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McMaster Out, Bolton In: Implications for U.S. Syria Policy? Expect a Doubling Down on the American Euphrates Occupation Zone

On a more mixed note, the forced resignation of National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster removed an anti-Russian neocon leaker from the Trump White House, less than 48 hours after The Washington [Langley/Bezos/Deep State rag] Post received a likely McMaster leaked story about Trump being admonished by his advisers NOT to congratulate President Vladimir Putin on the Russian's reelection during a scheduled phone call. However, McMaster's replacement, former UN Ambassador John Bolton, is known as a pro-Israeli Likud and anti-Iranian fanatic.

Bolton's very recent advocacy of bombing Iran and preemptive strikes on North Korea's nuclear facilities scares even Congressional Democrats, for whom nothing short of Trump declaring war on Russia has proven sufficient since the Kremlin supposedly meddled against Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) denounced Bolton's nomination over his lies about Iraq WMD during the George W. Bush Administration and accused the President of forming a 'war cabinet'. Perhaps after so much posturing about waging Cold War 2 against the Russians from supposedly progressive and formerly anti-war turned globalist fake left rags like Mother Jones, the prospect of an actual war with Iran or North Korea is sobering the Democrats up.

The immediate implications from the Kremlin's perspective of a Bolton-led Trump national security team are uncertain, but are likely to include greater anticipated efforts to drive a wedge between Moscow and its ally in Tehran. Such moves from Bolton would include ordering U.S. Army backed forces to attack Iranian-advised Shi'a militias embedded with Syrian Arab Army (SAA) units, notwithstanding the recent warnings from Gerasimov that Moscow would fight back if its personnel were killed or injured in American strikes and Dunford's subsequent hotline diplomacy to reduce tensions.

Washington has already grabbed oil and gas fields east of the Euphrates, which would bolster arguments from Bolton, ideological allies like UN Amb. Nikki Haley and other Administration neocons to their nominal boss that an occupation can be maintained on the cheap. The goal being to deny Syrian natural resources to 'the Assad regime', and indirectly, its ally Iran.

Now that the chemical false flags planned to justify U.S. strikes amidst a build up of American naval power in the eastern Med and Gulf region appear to have been foiled, the end of the jihadist presence in Ghouta is likely to accelerate Washington's efforts to put more boots on the ground east of the Euphrates. The swift defeat of Kurdish YPG units that had previously been backed by Washington at the hands of the Turks around Afrin will give the Americans plenty of garrison duty manpower to work with, though the willingness of the Kurds to actually fight Damascus or pro-Iranian militiamen on behalf of the superpower that betrayed their brothers in Afrin remains highly dubious (and a major flaw in the neocons' plans for occupying eastern Syria indefinitely). Nonetheless, the build up at the base around al-Tanf in southeastern Syria close to the Jordanian border is consistent with a reported draw down of U.S. forces at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey and their relocation to Jordan and adjoining Euphrates valley Syria.

After Trump's recent phone call congratulating Vladimir Putin, and his defense of it on Twitter from hysterical MSM attacks, the State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert predictably condemned Russia as abetting chemical attacks by Assad and denying its role in the [Ukrainian executed false flag] shoot down of MH17 in 2014 and the recent poisoning of Sergey Skripal in the UK. Thus the contrast between the Commander in Chief and the visible as well as deep state determined to push bogus accusations against Moscow continues. Russia policy, to the extent that Moscow backs Tehran and its support for Assad in Syria, is almost certainly going to lead to clashes between Trump and Bolton.

Green and Non-Green Busses to Idlib: Thousands of Jihadis Agree to Safe Passage Exit With Their Families from Ghouta

The reason for the expected direction of U.S. policy to reinforce the Euphrates Valley occupation is obvious: the 'moderate' militants and not moderate Al-Qaeda terrorists have failed miserably. Although they launched one last big barrage that claimed dozens of killed and wounded in government held districts around Damascus, the terrorists are out of time, weapons and options. They can either hold out in the 20% of the pocket they formerly controlled and likely die in the rubble, or lay down their weapons and join their comrades and their families shuffling to the buses waiting at government checkpoints. Necessity is also governing American options in northern Syria, where Turkish forces skirmished with the SAA in artillery duels this week -- but haven't yet demonstrated resolve to press into government controlled territory near Aleppo. 

Is the U.S. Set to Agree to a Joint Occupation of Manbij with the Turkish Army?

