Geen evolutie en ecolutie zonder revolutie!

Albert Einstein:

Twee dingen zijn oneindig: het universum en de menselijke domheid. Maar van het universum ben ik niet zeker.
Posts tonen met het label J. Nicholson. Alle posts tonen
Posts tonen met het label J. Nicholson. Alle posts tonen

woensdag 6 maart 2019

Meer bewijs voor VS betrokkenheid bij transport en bevrijding van IS leden

Alexander Rubinstein publiceerde een artikel over de verbintenis van de Verenigde Arabische Emiraten (VAE) en IS, waar hij in de kop de vraag stelt of de door de VS gesteunde VAE leiders van IS naar Jemen heeft getransporteerd. De vraag stellen is haar beantwoorden: ja dus. Opvallend dat Rubinstein daar zo verbaasd over is, immers de opgestapte president Al-Hadi (onder druk van S-A is hij nu juntaleider) werd gedwongen af te treden daar hij IS en Al Qaida onderdak had gegeven in Jemen......

Deze twee soennitische terreurgroepen begingen daarna moorden en ander barbaarsheden tegen de voornamelijk sjiitische bevolking van Jemen, de mensen waren zelfs in moskeeën niet veilig voor de terreur van deze groepen....... Daarop bonden de Houthi rebellen, gesteund door een deel van het Jemenitisch leger, de strijd aan met IS, Al Qaida en de al-Hadi getrouwe militaire macht...... Samen met de Koerden in Syrië waren de Houthi rebellen in Jemen de eersten die succesvol IS bestreden.

Dat succes stak het soennitische Saoedi-Arabië en zij zetten de gevluchte al-Hadi onder druk het presidentschap weer op te nemen zodat hij S-A te hulp kon roepen om de haar getrouwe terroristen van IS en Al Qaida bij te staan in de strijd tegen de Houthi-rebellen......

De VS heeft overigens aan de wieg van IS gestaan, samen met Egypte, Turkije en Saoedi-Arabië (en naar het schijnt zou Israël ook een rol hebben gespeeld), niet voor niets dat deze landen het vervoer regelden voor IS leden uit Libië, die werden getransporteerd naar Irak waar ze over de grens met Syrië werden gebracht, inclusief wapens, munitie en pickup trucks.......

Voordat Rusland begon met de steun voor het reguliere Syrische leger in de strijd tegen de zogenaamde gematigde rebellen, is de VS meermaals betrapt op het bombarderen van woestijngebied, zonder dat daar een strijder te bekennen was, echter volgens de VS waren dat bombardementen tegen IS....... Vandaar ook dat het jaar voordat Rusland ingreep er praktisch geen successen werden geboekt door de VS coalitie tegen IS, een coalitie die zogenaamd IS bestreed...... Rusland was duidelijk het kantelpunt voor IS, dat de ene na de andere klap te verduren kreeg.... Na de successen van het reguliere Syrische leger en de Russen tegen groepen als IS kon ook de VS-NAVO coalitie niet anders doen dan af en toe terreurgroepen raken.......

Onlangs gaf de VS nota bene toe dat IS ook vocht in het Syrische Aleppo, terwijl men dat destijds glashard ontkende, er zouden alleen 'gematigde terreurgroepen' (die niet bestaan en niet bestonden) aanwezig zijn geweest in Aleppo........

Voorts blijkt keer op keer dat wapens uit de VS in handen zijn van terreurgroepen o.a. in Jemen, hier een link naar een YouTube pagina met meerdere video's over terreurgroepen met VS wapens. (het Pentagon zijn de laatste jaren miljarden verdwenen, daarmee is de vraag deels beantwoord waar dat geld heenging...... (naar terreurgroepen!)

Lees het volgende artikel van Rubinstein en zie het smerige spel van de grootste terreurentiteit op aarde, de VS:

An Unholy Alliance: Did the US-Backed UAE Fly ISIS Leaders into Yemen’s Killing Fields?


