Donald’s Desperation.

Written By: - Date published: 11:47 am, May 15th, 2018 - 37 comments
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When it comes to Israel, it looks to me like Donald Trump and the US are channeling Sandy Shaw.

Let’s be clear. As far as the Middle East goes, the USA is finished. Yes, they have their ongoing and lucrative relationship with the region’s sponsors of Jihadist head choppers. But they don’t have much else besides that these days.

Maybe you remember how Donald Trump said  America was going to be Israel’s best friend ever? At the time I didn’t pick that as a sign of pleading desperation. But then, at the time, I wasn’t aware of Israel’s blossoming relationship with the Russian Federation.

All the condemnation and the sanctions aimed at Russia because of the Crimea? Israel wasn’t a part of all that. Neither did Israel include itself in any action against Russia over the Skripal poisoning.

So here we are, with Russia poised to be the pre-eminent actor in the Middle East, and the USA reduced to increasingly futile gestures that come riding in with not a little mayhem and chaos on the side.

It’s possible to imagine  conversations between Netanyahu and  Trump as ones between former lovers – one happily cruel and manipulative, the other, sunk in stupid desperation, not getting it through their heads that it’s over.

Prove you’re love then Donald! Netanyahu might say somewhat coyly, and Donald gives recognition of Jerusalem by way of a US Embassy.

Prove your love Donald!  says Netanyahu, (his eyes full of false promises), and Donald presents John Bolton – who just might have some half baked, crazy plan to bring about the destruction of Iran.

Prove your love Donald! says Netanyahu, as he gets it off and on with Putin in so many different ways that it’s driving Donald jealous mad.

And Donald can’t pull that funding. If he does that, he’s acknowledging the end of a long and, for some, heartfelt relationship.

So the US pays, and Israel plays.

Of course, Israel only has a limited window of opportunity to get its cake and eat it. The idea they can play Russia and the US off against one another as a non-aligned India did with the US and the USSR during the cold war has a shelf life.

Bibi knows that. Vladimir knows that. And Donald? Well…

 

 

37 comments on “Donald’s Desperation. ”

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  1. greywarshark 1
    15 May 2018 at 12:16 pm

    Are we there in the backing group ready to harmonise in any gaps in the narrative?

  2. Philg 2
    15 May 2018 at 12:31 pm

    I think Donald is confused and doesn’t know what to do. Is he going to fire himself?

    • Incognito 2.1
      15 May 2018 at 4:35 pm

      Yeah, Trump really strikes me as plagued by doubts & uncertainty and totally unsure of what to tweet next at 3 am. He’d like to anoint appoint himself as POTUS-for-Life.

  3. Gosman 3
    15 May 2018 at 1:16 pm

    The policy that Trump is pursuing is one that Conservative members of the US Political establishment have been advocating for years outside anything Israel may or may not want. They feel they can achieve more by throwing their weight around and by backing Israel 100 %.

  4. McFlock 4
    15 May 2018 at 1:19 pm

    Russia poised to be the pre-eminent actor in the Middle East? LOLZ!

    It might be able to prop up a dictatorship with more success than the yanks, but Russia’s too broke. America’s getting there, too, but the Russian resurgence ain’t gonna happen. It’s a regional power with dreams of a glorious past.

    China’s looking pretty solid internally and economically, though, and is wanting another trade line through the area to get to Europe. And they build better roads than the yanks.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 4.1
      15 May 2018 at 1:31 pm

      +1

      The notion of the Russian Federation as a major power is a joke. Their troll army is the only effective fighting force they possess.

    • spikeyboy 4.2
      15 May 2018 at 2:47 pm

      But surely that must be the case. Able to swing elections in France Germany UK USA… Have I missed any?…Run cicles around Mi6 and pretty much poison anybody in the UK that they fancy.. Im sure there is more… Oh yes taking over the whole of Crimea without firing a shot.
      And as for glorious dreams of the past it is this post which suggests that those are what belongs to the USA

      • One Anonymous Bloke 4.2.1
        15 May 2018 at 3:33 pm

        Who said they were able to swing elections? I mean, it would be even more humiliating if they hadn’t had some effect, but no-one’s actually managed to quantify it, eh.

      • McFlock 4.2.2
        15 May 2018 at 3:43 pm

        And yet they deploy routinely their only aircraft carrier with its own tugboat for when it breaks down.

        But like I said, it’s a regional power.

