Radioactive Russia Scandal

 

What if a person with political power and connections arranged the sale of twenty percent of America’s uranium supply to a foreign interest? What if they did this for monetary remuneration of millions of dollars? Would this person and their accomplices be guilty of some criminal prosecution? What if this person committed and arranged this deal while serving in a position of the Cabinet of a President who approved of the deal as he preferred that the Russians have the nuclear fuel than the United States. What if this deal was payback for favors being delivered to the person and their interests in the United States? How far and deep does such a connection need to be before it becomes treasonous? And what if this person gained financially from these dealings and would be able to use these dealings to further their efforts to become President of the United States? Exactly how far does one’s ambition and greed need go before their perfidy becomes criminal? These are the real questions which need be asked about dealing with Russia and directly with Vladimir Putin. But fear not, the mainstream American media and European media will not dare touch these acts, which done by anyone else, would get them tried for treason and potentially have them facing twelve men with bolt action rifles and only two with real bullets and the remainder with blanks so that none would know which one fired the fatal shots. Every man in the firing squad could claim that they fired the blank as the report of the rifle was less than normal and that would be every man’s actual feelings as none desire being the executioner. But worry not as no firing squad will ever be called for, even for such blatantly criminal acts as these, as some people of power are above such laws as committing treason; they simply could murder somebody during a press conference covered live in the East Garden of the White House and they would never face any charges.

 

We decided to start by inundating our readers with articles covering the Russia Uranium transfer, supposed possibly criminal activity. We were nice and gracious and did the search for you and here is a sampling of what we found, not necessarily read, but found. There is The Hill, Washington Times, Investor’s Business Daily , New York Post, U.K. Daily Mail, National Review, Fox News, POLITICO, Newsweek, and lastly Boston Herald. If you read all or even most of these articles, then you probably know more than virtually every Television news personality and most others who are chiming in on this controversy.

 

Now, perhaps we can get to our commentary on the entire fiasco. Were Bill and Hillary complicit, probably, but who cares and what does it matter? Vladimir Putin used one Clinton Foundation bribe in order to get approval for the UraniumOne purchase of twenty percent of American mined uranium as well as having all involved with the kickbacks remaining silent, clearing the way for Congressional ratification of the New START Treaty. Oh, if they are guilty of illegal behavior then they should be prosecuted. Right. Really? Why would this time be any different than all the misdealing and illegal quid-pro-quo dealings of hundreds upon hundreds of previous political scams and insider trading which they made perfectly legal for them but not for the rest of us? By now we should all be aware that politicians rarely indict or otherwise prosecute one another which is why the swamp never gets cleared no matter who makes the promise. This will be great fun for the media with many enjoying making great noise and making claims that they have the morsel of incriminating evidence which will seal the deal. Others will go to any extreme to prove that nothing untoward has occurred and if it did, then how about President Trump and Putin, you have not forgotten the stealing the election scandal now, have you? Every news source will cover the Clintons and Obamas dealings with the Russians and the uranium deal as well as the Trump-Putin election stealing exactly as you would expect, with their own slant politically. Where can one turn for accurate and unbiased reporting on this? When you find out, please let us know as they might also give such coverage to things about which we actually care.

 

The Clintons, Bushes, Obamas and virtually every other political family are safely beyond reach of legal officials as long as their deals are made under clouded conditions with paybacks made through third parties and in untraceable routes. They will find cover with the other politicians including even those of the other party as their mutual protection is part and parcel of their comradery. Their motto could be “In Each Other We Trust.” The Congressional leadership has been as crooked as one can imagine. Has anyone ever wondered how members of Congress, and senior staff who are covered by similar rules and lack of restrictions, hold positions which have salaries starting at $174,000 and going as high as possibly $250,000 manage to leave Congress after ten to twelve years as multi-millionaires? They manage such things through currency manipulation such as putting thousands of dollars into the currency of some little known nation where they are about to build a new military base or send hundreds of millions in an aid package and then transferring the currency back to the United States after it has gained in health compared to the U.S. dollars.