Saudi Al-Qaida Islamic State Yemen

The de facto alliance between the U.S. with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, AQAP, and now allegedly ISIS in Yemen has led to one of the worst humanitarian disasters in modern history,


ADEN, YEMEN — Ali Abdullah al-Bujairi — a Yemeni politician who served as a senior member on the failed UN-brokered transitional government and as Yemen’s ambassador to Iraq under former president Ali Abdullah Saleh — is accusing the United Arab Emirates of facilitating a transfer of ISIS officials into Yemen.

The UAE has recently transferred an ISIL commander namely Abu Bakr al-Zokhri (with Sudanese nationality) — nom de guerre, Khaibar al-Sumali — from Iraq to Aden in Yemen to recruit and strengthen the ISIL in Yemen,” al-Bujairi told Qatari media.
Since the toppling of ISIS’ so-called caliphate — with Raqqa, Syria as its capital — the terrorist organization has gained a foothold in a number of other countries. In Afghanistan, Russia and Iran have accused the U.S. of helping to facilitate the group’s spread.
Despite its loss of territory in Iraq and Syria, “ISIL is still active in ten countries in 2017,” according to the 2018 Global Terrorism Index report from the Institute for Economics & Peace, which further states:
The collapse of ISIL in Iraq and Syria has moved the group’s activities elsewhere, in particular to the Maghreb and Sahel regions, most notably in Libya, Niger, and Mali, and Southeast Asia, most notably the Philippines.”
In 2017, the terror group’s reach was felt in many corners of the world. The report states: “ISIL committed attacks in 286 cities around the world in four different regions:  Asia-Pacific, Europe, MENA [Middle East and North Africa], and the Russia and Eurasia region.” However, those hit hardest by the group’s terror have mostly been in the Middle East and North Africa. The report concludes:
Of all ISIL attacks, 98 percent of incidents and 98 percent of deaths occurred within the MENA region. Ninety percent of all terror attacks and 81 percent of terror-related deaths from ISIL occurred in Iraq alone.”
These figures, however, do not include the Islamic State’s chapter in Afghanistan, referred to as the Khorasan Group (ISIS-K), nor does it include ISIS affiliates in Egypt.
The campaign by the U.S. with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, AQAP, and now allegedly ISIS in Yemen has led to one of the worst humanitarian disasters in modern history, with large portions of the population at risk for starvation, millions displaced, and scores of civilians and children killed, MintPress News has reported.
While the Saudi-led coalition’s dealings with the Yemen affiliate of ISIS remain largely unexplored, the main partners have their own ties to al-Qaeda in the country. This unholy alliance meant to depose the Houthis, has seen the coalition, of which the supposedly democratic government of the U.S. became a member without prior authorization from Congress, work hand-in-glove with al-Qaeda.

Running with cynical circles

Little is known about the presence of ISIS in Yemen, with the numbers of fighters believed to be in the low- to mid-hundreds, according to the UN Security Council. The U.S. conducted a grand total of 36 airstrikes against terrorist groups in the country in 2018, but the overwhelming majority targeted the much larger Al-Qaeda affiliate, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and the U.S. has not struck ISIS in Yemen since January 2018.
While ISIS has attacked Houthi and Shia Muslim targets in Yemen, it has no territory. AQAP, on the other hand, controls large swaths of the southeast. According to the Global Terrorism Index, “Adan-Abyan Province of the Islamic State is primarily active in the southern coastal province of Adan, while AQAP in active in the provinces of Abyan and Lahij, and Ansar Allahin Taizz and Marib.” Other ISIS affiliates once existed in Yemen but have since dwindled out.
While the extent and nature of U.S. relations with ISIS in Yemen is unclear, its relationship with its regional rival AQAP, which is best described as that of “frenemies,” is more widely known.
(Op deze plek stond in het origineel een video die is echter verwijderd)