        To put it into a default-paranoid perspective you might understand: the USA has 800 bases across the globe outside its own territory. China has at least two (djibouti, a port in Pakistan), plus the artificial islands in the South China Sea, and the negotiations going on in Vanuatu. Russia has – one? Maybe two?

        But as OAB points out, they do have some good interwebz marketing, of which you seem to inhale deeply.

    • Win 4.3
      15 May 2018 at 3:57 pm

      Totally wrong there McFlock. Not sure where you’re getting your information but it is obviously not from reliable sources on Russia. While Russia is indeed suffering under the sanctions placed on it because of MH17 (a false flag) and Crimea (87% of Crimeans voted to go back to Russia), It certainly isn’t broke. It has a whole heap of gold it’s storing and its debt to GDP is certainly a lot lower than the US. You know the US – big on quantitative easing, trillons of dollars in debt, no gold reserves. For now because of the petro dollar it is still afloat. But wait until the petro yuan becomes its competition. The impact on the US dollar should be interesting. And if you do follow the events in the ME, particularly Syria, Russia is winning and has the ME in its clutches. Putin a dictator who was recently voted in by at leat 70% of the population. Mmmmm…. Oh dear. Another one with his/her head in a very dark place.

      • McFlock 4.3.1
        15 May 2018 at 4:07 pm

        lolz

        someone else who inhales deeply.

        The Chinese economy must be partially bouyed by exports of Russian flags – it seems to be the go-to flag of choice for everyone who wants to do something nasty.

        Your faith in those elections is quite sweet, too.

        As to the Russian economy – better a petrodollar than the bulk of your export revenue being from fossil fuels themselves.

        • Win 4.3.1.1
          15 May 2018 at 4:44 pm

          That’s the whole point re petro dollar – it’s buoying up the US economy. It it weren’t for that it would be worthless paper. So with China providing an alternative Oh O!!

          I totally have faith in those elections. Especially when they have overseas observers in place. However, Russia is not quite the democracy that Western countries have hahaha. But sweet that you think we live in a real democracy. lol.

          Not sure about your first point. Whatever it means. But just wait. The sanctions have been quite good for Russia. They’ve had to pull their fingers out and provide for themselves. Biggest grain exporter in the world. You really have some catching up to do.

          • McFlock 4.3.1.1.1
            15 May 2018 at 5:07 pm

            Biggest by tonnage, not export revenue.

            And still overwhelming reliant on global demand for fossil fuels – almost in Saudi Arabia’s or UAE’s boat.

    • Bill 4.4
      15 May 2018 at 4:28 pm

      You’d prefer to view it terms of Russia being China’s lieutenant protecting the integrity of the New Silk Road and whatever other investments it’s going to making in the region off the back of the US’s lost influence?

      There is an argument for that lens.

      Regardless, this particular post revolved around the emerging nature of the US relationship with Israel and the contrasting one it (Israel) has with Russia these days.

      More broadly, throw in Iran, Iraq and Syria all being on more or less the same page (as mentioned in this post), and what does the US have in terms of significant and steady or improving relationships in the Middle East bar those with the dictatorships of the UAE and Saudi Arabia?

      • McFlock 4.4.1
        15 May 2018 at 4:56 pm

        The US support for Israel has been abject since 1948 – it’s just been less artful under Trump.

        Israel has never had much animosity for the Russians, even in the Soviet era. It’s always been focused on destabilising its neighbours, and gaining control of water supplies and strategically defensive territory. But it’s always been more adept at being a fulcrum on US domestic politics than the Russians are today. When the russians are supplying a tenth of the military aid to Israel that the US does, get back to me.

        Oh, and dictatorships have pretty much been the norm for the M.E. since whenever. Bit difficult finding democracies to form relationships with, there. Iran is moderate in areas, like Jordan can be. Turkey’s detente with Russia seems proportionate to Erdogan’s grip on control and concomitant subversion of the Ataturkian model (or reintroduction of it, depending on whom you read, lol). And Israel is a democracy in the sense of ancient Athens or Republican Rome – only if you ignore the majority of people who don’t get a vote but are still subjected to its power.

        • Bill 4.4.1.1
          15 May 2018 at 5:34 pm

          Not quite getting the suggestion that US support for Israel has been “abject” since 48. Can you explain or expand on what you mean there?

