Trump Consciousness

There is no line. Its just all wrong-minded people with "cognitive bias".

Last resort - label others as wrong-minded and with "cognitive bias
For me, abandoning the Kurds demonstrates a complete lack of compassion and thus any sensible judgment. That's the wrong way to exit Syria. It scares me that the choice I have to "vote on" in less than 13 months is Trump and the current potential alternatives (including Hillary).

Trump Consciousness - an interesting thread title... I see no conscience involved in that decision.

The above post is a great example of why knee-jerk reactions are usually foolish (and wrong).

see here

Trump has enraged many Republicans and Democrats with his abrupt decision on Sunday to redeploy 50 U.S. troops from northern Syria after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told him a long-planned assault against the Kurds would start soon.

Looks like it (maybe) was going to happen anyways?

Now all I wish is that the withdrawal happened the day after the final ISIS stronghold was eliminated. I am not living in the illusion that "ISIS" as an ideology (and, if some interesting reports have any truth, a creation of a US Senator (no need to name the one) and a former Secretary of State (no need to name the one) played a significant role in ensuring the original ISIS was well armed.
 
Here's a typical example of what plays a big role in how people draw their conclusions...

Read the NY Times article (here) to understand the next part.

The next part explains better the real story (here).

(read the comments too... they are hilarious)

Conclusion at the end of the second article -

How the laughable Skripal story the MI6 spread or the unsuccessful attempts to kill some Bulgarian weapons dealer are supposed to "destabilize Europe" is hard to understand. How a training unit with a well known commander, which existed for more than 50 years and has pictures of its premises publicized, can be "top secret" is a mystery. But what is understandable is that some author writes 2,000 words of such nonsense. It obviously pays well.
 
Seems somewhat futile, doesn't it?

People hold these positions based on information that is second, third, fourth, fifth hand at best; from sources with which they have little to typically no personal interaction or perspective. Bias takes over and some written (or spoken) words are taken as reliable, good, fact and others are labeled and dismissed as baseless, bad, lies/manipulations. It appears nothing resembling a best practices investigation or analysis has been conducted, yet firm conclusions are often drawn.

Call me a fence sitter if you wish, but I seriously question anyone with strong convictions one way or the other. There's just no way to have a fully formed perspective on the actions, facts, context, etc.
 
Don't be so f***ing cynical - that is the reality of war, and unless it is absolutely 100% necessary, it is a crime. So many US presidents have permitted these wars to start while in office, and broadly speaking when you look back, you can only ask what the hell for. If you don't like the pictures of the aftermath of war, join me and become essentially a pacifist.

Syria, for example, would not be in the mess it is in, if the US had not boosted Assad opponents with weapons early in this decade. The 'idea' was that the Middle East was undergoing an "Arab Spring" - remember that hollow phrase, which justified that vile policy. Some of those brave fighters for democracy morphed into ISIS, that have plagued us ever since. Actually the real motivation seems to have been Assad's refusal to build an oil pipeline across his territory.

As the President pointed out in those quotes, even in times when things are fairly quiet, foreign troops (e.g. American) are always a target for someone in the Middle East. That is not surprising really when you consider there are so many out there who have lost family as a consequence of previous US adventures over there.

David
 
Don't be so f***ing cynical - that is the reality of war, and unless it is absolutely 100% necessary, it is a crime. So many US presidents have permitted these wars to start while in office, and broadly speaking when you look back, you can only ask what the hell for. If you don't like the pictures of the aftermath of war, join me and become essentially a pacifist.

Syria, for example, would not be in the mess it is in, if the US had not boosted Assad opponents with weapons early in this decade. The 'idea' was that the Middle East was undergoing an "Arab Spring" - remember that hollow phrase, which justified that vile policy. Some of those brave fighters for democracy morphed into ISIS, that have plagued us ever since. Actually the real motivation seems to have been Assad's refusal to build an oil pipeline across his territory.

As the President pointed out in those quotes, even in times when things are fairly quiet, foreign troops (e.g. American) are always a target for someone in the Middle East. That is not surprising really when you consider there are so many out there who have lost family as a consequence of previous US adventures over there.

David

What you’ve written isn’t related to my link.
 
Craig Murray was a UK ambassador who quit over UK arms sales to yet another unsavoury regime. He now lives in Moscow and provides a very interesting and obviously informed commentary about a variety of events including the supposed Russian involvement in the nerve gas incident in Salisbury.

There are (at least) two remarkable features of those incidents.

1) Despite the fact that the attackers.y were supposedly using a super-deadly nerve gas agent, and they covered a door knob with the stuff, both of the victims lived.

2) Neither of the two victims, not a policeman who also came into contact with the poison, have been interviewed since! Although at the time Yulia Skripal did manage a snatched phone call with her family in Russia before the phone call was cut off.

David
 
Craig Murray was a UK ambassador who quit over UK arms sales to yet another unsavoury regime. He now lives in Moscow and provides a very interesting and obviously informed commentary about a variety of events including the supposed Russian involvement in the nerve gas incident in Salisbury.

I think you’ve been listening to Fox News again David ;) as I’m pretty sure he lives in Edinburgh. He fell out with his bosses at the foreign office because he spoke up about human rights violations by the Uzbekistan government.
 
I think you’ve been listening to Fox News again David ;) as I’m pretty sure he lives in Edinburgh.
Well when I discovered him, He fell out with his bosses at the foreign office because he spoke up about human rights violations by the Uzbekistan government.
I plead guilty to listening to Fox News, but neither people like Craig, nor the idea that the gas attacks were false flags, nor scepticism about the novichok poisonings were ever aired on there. The full horror of the deep state is not something they seem able to discuss.

When I encountered him, there was some indication that he lived in Russia, but what is your evidence that he lives in Edingurgh? I think potential arms sales were involved, because 'we' aren't supposed to sell arms to countries with human rights violations.

David
 
Well I wonder why they didn't manage to impeach him on some of that? My guess would be that none of those allegations would have stood up at all. In the current climate, any woman who made an allegation against Trump would get instant fame, and probably offers of book rights etc.

David

This forum, above any other, usually nurtures folk’s reported experiences. Especially when they converge on common theme.

I agree that they make for messy legal cases, it was more about the measure of the man.
 
I agree with Craig up to a point about sexual indiscretions. It’s one thing to squeeze someone’s thigh when you’re ‘equals’ and maybe flirting a bit, but the exact same thing may be a very unwelcome abuse of power. Either way is possible but I do think that it’s arrogant, probably pissed up men that are the real problem.
The real problem is that politically motivated women can simply make up claims of this sort - and if they think they can bring down someone in politics, some certainly will. The tragedy is that by having no minimal standard of evidence, they are helping to discredit the #metoo movement that I would otherwise support.

David
 
This forum, above any other, nurtures folk’s reported experiences. Especially when they converge on common theme.

I agree that they make for messy legal cases, it was more about the measure of the man.
Yes but you need to realise that there was a period when the media were desperately casting about for a scandal to bring down Donald Trump. To me, it was incredibly telling that had to use a recording of a crude joke he once made - as if most men don't make the odd crude joke. I plead guilty, so maybe I should be impeached and removed from this forum!

David
 
When I encountered him, there was some indication that he lived in Russia, but what is your evidence that he lives in Edingurgh? I think potential arms sales were involved, because 'we' aren't supposed to sell arms to countries with human rights violations.

I read most of his blogs. Also, it’s on his twitter address link.
The latest Tweets from Craig Murray (@CraigMurrayOrg). Historian and human rights activist. Former British Ambassador. Edinburgh Scotland
 
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