New York Times Reveals America’s Weapons-Makers Drive Trump-Impeachment

A remarkably non-propagandistic news-report, in the New York Times, by Eric Lipton, Maggie Haberman and Mark Mazzetti, included powerful evidence that the impeachment-effort against US President Donald Trump is motivated, in part if not totally, by a desire by US Senators and Representatives — as well as by career employees of the US Departments of Defense, State Department, and other agencies regarding national defense — to increase the sales-volumes of US-made weapons to foreign countries. Whereas almost all of the contents of that article merely repeat what has already been reported, this article in the Times states repeatedly that boosting corporations such as Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Boeing, and Northrop-Grumman, has been a major — if not the very top — motivation driving US international relations, and that at least regarding Ukraine, Trump has not been supporting, but has instead been trying to block, those weapons-sales — and creating massive enemies in the US Government as a direct consequence.

The article, issued online on Sunday, December 29th, is titled “Behind the Ukraine Aid Freeze: 84 Days of Conflict and Confusion”, and it quotes many such individuals as saying that President Trump strongly opposed the sale of US weapons to Ukraine, and that,

In an Oval Office meeting on May 23, with Mr. Sondland, Mr. Mulvaney and Mr. Blair in attendance, Mr. Trump batted away assurances that [Ukraine’s current President] Mr. Zelensky was committed to confronting corruption. “They are all corrupt, they are all terrible people,” Mr. Trump said, according to testimony in the impeachment inquiry.

In other words, Trump, allegedly, said that he didn’t want “terrible people” to be buying, and to receive, US-made weapons (especially not as US aid — free of charge, a gift from America’s taxpayers).

The article simply assumes that Trump was wrong that “they are all terrible people.”

Indeed, Trump himself has sold hundreds of billions of dollars worth of US-made weapons to the Royal Saud family who own Saudi Arabia, and he refuses to back down about those sales on account of that family’s having been behind the widely-reported torture-murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and on account of their effort since 2015 to starve into submission — by bombing the food-supplies to — the Houthis in adjoining Yemen, and on account of their using US weapons in order to achieve that mass-murdering goal. Consequently, even if Trump is correct about Ukraine’s Government, he would still have a lot of explaining to do, in order to cancel congressionally authorized US weapons-sales to Ukraine but not to Saudi Arabia.

https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/01/03/new-york-times-reveals-americas-weapons-makers-drive-trump-impeachment/

Thousands More US Troops Deploying to Middle East in Response to Iranian Threats

Thousands more U.S. troops will deploy to the Mideast in response to Iranian threats to avenge the killing of Quds Force Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani at Baghdad's International Airport on the order of President Donald Trump, the Pentagon said Friday.

The entire 1st Brigade Combat Team of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, which constitutes the Immediate Response Force at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, "was alerted to prepare for deployment and is now being deployed," a Pentagon spokesperson said.

"The brigade will deploy to Kuwait as an appropriate and precautionary action in response to increased threat levels against U.S. personnel and facilities," the spokesperson said in a statement.

Elements of the 1st Brigade could also be sent to bolster security at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad following their arrival in Kuwait, according to sources.

Related: Lawmakers, Experts Fear Retaliation Following US Strike on Top Iran Commander

On Wednesday, about 750 paratroopers from 82nd's 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, boarded C-17 Globemaster aircraft en route to Kuwait following the storming of the Baghdad Embassy's perimeter. The brigade has a total of about 4,000 troops.

At an off-camera Pentagon briefing Thursday, both Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley said that additional deployments were under consideration.

Esper said that about 100 Marines in Kuwait were initially sent to back up embassy security but added: "We are prepared to reinforce other positions throughout the region as required over the coming days."

Milley said, "There's a variety of forces that are alerted and prepared, if necessary" to deploy, "depending on the situation as we move forward."

Both Milley and Esper spoke before the U.S. strike on an access road to the Baghdad airport that hit a two-car convoy carrying the 62-year-old Soleimani, leader of the Quds (Jerusalem) Force within Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Defense officials declined to say how the strike was carried out, but Iraqi state media said the attack came from a drone firing missiles. Iran's official media later confirmed that Soleimani had been killed.

In Tehran, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamene, called for three days of mourning for the death of Soleimani, charged by the U.S. as being responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American troops in Iraq through his direction and supply of Shiite paramilitaries who fought against the U.S. invasion.