In December, the U.S. Congress voted to end support for Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen, but the U.S. remains authorized to fight on Yemeni soil because of the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). This document also provided the U.S. cover for its war in Syria. The bill allows for the use of force against groups associated with attacks on 9/11, and ISIS was tenuously linked to al-Qaeda.
However, the U.S. was a member of the Saudi-led coalition for years. This partnership became unpalatable to mainstream media pundits and audiences over the summer when a U.S.-made bomb was used by Saudi Arabia on a bus in an airstrike that left 40 children dead.
While AQAP is the ostensible enemy of the United States, they appear to be a friend of a friend in the very least. In February, it was revealed that Saudi Arabia and the UAE gave U.S.-made weapons to al-Qaeda fighters in the country. CNN reports:
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, its main partner in the war, have used the U.S.-manufactured weapons as a form of currency to buy the loyalties of militias or tribes, bolster chosen armed actors, and influence the complex political landscape.
One of those militias linked to AQAP, the Abu Abbas brigade, now possesses U.S.-made Oshkosh armored vehicles, paraded in a 2015 show of force through the city.
Abu Abbas, the founder, was declared a terrorist by the U.S. in 2017, but the group still enjoys support from the Saudi coalition and was absorbed into the coalition-supported 35th Brigade of the Yemeni army.
In October 2015, military forces loyal to the government boasted on Saudi- and UAE-backed media that the Saudis had airdropped American-made TOW anti-tank missiles on the same frontline where AQAP had been known to operate at the time.”
Speculation that the Saudi-led coalition was working with terrorists was finally legitimized in the mainstream media over the summer, when the Associated Press revealed that “the coalition cut secret deals with al-Qaeda fighters, paying some to leave key cities and towns and letting others retreat with weapons, equipment and wads of looted cash, [while] hundreds more were recruited to join the coalition itself.”
Shockingly, the AP revealed that
Key participants in the pacts said the U.S. was aware of the arrangements and held off on any drone strikes…
Coalition-backed militias actively recruit al-Qaida militants, or those who were recently members, because they’re considered exceptional fighters…
In one case, a tribal mediator who brokered a deal between the Emiratis and al-Qaeda even gave the extremists a farewell dinner.”
The U.S. had been fighting on two fronts in Yemen: one against Al-Qaeda, in closer partnership with the UAE; and another alongside the Saudi-led coalition, which includes the UAE, against the Houthi government. The latter was, of course, the priority. In contrast to the 36 bombing missions the U.S. conducted against AQAP and the ISIS affiliate in Yemen in 2018, the U.S. refueled coalition fighter jets more than 9,000 times between March 2015 and July 2017.
This dynamic has fostered an alliance of convenience between the U.S. and AQAP, materialized by the flow of U.S.-made weapons from the U.S. to gulf monarchies, which, in violation of U.S. rules, use them as bargaining chips with jihadists.
In fact, the U.S. was “aware of an al-Qaeda presence among the anti-Houthi ranks,” AP said, citing a “senior American official.” Even the Saudi-backed former president of Yemen, Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, “tapped” Adnan Rouzek to be a “top military commander.” Rouzek was a senior al-Qaeda official who escaped from prison in 2008 with other members and continues to be photographed with known al-Qaeda operatives. His militia under Hadi “became notorious for kidnappings and street killings, with one online video showing its masked members shooting a kneeling, blindfolded man.”

In November 2017, Hadi picked Rouzek to coordinate the military campaign and serve as a top commander of a new fighting force, and gave him $12 million for a new offensive.
Another “coalition-backed warlord is on the U.S. list of designated terrorists due to his ties to al-Qaeda.” That warlord is Sheikh Aboul Abbas.
One security official told AP that “Aboul Abbas’ forces attacked security headquarters in 2017 and freed a number of al-Qaeda suspects.” He said he reported the attack to the coalition, but the perpetrators were rewarded with “40 more pickup trucks.” “The more we warn, the more they are rewarded,” he told AP. “Al-Qaeda leaders have armored vehicles given to them by the coalition while security commanders don’t have such vehicles.”
Elements of the U.S. military are clearly aware that much of what the U.S. is doing in Yemen is aiding AQAP and there is much angst about that,” terrorism expert Michael Horton told AP at the time. Horton called parts of the U.S.-UAE campaign against AQAP a “farce.”
While Saudi Arabia has been roundly denounced for its attacks on civilians and infrastructure in Yemen, particularly since the unrelated slaying of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, less attention has been paid to allegations of UAE war crimes in the country. NGOs and reporters have accused the country of running a network of secret prisons in the south that use torture as a feature of detention.

