"Expressions of sympathy from world leaders for the victims poured in after the assaults, but hours elapsed before a condolence statement was issued by the Trump administration....."
This after Iran was one of the first countries to extend its condolences after that horrible September morning, proving once and for all Trump is a Zionist a-hole (the North Koreans are far more polite than me).
Of course, his reticence is understandable given that it's his intelligence service that is behind the creation, funding, and directing of ISIS™ (who were dressed as women?).
Related: Qatar Cut Off
Most of the World has been in my Globe:
"Emirati diplomat to AP: ‘Nothing to negotiate’ with Qatar" by Jon Gambrell Associated Press June 08, 2017
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A top Emirati diplomat said Wednesday ‘‘there’s nothing to negotiate’’ with Qatar over a growing diplomatic dispute about the energy-rich nation’s alleged funding of terror groups, signaling Arab countries trying to isolate it won’t back down.
Speaking in a rare interview, the Emirati minister of state for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash, said that Qatar has ‘‘chosen to ride the tiger of extremism and terrorism’’ and now needed to pay the price.
They got ambushed.
Gargash said Qatar ‘‘absolutely’’ should expel members of Hamas, stop its support of terror groups ‘‘with Al Qaeda DNA’’ around the world, and rein in the many media outlets it funds, chief among them the Doha-based satellite news network Al-Jazeera.
I somehow knew this was about Palestinians at bottom, or at least underneath the overt declaration of war against Iran. Qatar -- unlike Saudi and the current Egyptian regime -- was more generous to the Palestinian cause, and that is just not allowed.
As for DNA, you know where Al-CIA-Duh came from. They created them!
Although applauding a Kuwaiti effort to mediate the crisis, Gargash said Emirati and Saudi officials planned to concede nothing to Qatar, an international air travel hub now cut off from some of the skies around it and blocked from receiving the trucks full of food it relies on to feed its citizens.
As if they were.... gulp.... Palestinian.
Their ‘‘fingerprints are all over the place’’ in terror funding, Gargash said. ‘‘Enough is enough.’’
Also Wednesday, President Trump offered to mediate the Qatar diplomatic crisis by hosting the feuding countries for a White House meeting. Trump spoke by phone on Wednesday with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamin bin Hamad Al Thani. The White House says that Trump told the emir that all countries in the region need to cooperate to prevent terrorist financing and stop the spread of extremist ideology.
Oh, fer crying out loud, he was the cause of all this -- or at least was taking credit for it yesterday. Now he wants to mediate!
Trump also says that unity among Gulf Cooperation Council countries and strong partnerships with the United States are crucial for defeating terrorism.
Maybe he is nuts.
The United States is one of several countries offering to help. Kuwait has been mediating among the countries and Turkey has offered to as well.
Offering to help? With friends like that, who needs the enemy of my enemy being my enemy or.... what is that honorable saying they have over there?
The call comes the day after Trump spoke by phone about the crisis with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman.
Qatar long has denied funding extremists, and its foreign minister has struck a defiant tone in interviews, even after worried residents emptied grocery stores in its capital of Doha. Qatar relies heavily on food imports, especially those coming over its only land border with Saudi Arabia.
I hope they have some stores and stockpiles well guarded.
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You don't have to be a defender of Qatar to recognize the unfairness of the situation or the hypocrisy coming from the accusers. It's a tough lesson to learn, but they shouldn't have played with fire.
Here is exhibit A for that course, so who can blame them?
"As ISIS retreats in Syria, the US and Iran scramble for control" by Louisa Loveluck Washington Post June 08, 2017
BEIRUT — US and Iran-backed forces are locked in a race to take Islamic State strongholds in southeastern Syria and seize a stretch of land that will either cement Tehran’s regional ambitions, or stifle them.
Now you are seeing what is really at the bottom of all the smoke, sound, and fury of the war propaganda.
The scramble for pole position in Deir al-Zour province is likely to be one of the most consequential fights against the extremist group in Syria, posing a regional test for President Trump as his administration turns up the rhetoric against Iran.
Trump has turned up more than the rhetoric, and comparing this phase of the war to a NASCAR race makes you wanna puke.
While the battle for Raqqa, the Islamic State’s most famous Syrian stronghold, is heating up, there are signs that an offensive to seize Deir al-Zour will be tougher, and have greater consequences for the group’s long-term survival as a force holding significant territory.
On the Euphrates River between Raqqa and the Iraqi border, the city of Deir al-Zour is the largest urban center in eastern Syria. Victory for Syrian and Iran-backed forces there would give Tehran control of a large swath of the Syrian-Iraqi border, securing a land route through Iraq and southeast Syria to Damascus in the southwest, and on to its proxy, Hezbollah, in Lebanon.
The infamous Shi'ite crescent.
For the United States, gaining control of Deir al-Zour would give it a bargaining chip for the future and demonstrate to regional allies its willingness to challenge Iran, after Trump promised to roll back the country’s ‘‘rising ambition.’’
On Tuesday, the United States clashed directly with Iranian proxies for the second time in a month, bombing progovernment militiamen as they advanced on an outpost used by US Special Forces at al-Tanf, a key border crossing near Syria’s southeastern border with Iraq.