 

They invest buying the stocks of companies they are about to give a huge contract thus benefitting from the investment made by themselves and the government in which they are employed. If we tried to do this, we would face charges of insider trading and face criminal behavior, but these people are completely immune to such charges thus are permitted to trade with such foreknowledge of where the government largess will be placed. Perhaps this is why so many college graduates are so interested in gaining a position in the staff of a member of Congress as though the initial payments in the form of salaries is poor, once they make it to a certain level, then they can also invest using their knowledge as their guiding tool knowing all the coming investments which Congress may be about to approve. Sure seems to be a quick and easy route to the millionaires club and even higher for those who can mange to make a career on Capital Hill. No financially rewarding deal will ever be a prosecutorial under the rules which the government higher employers play by though accusations will be thrown hither and nigh between the two major parties one at the other in the name of throwing dirt to see what might stick. By stick they mean what the media will blow all out of proportion making into one giant scandal of the moment before the news cycle moves on to the next disaster. That is the reality of life in the swamp and almost nobody ever spends even just a short five years there without becoming infected by the scandalous behavior of the government and all the money and sleaze that inundates the city.

 

The Clintons had the advantage of having committed acts for which a normal person would have faced long prison terms and walked away free as they were politicians who could get away with murder (not that we would claim they ever actually murdered anyone though others have). They had their fair share of scandalous behavior and concerns while in Arkansas and coming to Washington D.C. simply provided them with a far larger swimming pool from which to commit their pandering. Willian Jefferson Clinton chose women in which to invest his pandering and criminal escapades while for Hillary there were only two things which mattered, power and wealth. She married Bill for the knowledge that he would rise politically and was driven and she could tag along for the ride and possibly take off on her own at some point. That point came once Bill had served two terms with her covering for his escapades and running interference. She then expected that he would give her the support required for her to rise and be President, exactly as he had been, she desired to become. His assistance was rather tepid and her efforts have thusfar failed but she has reaped in the monetary half of her desires. The problem is that Senator from New York and even Secretary of State has not satisfied her lusts for the ultimate power, President of the United States. The Russia uranium deal was just another monetary arrangement, in which she gave Vladimir Putin and his power structure and financial friends what they desired, was repaid handsomely and likely promised that Putin will support her next bid for the White House just as he had presumably supported Donald Trump. President Obama desired this deal for the reason that it served his ideals of leveling the world and bringing the United States down from the position as the most powerful nation in the world and transferred some of that power to the Russians, and this served to weaken the United States and empower the Russians, what could have been better?

 

Clinton vs Trump

 

This was the big event which was never supposed to become an issue as Hillary was all but guaranteed to become the first woman President of the United States starting January 20, 2017, Inauguration Day. As something went wrong and now perhaps the Russian uranium deal would be exposed while still potentially relevant, there had to be some competing Russian scandal. Now enters that Russia and President Vladimir Putin stole the election through dirty tricks for Donald Trump as there can be no other explanation for why Hillary Clinton lost a sure fire election. The Russians were helping Republicans and were against Hillary, thus how could anybody expect us to believe that the Russians and Hillary Clinton had worked together in a cash for uranium deal if they worked to elect Trump. There you have the competing Russian evil manipulation of the United States elections and nothing, not even twenty percent of the mined uranium in America could compete with stealing the Presidency. And the media, in their collusion, ate it up and ran and are still running with it but some stories refuse to be outdone and just scream to be investigated. That is the problem Hillary Clinton and potentially others are facing as this was a deal beyond the pale if it proves true.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Trump and the New Syria Policy

 