Degrading an enemy whose presence is “exaggerated”

While the UAE is now being accused of helping to spread ISIS into new theaters of conflict, the U.S. was accused of doing the same in Afghanistan last year.
The Afghanistan-based affiliate “was responsible for 14 percent of terrorism deaths, or 658 people, in 2017, a 26 percent increase from the prior year,” according to the Global Terrorism Index report. In neighboring Pakistan, ISIS affiliates were “responsible for 233 deaths.”
Meanwhile, the “two deadliest attacks in South Asia” in 2017 “were committed by the Khorasan Chapter of the Islamic State in Afghanistan and Pakistan, killing 93 and 91 persons respectively.”  
Afghanistan | ISIS affiliate
Share of responsibility for terrorism-related deaths by Afghanistan’s ISIS affiliate in 2017. Source | Institute for Economics & Peace
On repeated occasions last year, Moscow and Tehran accused Washington of using unmarked helicopters to transfer Daesh fighters into the Haska Meyna region in Afghanistan where ISIS is active.
In March of 2018, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif told a congregation of diplomats, academics and journalists in Pakistan:
We see intelligence, as well as eyewitness accounts, that Daesh fighters, terrorists, were airlifted from battle zones, rescued from battle zones, including recently from the prison of Haska [Meyna].”
This time, it wasn’t unmarked helicopters. They were American helicopters, taking Daesh out of Haska prison. Where did they take them? Now, we don’t know where they took them, but we see the outcome. We see more and more violence in Pakistan, more and more violence in Afghanistan, taking a sectarian flavor.”
After Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made a big deal out of ISIS’s presence in an April press conference in Pakistan, U.S. officials went into defense mode, with General John Nicholson, NATO’s Afghanistan commander, and the mission’s public-affairs director swearing that the Russian claims were exaggerated and arguing that there was “little evidence” that ISIS was expanding in the country.
Yet, according to an earlier report from the U.S. government-funded Voice of America, U.S. troops “routinely accompany the Afghan forces into battle against [ISIS].”
Flash forward to August, when NATO confirmed that it had killed ISIS’ leader in Afghanistan, Abu Sayeed Orakzai, as well as 10 other fighters. As NBC Newsnoted at the time the U.S. estimated that there were about 2,000 ISIS fighters in the country, while local Afghan leaders claim that Orakzai was the “fourth” ISIS leader to be killed in less than a year.
Top Photo | A Yemeni militant holds an ISIS banner as he stands behind bars during a court hearing in Sanaa, Yemen. Hani Mohammed | AP
Alexander Rubinstein is a staff writer for MintPress News based in Washington, DC. He reports on police, prisons and protests in the United States and the United States’ policing of the world. He previously reported for RT and Sputnik News.

Republish our stories! MintPress News is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.
Zie ook de volgende berichten aangaande de strijd in Jemen (voor meer berichten over de oorlog in Irak en Afghanistan, klik op de betreffende labels, direct onder dit  bericht. Let wel, na een aantal berichten wordt het laatst getoonde telkens herhaald, dan even opnieuw op het gekozen label klikken onder het laatst gelezen bericht):
'Saoedische ambassadeur bij VN geeft Iran schuld van genocide in Jemen'

'Maxima overlegt met de Saoedische massamoordenaar MSB'

'Blok (VVD minister BuZa) deelt volkomen onterecht VS zorgen over Iran'

'Genocidepleger Saoedi-Arabië klaagt Houthi's en Iran aan bij VN Veiligheidsraad vanwege terreur'

'Frankrijk dreigt journalisten met gevangenisstraf voor openbaarmaking documenten Jemen'

'Activistische Franse burgers blokkeren met succes het laden van wapens voor Saoedi-Arabië'

'Strijd in Oost-Jemen waar lokale stammen de Saoedische import van militair materieel blokkeren'

'Al Qaida Jemen krijgt VS wapens van Saoedi-Arabië'

'Verenigde Arabische Emiraten bewapenen ISIS en Al Qaida'

ISIL weapons traced to US and Saudi Arabia

'VS steun voor terreurgroepen IS (ISIS) en Al Qaida tot november 2018'

'Ondervragers van de VS zijn aanwezig bij martelingen in Jemenitische gevangenissen'

'VS heeft Saoedische terreurcoalitie getraind hoe Jemen te bombarderen'

'Robin Ramaekers (VTM 'oorlogscorrespondent') vertelt Radio1 luisteraars van de NOS over Jemen......'

