Donald Trump’s Dangerous Tilt Towards War at Home and Abroad
Donald Trump’s speech yesterday at Quantico to the assembled General Officers of the US militaray was a tour de farce of narcissism (not a tour de force). His attempt to emulate the late George C. Scott in his iconic role in Patton was a bust because, instead of delivering a pithy, punchy message, Trump droned on for more than an hour repeating many of his standard lines — e.g., this war never would have started if I was President — but he did so with little enthusiasm. Definitely a low-energy moment.
Although the generals and admirals assembled sat in stony silence throughout his rambling address, none of them had the courage to stand up, walk out and resign in protest. It was a bad bobble head convention… And a lot of bald heads to boot. They are more interested in securing a lucrative retirement package than they are in refusing to obey an illegal order — i.e., bombing a civilian boat that was allegedly carrying drugs that had not fired on US ships or personnel.
In christening the Department of Defense as the new Department of War, Trump is not sending a message of peaceful intentions to the other nations that inhabit this world. Just the opposite. While he appears to have handed off the responsibility for waging war against Russia to Europe, there are disturbing indicators that he has not fully disengaged from the dream of defeating Russia. For example, just a few days after vowing never to refer to Russia as a paper tiger, he did it again.
Some European leaders are still toying with the idea of seizing Russian assets. We have this today in a short piece from Bloomberg: Moscow prepares a counterstrike in case of confiscation of Russia’s frozen assets. Here are the key points:
▪️Russia may nationalize and quickly sell foreign assets under a new privatization mechanism in response to any European moves to seize Russian assets abroad, the publication writes, Bloomberg reported a source close to the government.
▪️On Tuesday, Putin signed a decree allowing accelerated sale of state assets in a special procedure.
▪️If the European Union starts seizing Russian assets, Moscow may respond with symmetrical measures.
▪️Hundreds of Western companies operating in various sectors — from banking to consumer goods production — still operate in Russia, including UniCredit SpA, Raiffeisen Bank International AG, PepsiCo Inc, and Mondelez International Inc., the agency reminds.
▪️So far, Russia has refrained from nationalizing the assets of international corporations. Instead, it has taken some companies under temporary management.
Meanwhile, France appears to have grabbed the war-flag and is leading the charge in stirring up an expanded confrontation with Russia. The French Navy detained the tanker Boracay off the country’s coast on Tuesday, allegedly from the so-called Russian “shadow fleet.” The vessel is under sanctions by the UK and the EU. Earlier this year, it was already detained in Estonia for sailing without a valid flag.
According to MarineTraffic, the Boracay departed on September 20 from the Russian port of Primorsk carrying oil, passed through the Baltic Sea, went around Denmark from the north, entered the North Sea, and proceeded through the English Channel. The tanker is currently anchored near Saint-Nazaire in France.
In tandem with this, the French Army Chief of Staff announced that French troops must be ready for the start of intense warfare as early as tonight. This may be in response to a report from Borzzikman today that the Russians struck a maritime target in Odessa and killed 20 French engineers.
If the following report from Reuters is true, it means that Trump is authorizing an attack on Russia that is likely to elicit a significant response from Moscow that could escalate the situation into a full war:
The United States will provide Ukraine with intelligence for long-range missile strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, as it weighs whether to send Kyiv weapons that could put more targets within range.
The United States has long been sharing intelligence with Kyiv but Wednesday’s report said the new development will make it easier for Ukraine to hit refineries, pipelines, power stations and other infrastructure with the aim of depriving the Kremlin of revenue and oil. . .
According to U.S. officials cited by the Wall Street Journal, approval on additional intelligence came shortly before Trump posted on social media last week suggesting that Ukraine could retake all its land occupied by Russia, in a striking rhetorical shift in Kyiv’s favor.
Danny Davis and I spent some quality time together discussing the absurdity and dangers of Trump deploying US military forces into US cities… I specifically explain the profound difference, based on personal experience, between a military mindset and a law enforcement mindset:
Anyone who believes that DJT and Hegseth are trying to be peacemakers, you need medication bc that is absolutely NOT what they have planned. I just read that the Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier just passed the Rock of Gibraltar on its way east. This news combined with the big aircraft refueling planes have arrived at the base in Qatar-after DJT made-that’s right, he made Bibi call the president of QATAR and apologize for the bombing Israel did-otherwise no landing at that airbase! And DJT was ON THE PHONE W BIBI to hear the apology. Yup. We’re going to try to bomb Iran again. Just so amazingly STUPID!! If we do this, you can expect that Iran will close the Straits of Hormuz(sp) so fill your gas tank and get your tp and the rest of your groceries stocked up. If you think groceries are expensive now, just wait.
The forced meeting at Quantico was an insult to the Arm Forces. I was expecting that someone would get up and tell Trump, "We swore to uphold the Constitution, not you"; and all the other 800 also get up and say "Me too". I guess I am an idealist!