Donald J. Trump wins Presidency

Putin says trust erodes under Trump, Moscow icily receives Tillerson.

Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday trust had eroded between the United States and Russia under President Donald Trump, as Moscow delivered an unusually hostile reception to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a face-off over Syria.

Any hope in Russia that the Trump administration would herald less confrontational relations has been dashed in the past week after the new U.S. leader fired missiles at Syria to punish Moscow's ally for its suspected use of poison gas.

Just as Tillerson sat down for talks, a senior Russian official assailed the "primitiveness and loutishness" of U.S. rhetoric, part of a volley of statements that appeared timed to maximize the awkwardness during the first visit by a member of Trump's cabinet.

"One could say that the level of trust on a working level, especially on the military level, has not improved but has rather deteriorated," Putin said in an interview broadcast on Russian television moments after Tillerson sat down with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in an ornate hall.  More at link.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-idUSKBN17E1AF

President Trump, China's Xi Jinping talk North Korea as tension builds over nuclear threat.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a peaceful resolution of rising tension on the Korean peninsula in a telephone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday, as a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group steamed towards the region.

Trump's call with Xi, just days after they met in the United States, came as an influential state-run Chinese newspaper warned that the Korean peninsula was the closest it has been to a "military clash" since North Korea's first nuclear test in 2006.

The communication between the leaders underscores the increasing sense of urgency as tension escalates amid concern that reclusive North Korea could soon conduct a sixth nuclear test, or more missile launches, and Trump's threat of unilateral action to solve the problem. More at link.

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/04/12/president-trump-china-xi-jinping-talk-north-korea-tension-builds-nuclear-threat/22036741/

If Trump seriously thinks either Russia or China is going to let the US just walk into NK, so Washington can then point missiles directly at them, he really is off his head.

Undeniably, Fattie is a major headache, but his people have suffered enough without getting Freedumbed, and possibly radiated as well. IMO, China is better suited to sort this out with some delicacy, not least because it's on their doorstep.

If Trump's Armada starts setting off whizz-bangs, there is no telling where this will stop. Isn't there an old saying about all plans falling apart as soon as the first bullet is fired?

If the US launched any pre-emptive strike, Seoul’s ten million inhabitants could be obliterated by Kim Jong-un.
The trouble is that the North Korean leader believes that having a nuclear arsenal is an insurance policy against the sort of strike that America has just unleashed against Syria.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4403418/Beware-taking-Kim-s-death-cult-writes-MARK-SEDDON.html#ixzz4e3itwujr
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Yes - the attack on Syria justified Fattie's stance. That's quite a good piece about the folly of thinking NK will be a pushover. Or that the US would be greeted with flowers.

North Korea's hidden submarine threat is another worry as regime warns it's 'ready' for war.

The chilling thought of North Korea's fully submersible submarines firing a nuclear ballistic missile isn't as far-fetched as some might think.

The submarine threat adds to growing fears in the region as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's nuclear weapons ambitions show no signs of slowing.

A nuclear attack threat from a North Korean submarine is one of the nightmare scenarios facing Japan and South Korea.

The chilling thought of North Korea's fully submersible submarines firing a nuclear ballistic missile isn't as far-fetched as some might think. Pyongyang has made major advances in weapons in recent years and shown a willingness to use its submarines for offensive military actions.

Indeed, last month was the seventh anniversary of the sinking of South Korea's Cheonan navy ship by a North Korean submarine torpedo attack. That aggression killed 46 sailors and wasn't the first time the reclusive North had made incursions into South Korean waters.    More at link.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/12/north-korea-submarine-threat-is-another-worry.html

The chilling thought of North Korea's fully submersible submarines firing a nuclear ballistic missile isn't as far-fetched as some might think.

Strangely, I don't think it's 'far-fetched' at all. It doesn't seem to be dawning on Americans that NK will shoot back....

Melania Trump wins damages from Daily Mail publisher

LONDON (AP) — U.S. first lady Melania Trump has accepted an apology and damages from the publisher of the Daily Mail newspaper for reporting rumors about her time as a model, the two parties in the lawsuit said Wednesday.

