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Major General Soleimani’s Assassination Isn’t Going to Start World War III

The US carried out a de-facto act of war against Iran after assassinating Major General Qasem Soleimani of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force in Baghdad last night, but despite the doomsday scenarios that many in Alt-Media are speculating that this will lead to, the commencement of World War III is extremely unlikely for several reasons.

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The “Decapitation Strike” That Shook The World

Trump’s approval of the US’ assassination of Major General Qasem Soleimani of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Quds Force in Baghdad last night amounts to a de-facto act of war against Iran, but it wasn’t the decision of a “madman” or someone whose permanent military, intelligence, and diplomatic bureaucracies (“deep state”) didn’t think this completely through. Rather, it was a premeditated “decapitation strike” carried out to prove the US’ conventional “escalation dominance” in its regional proxy war with Iran, one which America surely knows will elicit a kinetic response of some sort from the Islamic Republic but which the Pentagon and its regional allies are prepared for. Contrary to the narrative bandied about in Alt-Media, the US didn’t “surrender” the Mideast to Russia and Iran in recent years (who, to be clear, are not “allies”, but anti-terrorist “partners of convenience” in Syria) despite some regional setbacks to its grand strategy, but merely adjusted the nature through which it intends to restore its influence there.

Background Context

Instead of continuing to waste hundreds of millions of dollars a day funding the counterproductive 100,000-strong occupation of Iraq and potentially exposing that many troops (“sitting ducks”) to retaliatory attacks, it decided to scale down its conventional presence there and replace it with highly trained Marines and special forces that operate with the support of targeted missile strikes. It was one such strike earlier in the week against the Popular Mobilization Units’ (PMU) Kataib Hezbollah, which is integrated into the Iraqi Armed Forces, that provoked the group’s supporters (allegedly with the coordination of the IRGC according to the US) into besieging the American Embassy in Baghdad. Trump responded by immediately dispatching troops to the world’s largest diplomatic facility and bragging on Twitter that this was his “anti-Benghazi” moment in a clear swipe at Obama’s notorious failure to protect American diplomats back in 2012 when they were in similar circumstances.

Once the unrest died down following the organizers’ decision to withdraw after they declared that their “message has been heard”, US Secretary of Defense ominously warned that his country could take “preemptive action” if it detects any signals that Iran is supposedly planning more anti-American attacks in Iraq. The Islamic Republic denied that it played any role in the recent events unfolding in the neighboring country, but the US obviously didn’t believe it. It therefore set out to assassinate Maj. Gen. Soleimani in order to send the message that it’s serious about “deterring” any forthcoming allegedly Iranian-connected anti-American attacks seeing as how it blamed him for being involved in the latest ones. It also wanted to put additional pressure on Iran to withdraw from Iraq, but probably expected that it could exploit Tehran’s response to this de-facto act of war as a pretext for further intensifying its pressure campaign through more “decapitation strikes”. This attack therefore dangerously escalated tensions with Iran and made many observers fear the onset of World War III.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/major-general-soleimani-assassination-not-going-start-world-war-iii/5699498

New York Times op-ed made eerie hypothetical about Soleimani being killed in Baghdad hours before it happened

The New York Times published an eerie opinion piece on Thursday that used a potential attack on Iranian Gen. Qassem SoleimanI as a hypothetical scenario hours before the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force was actually killed in remarkably similar fashion.

The op-ed, “Hypersonic Missiles Are a Game Changer,” by Quincy Institute analyst and former National Security Council senior director Steve Simon, examined the potential of the powerful weapons. But an example used in the 11th paragraph is sure to have conspiracy theorists buzzing.

“Is there an individual in an unfriendly country who cannot be apprehended? What if the former commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Qassem Soleimani, visits Baghdad for a meeting and you know the address? The temptations to use hypersonic missiles will be many,” Simon wrote.

Hours after the op-ed was published, the Pentagon confirmed that Soleimani was killed in a U.S.-led airstrike at Baghdad International Airport.

The New York Times did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

TRUMP ORDERS ATTACK THAT KILLS IRANIAN GEN. QASSIM SOLEIMANI, OTHER MILITARY OFFICIALS IN BAGHDAD, PENTAGON SAYS

Soleimani was killed by missiles fired from a MQ-9 Reaper drone, according to the Times. It’s unclear what type of missiles were used.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/new-york-times-op-ed-eerie-hypothetical-soleimani-killed-baghdad-hours-before-happened

The Fed Just Monetized $6.4 Billion In Debt Sold Earlier This Week

Yesterday, when looking at the details of the Fed's ongoing QE4, we pointed out that the New York Fed was now actively purchasing T-Bills that had been issued just days earlier by the US Treasury, and which settled the day of the permanent open market operation, or POMO.