In a statement published by Iran's Fars news agency, Khamenei said, "A forceful revenge awaits the criminals who have his blood and the blood of the other martyrs last night on their hands."

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani called Soleimani's killing a "heinous crime," adding that "Iran will take revenge."

In a series of tweets, Trump said that Soleimani was not the revered figure he was made out to be by Iran's leadership.

"While Iran will never be able to properly admit it, [Soleimani] was both hated and feared within the country," Trump wrote. "They are not nearly as saddened as the leaders will let the outside world believe. He should have been taken out many years ago!"

The U.S. currently has a total of about 60,000 troops in the Mideast, including 5,000 in Iraq, according to Esper. The total includes about 14,000 sent to the region since last May to shore up defenses against Iran.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/01/03/thousands-more-us-troops-deploying-middle-east-response-iranian-threats.html

‘De facto state of war’: DeBlasio warns New Yorkers of ‘new reality’ in wake of the killing of Iran’s Soleimani

New York mayor Bill de Blasio warned the city that attempted terrorist attacks may follow the US strike on Iranian commander Soleimani, anticipating never-before-seen threats would be unleashed – but told citizens not to panic.

After the strike on Baghdad airport “we are dealing with a different reality,” de Blasio told a press conference on Friday, admitting that “none of us know how this will play out,” as it has been decades since the US confronted “the reality of a war with the government of a large country with an international terror network at its behest.” Previous terror attacks on New York, he pointed out, came from “non-state actors” without Iran's resources.

Warning New Yorkers to maintain “constant vigilance,” he explained that it was “probably unlikely” that anything would happen in the near future, but “my fear is not just about the immediate term – it’s about what happens in the months and even years ahead.”

No one has to be reminded that New York is the number-one terror target in the United States.

Stressing his “absolute confidence” in the New York Police Department – with whom he has clashed on numerous occasions – he nevertheless insisted “there will not be a moment where we let down our guard, particularly where the possibility of hostilities with such a dangerous adversary exist.”

Of course, just because the city might be besieged by frighteningly well-equipped government-backed “terrorists” doesn’t mean New Yorkers should change their routines. Citizens should “continue to go about our lives, unafraid, unaware, always realistic, tough,” de Blasio advised, after he had suitably terrified his audience.

Representatives from the NYPD admitted there are “no specific credible threats,” but pledged to “monitor the threat stream,” and advised New Yorkers that “uniformed officers, many with long guns” would be stationed in “sensitive areas.”

The mayor said he was personally glad that Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s beloved military commander, was dead. But, he added, “we have to assume that this action puts us in a de facto state of war, and that can only be done under the laws of the Constitution.”

“We should not go to war with Iran – it’s extremely dangerous for the American people,” de Blasio said.

While Trump has yet to beg Congress for the green-light to go to war, he has merely followed in the footsteps of Barack Obama, who stretched a 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force that gave the military carte blanche to chase 'Al-Qaeda' into any country to justify his own Middle Eastern adventures.

Curiously, Trump himself has repeatedly said that it was time to end the “endless wars” in the region – something even de Blasio seems to agree with him on, saying that “I think the American people have sent a message in election after election that we want to end all these wars.”

https://www.rt.com/usa/477403-deblasio-nyc-state-war-soleimani/

Turkey Claims It Neutralized PKK Intelligence Head In Northern Iraq

Turkish forces have neutralized the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) intelligence head Metin Arslan in northern Iraq, the Anadolu Agency reported on January 3, citing Turkish security sources.

According to the sources, Arslan, known by his nom de guerre Kocer, is the cousin of PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan, who is currently imprisoned in Turkey.

The sources didn’t provide any details on the fate of Arslan. Turkish authorities often use the term “neutralized” to imply that the person in question was killed or captured.

Arslan, 52, has been on the Turkish Interior Ministry’s most wanted list for several years. Ankara claims that the PKK commander is responsible for several terrorist attacks. Two years ago, it was claimed that he was injured in a Turkish airstrike on northern Syria.

The PKK has not commented on the Turkish claims regarding Arslan, so far. The group usually acknowledge any losses in its leadership.

In the last few months, Turkey stepped up its operations against the PKK in the northern part of the Iraqi Kurdistan region. Despite this, the Kurdish guerrilla group is still active near the Turkish-Iraqi border, carrying attacks against Turkish troops there on a regular basis.

https://southfront.org/turkey-claims-it-neutralized-pkk-intelligence-head-in-northern-iraq/