According to experienced Mideast correspondent Elijah J. Magnier, the Russians are deconflicting mediators in talks between Damascus and Ankara. That takes a Turkish advance on Aleppo's outskirts off the table for now -- an advance some of the 'Free Syrian [now fully revealed as the neo-Ottoman mercenaries they were all along] Army's backers had hoped to see. For now President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is riding a wave of popularity in Turkey, achieving relatively easy gains on the ground against Ankara's PKK linked YPG enemy while using Syrian manpower to seize Afrin. The next target for the Turkish Army and 'FSA' units is Manbij, where U.S. troops were photographed in town as part of a rumored joint occupation.

The Turkish side has been telling its media for many days that the Americans would concede to a joint presence in Manbij, rather than fight a NATO ally for it. That appears to be the case, despite denials about a U.S.-Turkish deal from CIA sock puppet WaPost columnist David Ignatius...and the complication that some hotheads in the 'FSA' ranks had previously embarrassed their fans in Washington by vowing on camera to kill American 'infidel' occupiers. The Turks are hedging their language to some degree, perhaps to allow the U.S. side to save face, but it's clear the Kurds are being thrown under the bus and paying dearly for their foolish misplaced faith in Washington.

Moscow is also unlikely to do much about Manbij after previously establishing observation posts among Syrian government forces near the town and just a few kilometers from American troops. The Turkish Army is likely to advance even more rapidly against demoralized YPG units around Manbij than it did versus Afrin, which the Kurds had vowed to defend until their leadership abandoned the city -- just as the Iraqi Peshmergas fled oil-rich Kirkuk months earlier.

"The US has seen "initial signs" of Russian "subversion and disinformation and propaganda" in Mexico's presidential campaign, according to National Security Adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster McMaster made the comments when asked about Russia during a mid-December event at the Jamestown Foundation in Washington, DC, according to Mexican magazine Reforma. McMaster has mentioned Russia's "destablizing behavior" in Mexico and elsewhere several times in recent weeks. "For example, with Russia we are concerned, increasingly concerned, with these sophisticated campaigns of subversion and disinformation and propaganda, the use of cyber tools to do that," McMaster said, according to a clip of his speech obtained by José Díaz Briseño, Reforma's US correspondent. "As you've seen this is a really sophisticated effort to polarize democratic societies and pit communities within those societies against each other and create crises of confidence and to undermine the strength within Europe." "You see this most recently with the Catalonia independence referendum in Spain, for example," McMaster said. "You see actually initial signs of it in the Mexican presidential campaign already.""  -- http://www.businessinsider.com/mcmaster-us-russia-interference-mexico-election-2018-1

Jan. 5, 2018 (EIRNS)—During an interview with Voice of America, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster threatened Russia that it is "going to pay a huge price" for "empowering Iran."

"What we have seen recently is it seems as if Russia will actually act against its interests to spite the United States, the West, our European allies,"

he asserted.

"Every state, every Arab state certainly, should recognize what Russia has been doing, and Russia should pay the price in terms of its reputation, its access to the region for what it is doing to enable Iran and Iran’s very destructive activities..."

"What was need to do with Russia is confront their destabilizing behavior," and "pull the curtain back on it."

The release this week of a National Security Strategy document reveals that neocons within Trump's administration are trying to steer the administration into confrontation with both Russia and China.  The document identifies both nations as pursuing policies directly counter to U.S. interests.  In the introduction, the document claims that "China and Russia challenge American power, influence and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity.  They are determined to make economies less free and less fair, to grow their militaries, and to control information and data to repress their societies and expand their influence."

Later, the document asserts that Russia and China "want to shape a world antithetical to U.S. values and interests."  In a passage which is a thinly-veiled attack on the Belt-and-Road Initiative, China is singled out as seeking "to displace the United States in the Indo-Pacific Region, expand the reaches of its state-driven economic model, and reorder the region in its favor," while Russia is accused of seeking "to restore its great power status and establish spheres of influence near its borders."  President Xi's "win-win" approach, embodied in his New Silk Road policy, which would replace geopolitical confrontation with pursuit of common goals, is falsely characterized as a plan to dominate its neighbors economically, with military threats to back it up. 

In commenting on the document, Trump's National Security Advisor General H.R. McMaster explicitly endorsed geopolitics in a speech delivered to the U.K.-based think tank Policy Exchange, stating "Geopolitics are back with a vengeance, after this holiday from history we took in the so-called post-Cold War period."  He identified both Russia and China as strategic adversaries.  It is reported that the document reflects the views of McMaster and two assistants who participated in drafting the paper, Nadia Schadlow, a deputy assistant for National Strategic Strategy, and Dina Powell, deputy National Security Adviser and a Goldman Sachs alumnus. Both Schadlow and Powell served in the administration of George W. Bush.  