In a joint statement, the parties said the Mail retracted its false statements that Trump "provided services beyond simply modeling" and agreed to pay damages and costs. The total settlement for the U.S. and U.K. lawsuits was about $2.9 million, according to a person familiar with the settlement who spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose the information, which was not released in court.

Trump sued the Daily Mail in Britain and Mail Online in the United States over an August 2016 article, which ran in the newspaper under the headline "Racy photos and troubling questions about his wife's past that could derail Trump."

In a lawsuit filed in New York in February, the first lady's attorneys argued that the report was false and damaged her ability to develop "multi-million dollar business relationships" based on her status as a well-known figure and "successful businesswoman."

As part of the settlement, the Mail published an apology, saying "we accept that these allegations about Mrs. Trump are not true and we retract and withdraw them." Catrin Evans, lawyer for the Mail's publisher, told a hearing at London's High Court that the company wanted "to set the record straight, and to apologize to the claimant for any distress and embarrassment that the articles may have caused her."

The settlement is far less than the first lady had sought. The U.S. lawsuit sought compensatory and punitive damages of at least $150 million.

Sky:

US: 'We can't have this relationship with Russia' amid tensions on Syria
19:06, UK, Wednesday 12 April 2017





The top US diplomat says there is a "low level of trust" between it and Russia and they "cannot have this sort of relationship".

More follows...

Maybe you should have thought of that a week ago, before you illegally bombed their ally?

Seeking to salvage ties, US and Russia agree on Syria probe

MOSCOW (AP) — Striving to salvage ties amid a fierce dispute over Syria, the United States and Russia on Wednesday agreed to work together on an international investigation of a Syrian chemical weapons attack last week that prompted retaliatory American missile strikes. Washington blames Russia's ally, Syrian President Bashar Assad, while Moscow says Syrian rebels are responsible.
https://www.mail.com/int/news/europe/5110036-seeking-to-salvage-ties-us-russia-agree-syria-prob.html#.1258-stage-hero1-1
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Analysis: Russia's Assad stance dims hopes for US thaw

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin's intervention in Syria has saved President Bashar Assad's government from imminent collapse and raised Russia's global clout. But after last week's chemical weapons attack their relationship is increasingly becoming a burden for Putin, jeopardizing chances for improved relations with the U.S.
https://www.mail.com/int/news/us/5111508-analysis-russias-assad-stance-dims-hopes-us-thaw.html#.1258-stage-hero1-2
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The Latest: Russia says Assad's removal benefits extremists

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is warning that Syrian President Bashar Assad's removal would profit the Islamic State group.
https://www.mail.com/int/news/europe/5110202-latest-russia-assads-removal-benefits-extremists.html#.1258-stage-hero1-3

Trump just threw Steve Bannon under the bus and backed it up over him.
In just a brief statement, he managed to portray Bannon as unimportant, ineffective, and on thin ice.

A little less than a week ago, I wrote that the knives were out for White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who was said to be clashing with other top administration officials, losing the president’s favor, and potentially on his way out of the administration.

On Tuesday, those reports were confirmed by the highest-level source possible — President Donald Trump himself.

In an interview, the New York Post’s Michael Goodwin asked Trump if he still had confidence in Bannon, and, Goodwin writes, “I did not get a definitive yes.”

Far from it. Instead, in just four remarkable and revealing sentences, Trump managed to 1) minimize Bannon’s role in his campaign and eventual victory, 2) seemingly betray some sensitivity about the “President Bannon” narrative, 3) confirm the reports of administration infighting, and 4) issue a public ultimatum.
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/4/12/15270756/steve-bannon-trump-new-york-post
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Trump Undercuts Top Adviser Stephen K. Bannon, Whose Job May Be in Danger.

WASHINGTON — Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump’s grenade-lobbing pugilist of a chief strategist, has a fitting nickname for his West Wing office: “The war room.”

But more and more, war is being waged on Mr. Bannon himself. And it is unclear how much longer he can survive in his job.