'VS blokkeert VN resolutie tot een staakt het vuren in Jemen, waar VS vriend Saoedi-Arabië een genocide uitvoert'

'Facebook censureert foto's van verhongerende Jemenitische kinderen als 'sexual content''

'VS heeft vliegend oorlogstuig van Saoedische terreurcoalitie gratis van brandstof voorzien.....'

'Marina de Regt (VU en Midden-Oosten Instituut) slaat de Jemenitische plank volledig mis'

'VS dreigt Iran met militair geweld op beschuldiging van terreur die de VS zelf op grote schaal uitoefent'



'VN bespreekt humanitaire hulp aan Jemen met bewind in Teheran; voorts: hoe de Saoediërs en de VS Jemen vernietigen'
Yemen Be Damned, Pompeo Doubles Down on US Support for Saudi Arabia

'Blok (VVD 'minister' van BuZA) wenst in VN geen oproep tot wapenboycot te doen i.z. Jemen, in de VS blokkeerde huis van afgevaardigden een debat over de genocide in Jemen'

'Trump administratie staat op het punt de Houthi's in Jemen op de terreurlijst te zetten.......'

'Jemen: genocide en oorlog hebben tot nu toe al rond de 200.000 mensenlevens geëist.....'

'Amal Hussain, het meisje van 7 dat voor het westen symbool stond voor humanitaire crisis (lees: genocide) in Jemen, is overleden.......'

'Jemen: VS politici roepen uiterst hypocriet om een onmiddellijk eind aan de 'oorlog......''

'Saoedische terreurcoalitie stuurt 10.000 militairen extra naar de Jemenitische havenstad Hodeida >> de genocide in een hogere versnelling'

'Jemen: ware dodental door geweld Saoedische terreurcoalitie veel hoger dan eerder geschat'

'Jemen genocide: democratische oppositie steunt met bijna 100% Trumps terreuragenda, terwijl ze hem aanvallen op niet bewezen Russiagate......'

'Saoedi-Arabië bombardeert busstation in Jemen.......'

'Saoedische terreurcoalitie geeft eindelijk toe dat de aanval op een schoolbus niet gerechtvaardigd was......'

'Saoedische terreurcoalitie raakt alweer een bus met kinderen, dit keer tijdens een bombardement van een vluchtelingenkamp........'

'Genocide Jemen: 'eindelijk ontdekt' door reguliere media VS, nu nog Nederland en de EU'

'Saoedische aanval op schoolbus in Jemen: 43 kinderen vermoord......'

'Aanval op schoolbus Jemen, door Saoedi-Arabië opzettelijk als doel gekozen, geen reden voor VS veroordeling......'

'Bom waarmee schoolbus in Jemen werd getroffen is van VS makelij'

'Democratisch congreslid eist antwoorden over de rol van de VS bij de massamoorden in Jemen, zoals de aanval op een schoolbus'

'Saoedi-Arabië woedend over VN rapport waarin de waarheid wordt verteld over S-A en de oorlog in Jemen'

'Trump wijst elke bezuiniging af op de hulp van de VS voor de genocide die Saoedi-Arabië uitvoert in Jemen'

'8 miljoen Jemenieten, inclusief een groot aantal kinderen, dreigen te sterven van de honger........'

'Door VS geregisseerd bombardement op ziekenhuis Hodeida >> 50 doden......'

'Jemen, de gemartelde, vermoorde of 'verdwenen' Jemenieten, onder verantwoording van de Saoedische coalitie......'

'Jemen: de vergeten genocide en haar kinderslachtoffers.........'

'Saoedi-Arabië geeft toe in Jemen gruwelijke oorlogsmisdaden te hebben begaan.... ' (en daarmee is ten overvloede nog eens duidelijk gemaakt dat ook de VS meewerkt aan oorlogsmisdaden en die genocide in Jemen.....)

'Agressie vanwege een vermeende gifgasaanval op Douma, terwijl de tienduizenden kinderen die in Jemen worden vermoord middels een genocide blijkbaar niet meetellen......'