Schiller Institute President Helga Zepp LaRouche identified this language as an attempt to return the U.S. to the "neocon geopolitical confrontation" approach of the two previous administrations, and pointed to sharp denunciations by Russian and Chinese officials, which identified the document as an example of "old, outdated thinking."  But Mrs. LaRouche also pointed out Trump, in releasing the document, was less confrontational, as he said he will "attempt to build a great partnership with those [Russia and China] and other countries...."  The document also represents a restatement of Trump's commitment to oppose regime change, stating, "We understand that the American way of life cannot be imposed on others, nor is it the inevitable culmination of progress."  She identified the divergent points of emphasis as indication of an ongoing internal battle, noting that Trump recently had a very successful trip to China and has spoken repeatedly of his "great" personal relationship with China's President Xi, and has had several recent very productive discussions with Putin.

GEOPOLITICS MEANS WAR

It should be noted that the confrontational language in the report echoes comments of former top Obama officials, CIA Director John Brennan and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who were part of the "Get Trump" team from the outset, signing on to the infamous, still-unsubstantiated assessment released by the intelligence community on January 7, 2017, that concluded, "with high confidence", that Russia meddled in the U.S. presidential campaign.  On leaving their posts, both continued to attack Trump as naive for believing he can work with Russia.  On June 7, 2017, in Australia, Clapper claimed [in bizarre language reminiscent of Nazi racial theories about the genetic inferiority of Slavs -- JWS] that it is in Russia's "genes to be opposed, diametrically opposed, to the United States and western democracies."  The two joined forces again on CNN's "State of the Union" on November 12, 2017, to slam Trump and Russia.  Brennan said that Trump is "intimidated" by Putin, and that Russia is "a threat to our democracy."  Clapper chimed in, adding that "Putin is committed to undermining our system," and that Trump, by rejecting that view, "poses a peril to this country."

At the same time the National Security Strategy document was released, Newsweek magazine ran a cover story in its December 21 issue with the headline, "Putin is Preparing for World War III."  The article has the usual Fake News characterization of Putin as a paranoid authoritarian dictator who uses the threat of encirclement and war to cover up for his economic failures.  For example, it states that the Kremlin is mobilizing because "it is convinced war is imminent."  It includes a quote from a former British Ambassador to Russia (naturally, who wishes to be an anonymous source), who said "Russia is engaged in a strange sort of unilateral arms race."

This attempt to scare its readers is not a new tactic by Newsweek.  In August 2016 it reported, "Europeans Are Quietly Preparing for War with Russia."

An even more hysterical fantasy appeared in the German mass tabloid Bild Zeitung on December 20, citing two unnamed NATO officials who charged that the Zapad 2017 military exercise was a rehearsal for a full scale Russian military assault on Europe.  According to this story, the Russians plan to occupy three Baltic states, while attacking by air key infrastructure in Germany, Sweden and Finland, the latter two nations being pushed hard to play a more active role in NATO.  The article says the goal of Russia in launching such an attack is to paralyze NATO, while preventing reinforcements in the East.  This article appears as there is a concerted effort to boost defense spending in Europe, along with the promotion of a European Union "defense union."

MUELLER UNDER SIEGE

The move toward more aggressive war propaganda in the Trans-Atlantic region comes at a point when the Mueller witch hunt is being seriously undermined by exposes of corruption within its ranks.  The revelations of the role of top FBI Counterintelligence official, Peter Strzok, are particularly damaging, as they demonstrate conclusively that Strzok is at the center of a "web of corruption" which includes the highest levels of British intelligence, the Clinton campaign, and the FBI.  The effort to contain the damage by supporters of Mueller, by belittling the evidence of corruption as a "conspiracy theory", fell apart last week, as Congressional Republicans have become emboldened, in questioning leading FBI officials.  What is emerging in ongoing Congressional hearings is a picture that shows that Strzok was brought into the operation begun by James Comey, Clapper and Brennan to smear Trump with allegations that he was in a conspiracy with Putin to become President. Comey's team, with Strzok at its head, was engaged in the smear campaign to prevent Trump from winning the election.

The most damning evidence is a text message sent by Strzok to his mistress, FBI lawyer Lisa Page, which was discovered by the Inspector General of the Department of Justice (DOJ).  In the message, Strzok wrote to Page on August 15, 2016, "I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy's office that there's no way Trump gets elected, but I'm afraid we can't take that risk.  It's like an insurance policy...." Andy's office refers to Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, a close ally of the Clinton political machine, meaning that the FBI hierarchy was directly involved in a scheme to sink Trump's campaign; the "insurance policy" obviously refers to using the Russiagate story, which was just then being developed by Strzok's team, to remove Trump, should he win the election!

