecting the Strait of Hormuz, and so forth.
Its not hard to find them disagreeing. Good luck finding someone Trump can appoint to cabinet without government-paralyzing overwhelming controversy who isn’t a swamp creature.
“There’s kind of a mixed message when Trump said he “never” disagreed with Mike, actually, like it was kind of unwise to do so.”
I forgot. Everything Trump says must be interpreted.
Trump would be difficult to follow otherwise.
Its like looking for the fine print.
Or maybe his words mean what they mean and there is no fine print.
If you mean, ‘nonsensical’, then yeah, definitely look for the fine print…
You may not have signed onto Trump, but nearly half the country signed him into the Presidency at the ballot box for you.
I didn’t know 50 0r 60 million(whatever his vote total was)was half the country.
Trump won 62,984,828 votes to Hilary’s 65,853,514.
62,984,828 + 65,853,514 = 128,838,342 voted…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_United_States_presidential_election
U.S. pop: 329,227,746 (estimated as of Jan. 28, 2020).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States
The silent majority, don’t seem to have much to say…
“You may not have signed onto Trump, but nearly half the country signed him into the Presidency”
This is what I replied to.
… So, hostility towards Trump solves the democracy gap somehow?
With broad and open public support, Trump would have been far more able to extract America from the 9/11 wars and use the power of the White House purse and pulpit to oppose the COVID-19 economic lockdowns.
Its no more easy to tell if Trump is genuine than if Venezualan socialism is a fail, because of the overwhelming opposition and attempts to sabotage their expression.
True, a President Jill Stein would have been far preferable, but that’s not what the The People who bothered to vote, voted for.
There is no penalty for not voting, except who gets elected.
Two things that are a given in our daily news as of late. The Virus update and the US sanctioning Iran
Indeed, no question anymore…the US government is absolutely the greatest terrorist organization on earth.
Has always been. Born in blood and rebellion.
Another way to exploit the virus for Washington’s insane, evil agenda. The thugs in Washington want to kick Iran in the face while it’s down; it’s the American way, isn’t it? When will Americans wake up and see what their government is doing to innocent peoples around the world in their names, with their taxes?
No way will the folks wake up and smell the coffee. They got their heads up their own butts.
No, Americans will not see. Instinctively, most Americans across the spectrum of political persuasion, age and education see our sprawling global military engagement as wrong-headed. The divisive politics is preventing all people getting together on this issue. Until Americans give up on political parties for good, we will all remain captive to party logic. Thus — Trump is no good to Democrats as he pressed for getting out of conflicts. And Democrat voters are blind to Democratic party warmongering Just as Trump supporters are unwilling to hold his feet to the fire when he backs off what he promised, or when his crazy appointees make every Democrat warmonger happy. We are played for fools that we are.
We are lacking a civic association dedicated to COMMON INTEREST — period. To focus on issues that affects society as a whole, not divisive issues that keep us apart. Parties are divisive by nature. Nobody — and I mean nobody is focusing on common interest. We have plenty of good people, scientists, educators, analysts, academia, military, economists, local community activists that have nobody to support them when they try to get attention to issues that affect us all.
Their voices are lost in the wilderness of greedy special interests, and parties that cater to them.
Maybe the coronavirus will awaken Americans to the fact that they could all have publicly-funded healthcare if trillions of dollars hadn’t been wasted on senseless wars. I give thanks every day that I live in Canada where nobody ever has to pay a hospital bill or a doctor’s bill.
We live in a truly sick country. Corona ain’t got sh*t on us.
What we see is viscousness — plain and simple. Who could be this viscous bordering on insanity? Finding answer to that is to find the key to our militaristic foreign policy.
Are they so threatened that they must dig this hole deeper? Are they not realizing what is happening at home? Too blinded by their viciousness?
They are cheering when stock market gets high on free money so corporations can buy their own stocks, not realizing that in their own neighborhood hospitals are setting makeshift morgues as they wheel out the dead?
And Pompeo is furious that Saudis would NOT RAISE oil prices, to keep the failed policy of fracking alive? And now, Saudis are to be blocked from selling crude to US and Europe? No, we do not want your cheep oil! Market is forcing you to lower prices? Who cares!
Petty enough?
Viciousness operates in a vacuum, as if pandemic does not exist — their plans must go on unabated.
There are plenty of those who would go along with vicious — monetary reasons, or just to stay out of their way — but it is the core of viscous and their MOTIVATION that must be understood.
How else can we demonstrate toughness?
With infected now over 100,000, and 1 million reservists called in — if this is correct — it is hard to project power. Iran, Venezuela would do.
As the bases around the world get vulnerable to infections, our floating fortresses becoming virus Petri dishes, what is an Empire to do?
And we still do not have mechanisms for preventing high infected areas population to move to other large metropolitan areas and spread the disease.
I eagerly await the day when the US gets its well-deserved comeuppance. Maybe a group of countries will get together and start to sanction the US the same way the US has sanctioned so many other countries.