"The Europeans Haven't Been Helpful" - Pompeo Slams Allies As Not Sufficiently Supportive After Suleimani Killing

With the middle eastern proxy war rapidly coalescing into an actual kinetic war, moves are now in motion to determine the shape of alliances once the shooting begins. And while it is quite clear that Russia and China will back Iran in spirit - although it remains to be seen if they will also back it in deed - it is increasingly questionable if that long-term US ally, Europe, will do the same for the US military-industrial complex.

The first hint of trouble emerged late on Friday when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a Fox News interview that the United States' European allies were not as helpful as he was hoping following the US strike in Iraq on Thursday that killed Iran’s top military commander, Qassem Soleimani. Pompeo compared the European response unfavourably with US "partners in the region", a reference to Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which Pompeo consulted after the Suleimani assassination.

"I spent the last day and a half, two days, talking to partners in the region, sharing with them what we were doing, why we were doing it, seeking their assistance,” Pompeo told Fox News. “They’ve all been fantastic. And then talking to our partners in other places that haven’t been quite as good.

"Frankly, the Europeans haven’t been as helpful as I wished that they could be," Pompeo said adding that "the Brits, the French, the Germans all need to understand that what we did, what the Americans did, saved lives in Europe as well. We’re trying to get Iran to simply behave like a normal nation."

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/europeans-havent-been-helpful-after-suleimani-killing-pompeo-slams-allies-not

A Limited-Government Republic versus a National-Security State

The worst mistake that the American people have made in the entire history of the United States was to permit the conversion of the federal government to a national-security state. That conversion has played a major role in the destruction of our liberty, privacy, and economic well-being.

What is a national-security state? It is a totalitarian-like governmental structure that consists of an enormous military-intelligence establishment with extraordinary powers, such as indefinite detention, torture, secret surveillance, and even assassination of both citizens and foreigners.

To put the matter into a larger context, North Korea is a national-security state. So are Egypt, China, Cuba, and Russia. And the United States. All of the regimes in those countries wield totalitarian-like powers.

It wasn’t always that way in the United States. Our nation was founded as a limited-government republic and remained that way for nearly 150 years. No Pentagon, no CIA, and no NSA. There was an army but it was relatively small — big enough to win battles against Indian tribes or a neighboring weak and impoverished country such as Mexico, but nowhere big enough to engage in wars around the world.

That was how our American ancestors wanted it. The last thing they wanted was a federal government that possessed a large permanent military-intelligence establishment. That’s because they believed that that type of governmental system would inevitably destroy their liberty and their well-being.

When the delegates met at the Constitutional Convention, their assigned task was simply to modify the Articles of Confederation, which formed a third kind of governmental structure, one under which the states had been operating for more than a decade. Under the Articles, the federal government’s powers were so weak that — get this — it didn’t even have the power to tax. Imagine: For more than ten years, Americans lived under a government that was prohibited from levying any taxes whatsoever.

But there were problems with the Articles, and the purpose of Constitutional Convention was to come up with solutions to those problems through modifications to the Articles of Confederation. Instead, the delegates to the convention, who met in secret, came up with an entirely different proposal, one that called for a different type of governmental system — a limited-government republic, one where the federal government would have more powers, including the power to tax.

https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/a-limited-government-republic-versus-a-national-security-state/

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>>7724398

The Middle East

Suddenly and unexpectedly, the Cold War ended in 1989, when the Soviet Union, which had gone bankrupt, called it quits. The Berlin Wall came down and Russian troops exited Eastern Europe.

Needless to say, the national-security establishment was concerned about its future. No more Cold War obviously meant that Americans were entitled to have their limited-government republic back. But the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA were not eager to be dismantled. Soon after the end of the Cold War, they intervened in the Persian Gulf War against their former partner and ally, Saddam Hussein, which began a 30-year campaign of U.S. death, destruction, and humiliation against people in the Middle East.

It was no surprise that that campaign engendered deep anger and rage among the people who were targeted for death and destruction. That’s when the anti-American terrorist blowback began. It started with the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, which was followed by the attacks on the USS Cole, the attacks on the U.S. embassies in East Africa, and the 9/11 attacks.

The 9/11 attacks gave the federal government what our American ancestors had feared when the Constitution was being proposed to them — a government consisting of a massive, ever-growing military-intelligence establishment with omnipotent, totalitarian powers to keep the nation “safe” from the terrorist blowback that U.S. officials had produced with their interventionism.

That’s how Americans have ended up with a government that wields the power to take them into custody and throw them indefinitely into a military dungeon and torture them to any extent whatsoever. It is how Americans have ended up with a government that wields the power to conduct secret surveillance on them, just like government officials do in China, North Korea, and Cuba. It is how Americans have ended up with a government that wields the power to assassinate them.

Anyone who lives under a national-security-state governmental system cannot possibly be considered free. Our ancestors understood that principle. Their successors living today have yet to figure that out. Or if they have figured it out, they have chosen to trade liberty for the pretense of safety and security.

For Americans who want freedom, a necessary prerequisite is the restoration of a limited-government republic and a noninterventionist foreign policy, which necessarily entails the dismantling, not the reform, of the Pentagon, the military-industrial complex, the CIA, and the NSA.

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Pompeo to FNC’s Wallace: ‘Endless Wars Are the Direct Result of Weakness’ — ‘Trump Will Never Let That Happen’

On this weekend’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday,” anchor Chris Wallace asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo if the airstrike that killed Qasem Soleimani was a “big step back’ in President Donald Trump’s commitment to stop endless wars.

Wallace asked, “Is the president pulling us out of endless wars in the Middle East, or with his action this week, did he take a big step back in?”

Pompeo said, “Endless wars are the direct result of weakness, and President Trump will never let that happen. We are going to get our facilities as hardened as we can possibly get them to defend against what Iran may potentially do, but make no mistake, America’s mission is to have our footprint in the Middle East reduced while still keeping America safe. Safe from rogue regimes like the Islamic Republic of Iran and from terrorist activity broadly throughout the region.”

Wallace asked. “So is it fair to say that while the big strategy is to pull the U.S. out of endless wars, at least in the short term, there could be more of a commitment?”

Pompeo said, “The Obama Administration created an enormous risk to the American people in Iran. This administration is working to reduce that risk.”

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2020/01/05/pompeo-fncs-wallace-endless-wars-direct-result-weakness/

One US service member, two contractors killed in Al-Shabaab attack in Kenya, two DoD personnel injured

U.S. military's Africa Command have confirmed that one serviceman, two contractors were killed on Sunday when the jihadist militant group al Shabaab attacked a military based in Kenya.

The injured are in stable condition and are being evacuated at the moment, the statement said.

Camp Simba that host US and local troops came under attack on Sunday morning. The naval base is located in Manda Bay in Lamu County on Kenya’s coast, bordering Somalia.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of our teammates who lost their lives today,” US Army General Stephen Townsend said in the statement.

The general promised to “pursue those responsible” for the attack and prevent al-Shabaab jihadists from creating a “safe haven” in Africa.

The attack on the military base included “indirect and small arms fire.” Though the jihadists made it through the perimeter, they were repelled by forces within the base. Six contractor aircraft vehicles were damaged “to some degree” in the attack.

Established in 2004, Camp Simba is used by the US to train Kenyan naval units, and is believed to play an important role in American operations in Somalia and Yemen, including drone strikes.

Kenyan troops participate in the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), which is aimed at supporting the Somalian government in its fight against Al-Shabaab.

https://www.rt.com/news/477534-kenya-attack-us-military-killed/

>>7724634

Da