Trump has a new Syria policy which, except for one major change, which may not even really be any change, looks awfully similar to the Trump old Syria policy. What we witnessed last Friday was the Trump policy on the use of weapons of mass destruction against civilians. It mattered not whether it had been Syria, North Korea, Libya or any other place where such hideous acts might have been carried out. Wherever there would have been any use of chemical, biological, nuclear or any other weapons of mass destruction against civilians; whoever or whichever nation or leader who would have utilized weapons of mass destruction murdering any number large or small of civilians; would have probably been the recipients of an American strike by Tomahawk Cruise Missiles or B-52 long-range heavy bombers or other long arm of United States military reach to send the message that the United States would no longer stand by and simply twiddle our thumbs or make empty threats setting erasable red lines against such use of these weapons. The message might even have been extended for any mass murdering of civilians using even normative weapons such as barrel bombs or even artillery bombardment. This was President Trump announcing that the United States of old has returned and that nations and their leaders will be held responsible for their actions. We bet that exactly what Trump announced as a challenge to the rest of the world during his short commentary on the Syria attack was the meat that we should take away from the action against Syria, that he desires leading the world in efforts to end the horrors of terrorism by targeting the terror leadership.

 

So, what about this war against Syria everybody claims President Trump just declared? Well, first thing is that, as a number of Congresspersons mentioned, Congress is the body of the government which declares wars and also must be conferred with and approve any sustained military engagements. If President Trump plans an extended military confrontation against Syria, he will be required to get Congressional approval. We would advise not holding your breath waiting for the speech from President Trump before Congress asking for either a declaration of war or an extension for military operations in Syria. President Trump was simply sending a message with an exclamation point. His promise not to enter the Syrian war remains in place as does his promise not to get mired down in any Middle East war. Syria will remain a Russian playground unless Bashir al-Assad has not learned his lesson. Even if Assad is thinking that he might just desire to test the mettle of this new American President and see if this was just simply a one-off and that President Trump simply really is no different than his predecessor, President Obama; the odds are that Russian President Putin likely would advise him against any such stupidity. Even if Bashir al-Assad did not get the message or believes the message which was sent, we can trust that President Putin definitely got the message and that will serve just as well.

 

 

But what about the long term cost of this military adventure? Has President Trump completely alienated President Putin? After all, President Putin did cancel the agreement where the United States and Russia exchanged information between their military commands so as not to have any misunderstandings or run any risk of their two militaries running into one another as a surprise. That action by President Putin was more posturing than actual anger as that communication likely was used before the attack so that the Russians were advised, likely with insufficient time to warn the Syrians and just sufficient time to get their own people to safety. Even if the Russians were able to warn the Syrians, the message still was received and both leaders, Putin and Assad, likely also know if another such punitive attack should become necessary, there will be no warnings next time. This was a message for more than Assad or Putin; this was a message to the world and most definitely was not a declaration of the United States entering the Syrian war. Those claiming such are simply attempting to be alarmist and are simply people who were not strongly supportive of Trump and were seeking a reason, any reason to run from him and joining those bashing him daily on social media. Those others who would love nothing more than for President Trump to get mired down in the Syrian war and have come out of the woodwork to support this military actions and are calling for more follow-on military actions are not friends of the President and are not seeking the best for him. These are the ones who have opposed President Trump and his non-interventionist policies and are hoping beyond hope that they can finally force him into supporting their policies. They will lose as President Trump if nothing else is his own man and will do as he desires. He signaled exactly his desired path during the campaign and this attack was no deviation.

 