'Congres VS geeft akkoord voor verdere steun aan de Saoedische genocide in Jemen......'

'VS versterkt militaire terreur t.b.v. genocide >> deelname aan aanval op Jemenitische havenstad Hodeida.......'

'VS en Groot-Brittannië weigeren een onmiddellijk staakt het vuren op haven t.b.v. door genocide geterroriseerd Jemen.....' (zie ook de links in dat bericht)


'Mike Pompeo (ex-CIA, VS min. van BuZa en 'christen') liegt openlijk over genocide in Jemen' (zie ook de links in dat bericht)

'Saoedi-Arabië heeft op verzoek van de VS intensief haar islam ideologie (en die van ISIS) verspreid.....' (soennitisch, terwijl het merendeel van de Jemenitische bevolking en haar beschermers, de Houthi's sjiitisch zijn)

vrijdag 23 februari 2018

Trumps buitenlandbeleid heeft de wereld naar de rand van WOIII gebracht.......

Volkomen terecht waarschuwt Darius Shahtahmasebi de wereld voor het gevaar van het 'buitenlandbeleid' dat de Trump administratie voert.

Met veel voorbeelden geeft Shahtahmasebi aan dat de VS ons op de rand van Wereldoorlog III heeft gebracht en er niet veel voor nodig is om deze oorlog daadwerkelijk te laten losbarsten......

Waar blijven de demonstraties tegen het terreurbeleid van de VS, die ons steeds dichter bij WOIII brengen???

Verdere woorden overbodig, lees en oordeel zelf:

How Donald Trump’s Policies Have Brought Us to the Brink of World War 3

February 20, 2018 at 11:55 

(ANTIMEDIA Op-ed) — On February 7, 2018, the U.S.-led coalition in Syria conducted air and artillery strikes against what were believed to be pro-government forces in response to an “unprovoked attack” launched by these pro-regime troops. Not long after, reports began emerging that significant numbers of Russian personnel were included in the over 100 dead and wounded. While Russia denied this at first, eventually, the accepted version of events on both sides was that there were some Russian nationals who did lose their lives in Syria. These Russians are arguably mercenaries and contractors, not official troops.

This is not the first time the U.S.-led coalition has struck pro-government forces in Syria. Aside from Donald Trump’s grandiose strike on a Syrian airbase in April of last year, U.S. forces also conducted multiple strikes against Syrian and Iranian-backed forces as these factions began to encircle the American military’s presence at a base in al-Tanf.

Donald Trump has famously relaxed the Obama-era restrictions on calling in airstrikes, meaning commanders on the battlefield can call in airstrikes at their disposal without any oversight. Previously, an airstrike could not be launched on a whim and was required to go through certain protocols before it could be delivered. Now, even associated forces can call in American airstrikes on the battlefield. The most infamous example of this is when Iraqi commanders called in a U.S. strike that ended up killing well over 200 civilians in a single bombardment.

Barely a week after Trump’s Syria strike in April, the U.S. military dropped a $450,000 bomb in Afghanistan dubbed the “Mother of all bombs” (MOAB). It soon transpired that the decision to drop the bomb was not made by Trump himself as commander-in-chief but by Gen. John Nicholson, commander of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

It’s time to ask yourself: Are you comfortable with commanders on the battlefield calling in airstrikes even if those airstrikes could potentially kill personnel on the ground belonging to another nuclear power?

Last Tuesday, Wisconsin Democrat Mark Pocan told the Nation that “Congress has never authorized force against Syrian, Turkish, Yemeni Houthi, Russian, Iranian, or North Korean forces. Yet reportedly, a secret administration memo may claim the legal justification to do just that: attack Syrian, North Korean, and other forces without any congressional authorization.” [emphasis added]

According to Lawfare, a lawsuit required the government to reveal a list of documents relating to the April Syria strike, but not the actual documents themselves. The court-ordered directions forced the government to reveal that the seven-page secret memo Pocan was referring to was drafted up by administration lawyers on April 6, 2017, just before Trump’s infamous strike. The government’s declarations revealed that only a few of the words on one of the memo’s pages are classified, and they are related to facts, not legalities. Still, the administration refuses to disclose the memo to the public, claiming the document is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.