As a reminder, the Fed is prohibited from directly purchasing Treasurys at auction, as that is considered "monetization" and directly funding the US deficit, not to mention is tantamount to "Helicopter Money" and is frowned upon by Congress and established economists. However, insert a brief, 3-days interval between issuance and purchase… and suddenly nobody minds. As we summarized:

"for those saying the US may soon unleash helicopter money, and/or MMT, we have some 'news': helicopter money is already here, and the Fed is now actively monetizing debt the Treasury sold just days earlier using Dealers as a conduit… a "conduit" which is generously rewarded by the Fed's market desk with its marked up purchase price. In other words, the Fed is already conducting Helicopter Money (and MMT) in all but name. As shown above, the Fed monetized T-Bills that were issued just three days earlier - and just because it is circumventing the one hurdle that prevents it from directly purchasing securities sold outright by the Treasury, the Fed is providing the Dealers that made this legal debt circle-jerk possible with millions in profits, even as the outcome is identical if merely offset by a few days"

So fast forward to today, when the Fed conducted its latest T-Bill POMO in which, as has been the case since early October, the NY Fed's market desk purchased the maximum allowed in Bills, some $7.5 billion, out of $21.9 billion in submissions. What was far more notable, were the actual CUSIPs that were accepted by the Fed for purchase. And here, once again, we find two particular issues that stick out: UB3 (due July 2, 2020) which was the most active CUSIP, with $5.245BN purchased by the Fed, and TM1 (due April 2, 2020) of which $1.2BN was accepted.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/fed-just-monetized-64-billion-debt-sold-earlier-week

Strange wording???

Lindsey Graham: If Iran retaliates, our response will be greater than the market will bear

“The intelligence was that Soleimani was orchestrating chaos in Iraq at our expense and throughout the region,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, (R-SC), on “Fox & Friends” on Friday.

“The president was informed of these potential attacks and he acted. This was a defensive strike to neutralize future attacks that were planned and executed by Soleimani and the popular mobilization front: the Shiite militias in Iraq.”

“He’s not dead today because of what he did in the past, he’s dead today because he miscalculated what President Trump would do regarding future attacks,” explained Graham.

Graham said President Trump must make it clear to Iran that any retaliation will put their oil refineries at risk. “Their oil refineries are the last thing they have in terms of an economy,” he said.

Graham said that “the president has to convince the ayatollah that if he retaliates, our response will be greater than the market will bear.”

https://saraacarter.com/lindsey-graham-if-iran-retaliates-our-response-will-be-greater-than-the-market-will-bear/

https://twitter.com/TomFitton/status/1213178375210258432

Russian Pranksters: Maxine Waters Fell for Call from ‘Greta Thunberg’ Offering a Taped Trump Confession

The Russian pranksters famous for tricking House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) into seeking nude pictures of President Donald Trump are claiming that they just got Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) — for a second time.

YouTubers Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov, who go by the names Vovan and Lexus, recently called Waters’s office and, with the help of a female colleague, pretended to be teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, TIME‘s “Person of the Year” for 2019, and her father, claiming to have a taped confession from Trump admitting to the exact charges in House Democrats’ articles of impeachment which passed in late December.

A woman who identifies herself as Congresswoman Waters tells “Greta”: “Of course, I know all about you. You have made quite a big, big, big thunder on this issue. I am really, really very proud of you and the work that you’re doing.”

The prank callers trick Waters into making a statement in defense of the environment of an imaginary island named “Chunga Changa.”

The call gets more farcical when “Greta” tells Waters that she met Trump at the United Nations, where he privately insulted her and confessed to threatening Ukraine’s president.

“He came over, he leaned towards me, and said softly, ‘Listen to me very carefully, little girl, you will never achieve your goals,'” “Greta” says.

“He said you will never achieve your goals? Oh my goodness!” Waters exclaims, stunned. “Greta” then says that she cried. “Oh my God did you cry?” Waters exclaims.

“Greta’s father” then claims to Waters that Trump told her that he did pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals: “He said to her, ‘You know, little girl, nobody believe you anyway, I will tell you the truth. I really pushed on Ukrainian president and you know that you will never achieve your goals like those congressional fools that accuse me.”

“Oh my God, he mentioned the Ukrainian president?” Waters exclaims.

Waters then presses them on what else Trump said. They told her that they got the conversation recorded and have evidence. Waters then asked if they would be in Washington, DC, anytime soon and if they could meet with her.

“Greta’s” father then offers for the young girl to testify if Waters needs it.

Waters responds, “Oh yes, I am absolutely still working — we are working very hard, we’re putting together the facts, and we’re going after him. We are going to try everything that we have to impeach him.”

“And if the public knew that he talked to Greta like that, he made her cry, and told her she would never achieve — this will go against him, too,” she adds.

“You bring it to me,” Waters says of the recording they claimed to have. “You tell me what day you can get there. And we’ll arrange to meet with you as quickly as we can.”

This is the second time the pranksters have purportedly tricked Waters. In February 2017, Vovan and Lexus posted a video where Vovan posed as the Prime Minister of Ukraine and discussed Russian sanctions with a woman who they identify as Waters.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/01/03/russian-pranksters-maxine-waters-fell-for-call-from-greta-thunberg-offering-a-taped-trump-confession/

KEK fuck these people are stupid!