On another front, this attack should remove some of the silliness that President Trump was nothing but President Putin’s marionette. The distraction from the real scandal should be dead and buried and we can now get on to looking for how deep the rabbit hole which starts with President Obama’s National Security Adviser Susan Rice and likely leads right to the President himself. Even if the Russians did actually purloin e-mails from the Democratic National Committee and from Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Chief, John Podesta, e-mails and make them public, had the media been worth their salt they would have found this information themselves. The Democratic National Committee e-mails were not stolen anyway as it is already a known fact that they were leaked by somebody inside the DNC. This means that the media was probably given access to this information and decided to sit on it as it did not serve placing Hillary into the White House. That would even include FOX News as many of the reporters and editorialists even at FOX were in the, “Anybody but Trump Camp,” even if that meant Hillary Clinton. It took somebody not so much interested in the election as they are in releasing anything which was factual and the public should have the right to know. Information on a Presidential candidate definitely fell into those criteria. That was likely the main driving factor behind Wikileaks putting out the information which was in those communications. They actually provided a service for the American voters by placing before them news which the media refused to provide despite its obvious importance. These leaks were more of a shaming of the media than it was a shaming of Hillary Clinton, as it was Hillary Clinton which shamed Hillary Clinton. President Abraham Lincoln loved the truth and trusted the people and his words should be revered by the media and rejoiced by bartenders. President Lincoln is quoted having written or said, “I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer.” We too favor his opinion, waitress, another pitcher if you please.

 

Pitcher of Beer

 

Kidding aside, Wikileaks should be given a great amount of thanks for revealing truths which the American media refused to release. Where we doubt that their releases actually cost Hillary Clinton a single vote, but we do believe that they may have pushed a few wavering voters to change from simply sleeping in and then going golfing to actually voting for Donald Trump. Our friends in Michigan and Wisconsin will tell us that their going for Trump had nothing to do with people not going to play golf; nobody plays golf there except in July or August because the rest of the year the weather and lake effect storms make such an unpleasant venture. Whatever those few people who were swayed by the information, the truths, released by Wikileaks may or may not have made the difference, but we doubt they did sway the election for Trump as the two camps in the United States have drifted to such extremes that there are probably not sufficient people sitting on the fence and the majority of voters are all from each candidate’s base. The problem is for the candidate who does not excite or have the trust of their party base of voters. As far as getting into the war in Syria, that would have been Hillary’s game, not President Trump. We can close telling our friends in the United States and elsewhere, President Trump was taking a shot across the bow of any state actor who might be misjudging him and thinking that they can use weapons of mass destruction or any weapons indiscriminately, and they had best rethink, as that is something he will not suffer. Instead, President Trump will make such a reckless leader suffer and take the side of any suffering people as long as it will not lead to harming the United States. Do not get to thinking President Trump changed as his number one love and devotion outside of his family is his country, the United States of America.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

What Assad Chemical Attack Means for Israel

 

Assad still has no respect for President Trump, the new American President, who he expects to be no different than President Obama. He has basically done an ‘in your face’ chemical agent attack on the Syrian people once again testing the nerve and limits President Trump might impose. But what does all of this have to do with Israel? Well, if Bashir al-Assad has so little concern for his own people, fellow Muslims, even if they are Sunni and not Shia, how much concern would he have for the Jews in Israel? The answer is obvious; None! So with this knowledge the question the Israeli leadership should be considering is what, if anything, should they be considering. So, what would we be considering were we in their shoes?

 

The first thing we would do if we were in Prime Minister Netanyahu shoes is make a call of convenience to Russian President Putin. We would ask how’s the family, how’s the weather in Moscow, did you sleep well last night, and then ask, what do you say we talk a little Bashir al-Assad. When Putin says he does not desire to talk about anything to do with Syria the next thing that should be said, would you like to talk or should we simply act? That ought to get Putin’s attention. Then there would come a serious discussion about Putin shortening the leash on his pet dog in Syria or Israel will take care of the problem. Then we would remind Putin that the KGB is not the only Special Forces trash removal specialists in the world. Simply let Putin know that should Bashir al-Assad ever use chemical agents again that it would be one of the final acts of his already too long life. We would then thank Putin for his assistance in advance and tell him to feel free to call should any problems begin to appear that might need discussion and express Israeli willingness to always discuss any problems or difficulties which may present themselves in relations between our two nations. Then we would thank him for his time and express the hope that there would be no further need to discuss Assad in the future.