          • McFlock 4.4.1.1.1
            15 May 2018 at 5:47 pm

            The US has handed a blank cheque to Israel since the IAF flew P51s and B17s in 1948. Open and covert military support has been measured annually in the billions for decades. The US is almost routinely the only UNSC vote against Israeli occupation/war crimes, and the veto has been used many times to protect Israel from sanction and censure.

            I think “abject” is a pretty good word for someone spending that much military, diplomatic, and monetary capital to defend another nation that treats it like dogshit and routinely interferes in its domestic politics.

            Initially, of course, it was supposed to be that the yanks have Israel and the British and French try to play nice with the Arab nations, but then of course Eden fucked that with Suez gameplaying. Another regional power that wanted to rekindle the days of empire.

            • Bill 4.4.1.1.1.1
              15 May 2018 at 6:37 pm

              k- was misunderstanding your use of the word “abject”.

              The US arguably – for whatever it may be worth – got a very good “cop on the beat” in return for its largesse and military spend.

              • McFlock …
                15 May 2018 at 9:53 pm

                It’s relationship with the only country in the ME without oil has managed to poison it for all except the most corrupt regimes in the area.

                Dunno whether it would have made the same investment under Truman or Eisenhower, knowing then what weall know now.

            • Gosman 4.4.1.1.1.2
              16 May 2018 at 6:06 am

              Not true. Israel’s main ally immediately post independence was France. The US kept an arms length approach to the country till after the six days war.

  5. One Anonymous Bloke 5
    15 May 2018 at 1:25 pm

    Looks like there’s a spot of ethnic cleansing going on in Afrin.

    US troops are reportedly digging in.

    If the US pulls out, I expect there’ll be genocide in Rojava. Being democrats, they’re Trump’s natural enemies, so I hope the FBI gets him before he can arrange for them all to be murdered.

    • Bill 5.1
      15 May 2018 at 4:38 pm

      Medium term prospects for the peoples within Rojava don’t look good, no matter what.

      Their only hope would be securing some form of accommodation with the government in Damascus, and I’m not seeing that at present.

      But hey, things change. Maybe when moves are made to empty the “killing box” of Idlib province, the peoples of Rojava will wind up having a card or two to play.

  6. adam 6
    15 May 2018 at 4:33 pm

    Sorry Bill, whenever anyone mentions Trump in an international context, I can’t but think of this song.

    • Bill 6.1
      15 May 2018 at 7:22 pm

      I’ll see your “I Wanna Rule the World” and raise you a “Who Wants the World” 😉

      • WILD KATIPO 6.1.1
        15 May 2018 at 7:47 pm

        Lets raise the stakes even higher then and not mess around with the ‘boys’, perhaps …

        Uncomfortable questions for Baron Rothschild – YouTube
        Video for baron rothschild interview▶ 1:48

  7. WILD KATIPO 7
    15 May 2018 at 7:14 pm

    It could be some sort of precursor to a transference of power with the U.S Embassy being moved to Jerusalem , as it certainly was a symbolic ratification of Israels claim about just who really possess Jerusalem, – and a few other things of significance that could indicate another process going on…

    No , I don’t think the huge financial backers of Israel in the USA are sweating one drop about The Donald’s policy’s at all …

    We look at North /South Korea ,… Trumps unilateralism almost independent of the Council on Foreign Relations and the U.N… yet the truth is they are working behind the scenes hand in glove. And what better way to allay fears of Russian intervention in USA elections than to have a few carefully orchestrated ‘ stouches’ and ‘exchanging of words’ with Russia/ Putin.

    These people don’t act like a couple of lovers or estranged next door neighbors,… its not even a very good figure of speech.

    Most of their moves are calculated and many , – and are geopolitical smokescreens. Especially with the George Soros / Murdoch global news media.

    Look at Trumps ‘bombing of an airstrip ‘ , – when the Russians were forewarned and it turned out that it was an airstrip that was soon to be closed down anyway and all personnel were given prior warning and ample time to evacuate .

    If that wasn’t purely for political / media / public consumption, ( more the latter ) then what the heck is,… ????!!!.

  8. Exkiwiforces 8
    16 May 2018 at 10:41 pm

    There is Village in the USA missing it’s Village idiot. Anyway have a read of this, but be warned you might need a stiff drink or a very strong cider afterwards as usual red wine from the local vicar on a Sunday or a beer won’t cut it.

    http://www.news.com.au/world/middle-eastern-prophecy-is-trump-a-reincarnated-king-cyrus-destined-to-herald-the-end-of-days/news-story/8fce69eacebd929b482ee00c895f37dc