It was at this same time that Strzok and other top FBI officials were brought into collaboration with "former" MI6 official Christopher Steele, who produced a dossier alleging that Putin had sexual blackmail material against Trump.  Steele's dossier, produced for Fusion GPS "opposition research" company, was funded by the Clinton campaign, likely with full backing from leading elements of British intelligence, whose GCHQ had begun tracking Trump in the summer of 2015, long before he laid waste to a field of 17 Republican opponents.  Despite more than a year of attempts to corroborate Steele's allegations, McCabe admitted, in part through not answering questions in a Congressional hearing, that they have not been able to do it!

There are many other pieces to this story, including that of Strzok's role in exonerating Clinton for her use of a private server, his role in the set-up which led to Michael Flynn's plea to a single count of "lying to the FBI", and top DOJ official Bruce Ohr's meeting(s) with Steele, while his wife was employed by Fusion GPS.  These are coming out due to the work of Republican Congressmen, with more hearings to come.  A sample of some of the responses from Congressional investigators to these revelations gives a flavor of how things are turning against Mueller's prosecutorial thuggery and the FBI's systemic corruption.

On December 18, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) responded to the Strzok revelations by saying the anti-Trump messages sent back-and-forth with his mistress show an "unprecedented" level of bias.  "It is devastating" that they spoke of developing an "`insurance policy` in case Donald Trump won.  What I hope is that insurance policy was not a counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign.  This was a level of bias that you rarely see."

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), chair of the House Intelligence Committee, followed his committee hearings by asking, "I hate to use the word corrupt, but they've become at least so dirty that who's watching the watchmen?  Who's investigating these people?  There is no one." 

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who has been demanding subpoenas be issued so that all those involved can be interrogated, is especially focused on the Steele dossier, and whether it was used to obtain warrants from the secret FISA Court to conduct surveillance on the Trump campaign.  In reviewing the role of Strzok and Ohr, he said, "Everything points to the fact that there was an orchestrated plan to try to prevent Donald Trump from becoming the President of the United States."

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who recently spoke directly to Trump about what has been turned up involving "conflicts of interest" and "outright corruption", said "...it's time for Bob Mueller to put up or shut up.  If there's evidence of collusion, let's see it."  He said, in reference to the meeting in "Andy's room", that it is disgusting that a "bunch of bureaucrats can sit around and scheme about how to deprive the American people of their duly elected President."

ILLEGAL SEIZURE OF TRANSITION EMAILS

One other element of Mueller's prosecutorial fraud came to light last week, which was his team's seizure of tens of thousands of emails from Trump's transition team, despite the legal ruling by the General Counsel for the General Services Administration (GSA), Richard Beckler, that these were private, and should remain in the hands of the GSA.  When Beckler was hospitalized, Mueller's operatives seized the records, without receiving a court-approved subpoena.  Shortly after his hospitalization, Beckler passed away.

The seizure of these documents was the subject of a biting op ed by constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley in The Hill on December 18.  Turley, who is no fan of Trump, nevertheless correctly identified Mueller's action as "legally unprecedented and strategically reckless," warning that the use of "tainted" evidence could lead to the overturning of any conviction that Mueller might get.  Turley described this as an abuse of law, following in the footsteps of the notorious former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, writing that "Hoover's attitude toward the use of federal power lingers [within the FBI] like a dormant virus.  Too often investigators interpret uncertain legal questions as a license for action."  Turley specifically identified Mueller's lead prosecutor Andrew Weissman as one whose record includes "major reversals in past prosecutions for exceeding the scope of the criminal code or questionable ethical conduct."

Turley's comments, along with those of Fox News legal commentator Jeanine Pirro, represent a sharp break into the open in major media, reflecting the turn against Mueller's operations.  Pirro  called Mueller's team a "criminal cabal", which should be taken out in "cuffs" (handcuffs).  They are acting as a "core group of arrogant, corrupt and lawless individuals that felt that they, and not we, should decide a presidential election."

As these quotes from Congressman and legal experts show, there is now finally a willingness to break through the cover-up and get at the truth about Russiagate, that it has been a story concocted, from the beginning, with no evidence, to either contain Trump, or get rid of him, in defense of an old crumbling order, and that the real "meddling" in the election by a foreign country came from Britain, in coordination with the Clinton campaign and the FBI.  But that is not enough.  It is now time that the deeper issue behind Russiagate is exposed, and that issue is the unwillingness of the promoters of the neocon unilateral world order to give up their power.  The endless wars, and endless bailouts they have imposed are necessary for them keep the world embroiled in deadly, useless geopolitical conflicts, which inflict misery on the majority of the world's people, while allowing them to loot with impunity.