I am also concerned that this legal justification may now become precedent for additional executive unilateral military action, including this week’s U.S. airstrikes in Syria against pro-Assad forces or even an extremely risky ‘bloody nose’ strike against North Korea,” Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va) said last week.

In early February, the Pentagon released its much anticipated 2018 Nuclear Posture Review. From the Washington Post’s Katrina vanden Heuvel’s assessment:

The review reaffirms the United States is ready to use nuclear weapons first in an alarmingly wide range of scenarios. It remains ‘the policy of the United States to retain some ambiguity regarding the precise circumstances’ that might lead to a nuclear response. The United States reserves the right to unleash nuclear weapons first in ‘extreme circumstances’ to defend the ‘vital interests’ not only of the United States but also of its ‘allies and partners’ — a total of some 30 countries. ‘Extreme circumstances,’ the review states explicitly, include significant non-nuclear attacks,’ including conventional attacks on ‘allied or partner civilian population or infrastructure.’ The United States also maintains a ‘portion of its nuclear forces’ on daily alert, with the option of launching those forces ‘promptly.’ [emphasis added]

The U.S. has an active stockpile of at least 4,000 nuclear weapons, rivaled only by Russia. According to the Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), a “limited” regional exchange of nuclear weapons could force one billion people to the point of starvation, and a week-long “regional” encounter could kill far more than died during World War II.

As Albert Einstein famously said, “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”

Heuvel correctly summarized the current nuclear strategy:

In sum, the United States is building a new generation of nuclear weapons and delivery systems, will deploy more usable nuclear weapons in ‘forward’ areas, remains committed to possible ‘first use’ of nuclear weapons even against non-nuclear attacks in defense of 30 countries, retains missiles on active alert ready to launch, is skeptical of the possibility of any progress in arms control and is hostile to the global movement to make nuclear weapons illegal. All this as tensions with Russia and China rise, relations with North Korea remain literally explosive, and the nuclear deal with Iran stays under constant assault from the president.

One thing we do know is that the U.S. is openly considering nuclear strikes in response to cyber-attacks, which could be conducted by anyone from lone-wolf hackers to Iran, North Korea, Russia, or China. We also know that the Trump administration has been weighing a “limited” strike on North Korea for some time now, even as North and South Korea pursue a peaceful dialogue of their own. Even now, the U.S. continues to position nuclear-capable B-52 and B-2 bombers around the Korean peninsula. The B-2 is the most advanced bomber in the United States air force, capable of dropping the military department’s biggest bomb, which weighs in at around 14,000 kilograms.

This is a recipe for disaster. Donald Trump isn’t bringing the troops home and focusing on “making America great again.” According to the Department of Defense, American troop deployments to the Middle East had increased 33 percent by the end of last year.

It’s time for both sides of the political coin to confront their delusions and face reality. Donald Trump is by far the most hawkish, trigger-happy president to have ever been sworn into office, which is no easy feat considering his predecessors. His policies are leading the United States down a dangerous path that could see a miscalculated strike on Syria, Russia, Iran, North Korea, or even China — whether by mistake or by design. Considering that strikes have already been underway in Syria against the Syrian government and its allies, including Russia, these policies are likely to lead to something far more explosive down the line.

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PS: heb een bericht over de situatie in het Syrische Ghouta in voorbereiding. Ghouta waar de enorme westerse hysterie en hypocrisie in de reguliere media weer eens heeft toegeslagen, dit gesteund door het grootste deel van de westerse politici, terwijl men weet dat de moordenaars, verkrachters en martelbeulen van Al Qaida, al-Nusra (in feite 'Al Qaida Syrië') en als het even kan de White Helmets tekeer gaan tegen de bevolking....... Waar is de kritiek op terreurgroep Al Qaida gebleven?? Alle berichten over 'de slachting' in Ghouta komen dan ook van die terreurgroepen en van Al Qaida's White Helmets, met door hen geregisseerde video's en hoorspelen....... Bij deze (op 25 februari 2018): 'Oost-Ghouta, wat je niet wordt verteld'