US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo talks to American soldiers based in Grafenwoehr, Germany, November 7, 2019 (Jens Meyer/AP)
I joined Turkey’s TRT World on Tuesday to discuss Donald Trump’s latest political diversion amid Coronavirus and Black Lives Matters protests: a threat to withdraw almost 10,000 US troops from Germany.
We discuss Trump’s disinformation about the US, Germany, and NATO, and assess if his stunt will have any lasting effects.
Trump has distorted the military planning for his personal gain. And I am not sure he will get away with it — Republican legislators are saying they do not think this move is wise.
I suspect in 24-48 hours he will be onto another tweet, another diversionary announcement, and any supposed crisis in US-German relations will have evaporated.
Thanks for the reply. I always enjoyed your posts as you seemed to be a neutral observer and were always polite:) I will drop in and say gday from time to time but can’t read or be involved if the information being pumped out is basically comedy, trying to pass as news. I noticed a piece claiming an upcoming Trump rally is a big concern as it will lead to a possible spike in covid19. So I flicked back looking if the same concerns were raised about blm rioters being in close proximity to each other as they liberated 4k big screens from their prisons, or the latest Nikes from their racist shoe racks. Alas, I could not find any 🙁 Good to see you are doing well 🙂
“I always enjoyed your posts as you seemed to be a neutral observer and were always polite:)”
“Good to see you are doing well ”
Appreciated and likewise, Magpie.
Neutrality is easy when it’s not a war I had a stake in, so I could afford it.
“So I flicked back looking if the same concerns were raised about blm rioters being in close proximity to each other as they liberated 4k big screens from their prisons, or the latest Nikes from their racist shoe racks.”
LOL, yes. Don’t expect most of them to care. They’ll gaslight you with ridiculous assertions that racism is the real pandemic or something like that. Given a choice between public health and advancing their cause, the left will always choose the latter. Moldbug touched upon it in his most recent essay:
“…Worse yet, unorganized forces, or those whose organization is not visible to the state, can practice direct statelike action.
A failure to suppress such extralegal action is itself a power leak. Only collaborators can operate this way—dissident forces in this vein are quickly crushed and punished severely. The force is once again operating as an arm of power—quite unconsciously. Its dependence on power can be concealed even from its own members, who feel they are cool rebels as they operate as the irregular auxiliaries of the imperial guard.”
…Naturally they aren’t going to call out their own auxilia — those system-fighting radicals marching with full support from educational institutions, 95% of media, the entertainment industry, and the entirety of corporate America. They’ve done way more for the progressive cause than they could ever hope from simply winning an election.
Transatlantic discord is good, actually. With Trump however, it’s better to withhold celebrations until any alleged drawdown actually happens. The only withdrawal that he seems to be somewhat committed to is Afghanistan, but even that one is uncertain.
https://twitter.com/SALIDmag/status/1272962710989307909
The next best thing after transatlantic discord is US civil discord.
What happened to the ongoing allegations that Trump was a Russian spy who colluded with Putin to gain Office. Trump was a Russian puppet and this was quite obvious with overwhelming evidence. Only a Russian propagandist would deny Trump was a Putin puppet?This was on here daily, though I haven’t checked for over 18 months. What a waste of 3 years of your life. Peddling liesSMH.
Hey Tundra 🙂 I remember you being one of the only sensible people on here who didn’t really have a side and was open minded. You seem to be the only one who still comes here. Can I ask why you still read this stuff? Have you questioned Scott Lucas about running the Russia Gate stories for years which has been exposed as all lies? Has he run a piece explaining why he believed the hoax. Did he have a piece similar to the one saying a trump rally could spread covid19 written about the blm protests? Do you believe what’s written on here at all. Or accept he is a left wing activist so hell just get a lot of stuff wrong. This guy teaches at a uni! Would you want him teaching your kid?
“Do you believe what’s written on here at all. Or accept he is a left wing activist so hell just get a lot of stuff wrong.”
AFAIK he doesn’t pretend to be a neutral journalist (he isn’t), so I see no reason to call him out on that. It’s preferable that way, too. The media’s pretense at neutrality was annoying when that obviously wasn’t the case. It’s much better that they’re open about being ideological activists.
“This guy teaches at a uni! Would you want him teaching your kid?”
No, but then again, I’d be extremely wary of my kids being in any public school in the UK at all, let alone universities. Programming children starts early. I don’t think Scott is exceptional. The left-wing grasp over educational institutions is practically total there.
Thankfully I live in the Balkans, so it’s nowhere near as bad (for now, at least).
“Can I ask why you still read this stuff?”
Boredom.
“Have you questioned Scott Lucas about running the Russia Gate stories for years which has been exposed as all lies?”
In the beginning I ignored it as Syria was a much more interesting subject to discuss. After every other commenter disappeared, I followed suit. Only came back on rare occasion and most recently with the death of Saint Floyd of Fentanyl (pbuh) and the ensuing craze. So I didn’t discuss Russiagate as — although skeptical of it — it didn’t interest me at all and I wasn’t here for a good part of it. On the other hand, BLM and other bioleninist ideas have a tendency to spread abroad thanks to America’s preeminent position on the world stage and the soft power that comes along with it. Unlike impeachment porn for middle-aged wine moms who watch Maddow, this one actually concerns people like me on the imperial periphery.
“Do you believe what’s written on here at all.”
I read it as a left-wing perspective. There’s value in seeing things from another side, lies or not. Although I rely on Twitter far more for that.
“Did he have a piece similar to the one saying a trump rally could spread covid19 written about the blm protests?”
Don’t think so. The broader issue of left-wing double standards regarding left-wing and right-wing mass assemblies is telling though. Undoubtedly there’s massive cognitive dissonance going on among the dumber ones, but a lot of them simply don’t care. They do it because they can. Their hypocrisy isn’t a bug, it’s a feature. And thanks to their institutional power, they can afford it. Flaunting, basically.
Also, nice to see you you’re still here. Really missed some of the discussions with the commentariat here. Being alone here feels like talking into a void.