His isolation inside the White House, after weeks of bitter battle with other senior aides aligned with Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, appeared to grow even starker this week after Mr. Trump undercut Mr. Bannon in an interview and downplayed his role as the Trump campaign’s chief executive.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/12/us/politics/steve-bannon-white-house-trump.html

If Bannon is gone, then that's it pretty much over. I would love to know what happened to Trump - did someone leave a horse's head in his bed or something?

If Bannon is indeed gone, and goes back to Breitbart, then I don't give Trump much chance of completing a first term, never mind a second one, not after he's backstabbed his base.

As I was saying....

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-12/trump-reverses-nato-its-no-longer-obsolete

In a 'yuge' victory for the new administration, after spending less than 100 days in office no less, Trump has apparently managed to solve the issue of NATO's obsolescence after just declaring in a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg that "I said it was obsolete. It's no longer obsolete."

"The Secretary General and I had a productive discussion about what more NATO could do in the fight against terrorism. I complained about that a long time ago and they made a change. And now they do fight terrorism. I said it was obsolete. It's no longer obsolete."

And with that, Trump is one more major policy reversal closer to becoming just another mainstream politician.

Trump declares US-Russia relations may be at 'all-time low'

WASHINGTON (AP) — Laying bare deep and dangerous divisions on Syria and other issues, President Donald Trump declared Wednesday that U.S. relations with Russia "may be at an all-time low." His top diplomat offered a similarly grim assessment from the other side of the globe after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

"Right now we're not getting along with Russia at all," Trump said flatly during a White House news conference. It was stark evidence that the president is moving ever further from his campaign promises to establish better ties with Moscow.
Full report at link.
https://www.mail.com/int/news/europe/5110036-trump-declares-us-russia-relations-all-time-low.html#.1258-stage-hero1-1
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Analysis: Russia's Assad stance dims hopes for US thaw

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin's intervention in Syria has saved President Bashar Assad's government from imminent collapse and raised Russia's global clout. But after last week's chemical weapons attack their relationship is increasingly becoming a burden for Putin, jeopardizing chances for improved relations with the U.S. More ....
https://www.mail.com/int/news/us/5111508-analysis-russias-assad-stance-dims-hopes-us-thaw.html#.1258-stage-hero1-2

"Right now we're not getting along with Russia at all,"

Hmm, odd, can't think what could have caused that at all....

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-12/analysis-trump-bartiromo-exchange-which-involved-president-xi-chocolate-cake-and-mis

On the subject of that bizarre interview concerning Xi, missiles and chocolate cake.

I genuinely don't know what has happened to Trump in such a short space of time - the Trump babbling about 'beautiful babies' didn't even sound like him.

Stroke? Dementia? Shown the Zapruder tape? Melania told not to wear any pink suits in Dallas? Blackmail? Thing is, these screeching U-turns on policy aren't benefiting Trump, they are actually weakening him. If he's impeached for....just about any of this...then his base supporters won't care.

This is all very complicated, but, links....

https://consortiumnews.com/2017/04/12/trump-withholds-syria-sarin-evidence/

Trump Withholds Syria-Sarin Evidence

Quote:

But the larger point is that – given President Trump’s spotty record for getting facts straight – he and his administration should go the extra mile in presenting irrefutable evidence to support its assessments, not simply insisting that the world must “trust us.”

[In a separate analysis of the four-page dossier, Theodore Postol, a national security specialist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, concluded that the White House claims were clearly bogus, writing:

“I have reviewed the document carefully, and I believe it can be shown, without doubt, that the document does not provide any evidence whatsoever that the US government has concrete knowledge that the government of Syria was the source of the chemical attack in Khan Shaykhun, Syria at roughly 6 to 7 a.m. on April 4, 2017.

“In fact, a main piece of evidence that is cited in the document points to an attack that was executed by individuals on the ground, not from an aircraft, on the morning of April 4. This conclusion is based on an assumption made by the White House when it cited the source of the sarin release and the photographs of that source. My own assessment, is that the source was very likely tampered with or staged, so no serious conclusion could be made from the photographs cited by the White House.”]