In that phrase is encapsulated the fact that, spoken by the ma$$ media or not, we are NOW AT WAR with IRAN! (Imagine if the shoe were on the other foot and the Iranian air force had killed scores of U.S. troops or hired mercenaries. The papers and Congre$$ would be screaming and Trump would have the missiles flying to Tehran before the roar echoed).
What I want to know is WHERE is the OPPOSITION PARTY? Where is the CRITICISM from DEMOCRATS? They criticize everything else this guy does (and please do not construe that as support for this monster)!
The race for position began last month after Russia, Turkey, and Iran agreed to a cease-fire agreement that covered four parts of the country. Rebel commanders and Western diplomats believe the deal was intended to help President Bashar Assad of Syria and his allies concentrate resources in the east as they struggled to hold ground on multiple fronts.
‘‘We see the link clearly now. Accepting those de-escalation zones meant the regime and its allies were able to relax and move resources,’’ said Abu Waleed, a commander with the US-backed rebel group Usoud al-Sharqiya.
The retaking of the oil-rich Deir al-Zour region could give the Syrian government a financial boost and help diminish Assad’s economic dependence on Iran and Russia, which have bankrolled his fight against a rebellion that began in 2011.
This weekend, the race accelerated as rebel commanders said that US Special Forces had helped them build a new forward operating base about 40 miles northeast of al-Tanf. In photographs circulating on social media, a US flag fluttered in the wind as fighters manned truck-mounted weapons.
Oh, so now, after the dust settles, we find out it wasn't terrorists backed by the US and its allies that attacked Syrian forces. That was just a cover for Syria getting too close to the U.S. base inside Syria (no permission asked, of course).
The US military said last week that it had bolstered its ‘‘combat power’’ in southern Syria, warning that it viewed Iranian-backed fighters in the area as a threat to nearby coalition troops fighting the Islamic State.
Coalition troops are supposed to be fighting the same guys as the Iranians, so WTF?
Oh, right, this is really about blocking Iran.
US Army Colonel Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the US-led coalition in Iraq and Syria, told reporters Thursday that Iranian-backed forces were 20 miles within a ‘‘deconfliction’’ zone they had declared a week earlier in an attempt to de-escalate tensions and holding firm near the US base at al-Tanf.....
Yeah, the U.S. killing machine didn't mean to slay you. You just got in the way after they warned you..
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So when is the Big Show?
"Senate attempting to add Russia sanctions to Iran bill" by Karoun Demirjian Washington Post June 08, 2017
WASHINGTON — A group of leading senators, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, have been negotiating a way to pass more stringent sanctions against Russia in the coming week, by piggybacking on an upcoming a measure cracking down on ballistic missile tests in Iran.
WTF?
The government is going to run out of money and needs to raise the debt limit, they have done nothing since January, they aren't due back until next week, and after six weeks in session they plan to leave again until September.
And THIS is what they are working on?
They going to fold it in with the House vote condemning Turkey?
The exact substance of the Russia sanctions senators hope to attach to the Iran bill is not yet clear, but according to senior Senate aides, talks have focused on the substance offered by a set of bills already on offer, addressing everything from Russia’s aggressive activities in Ukraine and Syria to allegations that Russian hackers tried to swing an American election.
One of those bills is a recent measure from the Banking Committee chairman, Senator Mike Crapo, Republican of Idaho, and ranking member Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, to codify in law existing sanctions against Russia that former president Barack Obama began imposing in response to Russian aggression in Ukraine in 2014. Their bill adds to those existing sanctions new sectoral measures against Russia’s mining, metals and railways; individual sanctions against Russian hackers and corruption; and tools to better track illicit Russian financing, as well as oligarchs’ holdings in the United States.
Another bill, proposed this year by a bipartisan group of senators, would codify existing sanctions while stiffening restrictions on the Russian defense, intelligence and energy sectors, as well as anyone providing material support to people posing a cyberthreat. A third bill would give Congress the chance to veto any presidential decision to ease up on sanctions against Russia.
All chief authors of those bills have been involved in the various discussions with Senate leaders to insert Russia sanctions into the Iran bill, according to various aides.
Here is the other thing: by doing this, the Congre$$ will send a message to the rest of the world that the U.S. government signature on any document means nothing (same as Trump pulling out of Paris, which he really hasn't even done yet. Just said he was going to, but he won't even be president if and when it occurs. Just another fraud perpetrated upon the American people).
Which elements of those Russia sanctions bills make the cut to be included as a potential amendment to the Iran sanctions legislation has yet to be determined.....
So when are you guys going to start taking care of Americans and stop existing to serve Israel's war agenda?
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And don't worry, this time the Germans are on the right side (Turkey is not).
And then, out of the blue:
"A military transport plane with 120 people on board was missing Wednesday on a flight scheduled from southern Myanmar to Yangon, a military spokesman said. There were fears it may have crashed into the Andaman Sea. General Myat Min Oo said the Chinese-made Y-8 turboprop aircraft was carrying 106 passengers — mostly families of military personnel — and 14 crew members when it went missing Wednesday afternoon. In a second announcement Wednesday night, the commander’s office said six navy ships and three military aircraft were searching for the missing plane....."
Could be Suu Kyi's last supper before being buried in Africa.