 

Vladimir Putin and Bashir al-Assad

 

There would be no need to tell the world or to make any threats or rattle any sabers. Such posturing would only act as a challenge to Assad to go ahead and use these weapons again simply to prove that he is not afraid of the Israelis. By engaging the Russians, that path might prove to allow for them to apply soft pressure to prevent any further use of chemical weapons in Syria and also against Israel in any future military confrontation that may arise between Israel and Syria and might even prove to be a warning to Hezballah leader Nasrallah also that such weapons use would result in his being hunted down. Unfortunately, there is no warning which would have any effect on the Iranian leadership as their actions are guided by fanatical religious fever where no amount of threat to the leaders will turn them from their decisions for using any weapons, especially against either Israel or the United States as they feel that they are being commanded by Allah to wipe out both nations and take their place ruling the entire planet. What makes the Iranian leaders even more dangerous is their fanatical belief that should they fall in such efforts they would be rewarded in the afterlife and the next rulers would simply follow with their efforts and eventually their efforts must succeed as Allah has promised such.

 

Trying to deal with Iran is fruitless as they are on a religious quest which they believe was assigned them by Allah and thus their lives are meaningless in comparison to their charge by Allah. Their belief cannot be swayed by reason or threat as to them such would only serve to send them to Paradise in an afterlife filled with unending pleasures in lush environs with rivers and waterfalls and all the physical things they were denied on earth. They believe they are but tools and part of something far greater than themselves which has been predetermined and already set in motion and their part is but a brief role which will more likely to be completed by their successors which is perfectly wonderful as far as they are concerned. Nasrallah is also a religiously inspired individual but also has proven to be very fond of his own life. This has been proven by his spending much of his life hidden in a bunker presumably to prevent any Israeli strike killing him. He more often than not does not appear in person and makes his appearances by video feed or recorded video also presumably for his safety. These actions stand in stark contrast to the Mullahs who almost always appear in person often announced well ahead of time with little if any regard for their safety. They have no apparent fear of an Israeli strike almost as if they expect they have their lives protected by Allah. Bashir al-Assad also has shown actions which point to his valuing his life very much. He had a large security force assigned to one thing, protecting his life. These soldiers were considered elite, well-trained, expert security officers who would be willing to give their lives to protect Bashir al-Assad, similar to the Secret Service in the United States and other similar security forces throughout the world protecting numerous world leaders. Religiously driven leaders who are more concerned with religious fates than their lives do not usually surround themselves with large security forces or use remote video when making speeches or other appearances.

 

The facts pointing to the fact that both Assad and Nasrallah take great concern and care in protecting their own lives means that any warning which is taken seriously by these men could serve to prevent these men from acting in undesired manner. This would also imply that by sending such a serious warning through Russian President Putin to al-Assad with having him alter his actions in the future would imply that he and possibly Nasrallah might now be persuaded against using weapons of mass destruction against Israel. Such a reality could be very precious in future scenarios which may come to fruition where Israel and either the Syrian or Hezballah in a war against Israel. The use of such weapons as part of a war where Israel was engaged with Syria or Hezballah has been a serious concern, for both the people and especially the government. The use by Assad of weapons of mass destruction has sent chills through much of the world and especially many Israelis as anybody using such weapons on his own people would be little concerned with using such against others, especially Israel with whom he considers them mortal enemies. When President Obama backed away from his set ‘red line’ the world should have realized then that Assad was an unstable individual who has no regard for the lives of others. His use of chemical agents, barrel bombs, and other bombings and other attacks on civilian centers relentlessly should have set the world on edge as the fact that Assad was using such weapons without any opposition would allow any other megalomaniac with such weapons, say some leader in North Korea, to also turn to using such weapons expecting no reprisals. That is the reason that Assad needs stopping and as Israel has the most to lose from Assad’s use of such weapons, they should consider an intervention, and using the Russians is probably the most efficient means. Anyway one looks at this recent use of chemical weapons by Assad, the world need make sure that this was the final time and the only considerations should be what means should be utilized in assuring that Assad never again uses such weapons, even never again using any weapons would be preferable.

 

Beyond the Cusp