The long report, which I haven't attempted to read, due to all this being way over my head:

https://www.scribd.com/document/344995943/Report-by-White-House-Alleging-Proof-of-Syria-as-the-Perpetrator-of-the-Nerve-Agent-Attack-in-Khan-Shaykhun-on-April-4-2017#from_embed


Assessment of White House April 17, 2017 Intelligence Report of April 11, 2017 Page 1 of 14 Pages
April 11, 2017
A Quick Turnaround Assessment of the White House Intelligence Report Issued on April 11, 2017 About the Nerve Agent Attack in Khan Shaykhun, Syria.
Theodore A. Postol Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology, and National Security Policy Massachusetts Institute of Technology

My own view is that Trump has made an appalling blunder, which may well end his presidency further down the road.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-12/lawmakers-demand-trump-pump-brakes-military-action-yemen

As conflict swirls over the recent U.S. bombing in Syria, more than 50 bipartisan lawmakers have demanded President Donald Trump seek approval from Congress before expanding U.S. military action in another Middle East theater: Yemen.

The letter sent this week came in response to reports that the Trump administration is considering a proposal to directly engage the U.S. military in Saudi Arabia’s war against the Houthis in Yemen, including a planned United Arab Emirates-led attack on the Yemeni port of Hodeida, currently held by Houthi rebels.

“Such an attack could push the country into full-blown famine, where nearly half a million children in Yemen are facing starvation,” said U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), who led the letter campaign along with Reps. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), Walter Jones (R-N.C.), and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.).
As Common Dreams reported in March, the U.S.-supported war in Yemen has already led the country to what one journalist described as “the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world.”

Furthermore, “Direct U.S. hostilities against Yemen’s Houthis would run counter to your pledge to pursue a ‘disciplined, deliberate and consistent foreign policy’ that protects American families in ‘every decision’,” reads the letter to Trump. “Indeed, according to U.S. defense officials, the U.S.-backed Saudi war against Houthis in Yemen has already ‘strengthened al Qaeda there’ and poses ‘a serious threat to U.S. security’.

Better show Ivanka photos of some of those 'beautiful babies' - or doesn't it count when they're being starved to death, or maimed and killed by bombs?

The best people? Trump's personnel picks haunt him

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump likes to boast that he only hires the best people. But his personnel choices keep coming back to haunt him. One of the people Trump hired for the White House was working as a foreign agent while advising him during the election. His campaign chairman caught the Justice Department's attention for similarly surreptitious work. And a third campaign adviser was reportedly surveilled by the FBI as part of an investigation into whether or not he was a Russian spy.

The tales of Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort and Carter Page — none of whom still work for Trump — have created a steady drip of allegations that have clouded Trump's early presidency and raised persistent questions about his judgment.

At worst, Trump's personnel picks appear to have left his campaign — and perhaps his White House — vulnerable to the influence of foreign powers. At best, they expose the long-term implications of his understaffed and inexperienced campaign organization and undermine his promises to surround himself with top notch talent.

"Vetting new hires is standard procedure for presidential campaigns for exactly this reason," said Alex Conant, who advised Sen. Marco Rubio's 2016 presidential campaign. "Every employee is also a potential liability on a presidential campaign."

Manafort, Flynn and Page have indeed become political liabilities for Trump that he can't shake in the White House. All three are being scrutinized as part of the FBI and congressional investigations into whether Trump associates helped Russia meddle in the 2016 election. The president has denied any nefarious ties to Russia and says he has no knowledge that his advisers were working with Moscow during the election.

The president's culpability appears greatest with Flynn, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general who traveled with Trump frequently on the campaign and was tapped as national security adviser after the election. Flynn had been lobbying for a company with ties to Turkey during the 2016 election and even wrote an editorial on behalf of his client that was published on Election Day.

"No one expects them to do the equivalent of an FBI background check, but a simple Google search could have solved a lot of these problems," Dan Pfeiffer, who served as senior adviser to President Barack Obama, said of Trump's team.

After Trump's victory, Flynn's lawyers alerted the transition team that he may have to register as a lobbying for a foreign entity, according to a person with knowledge of those discussions. The White House hired him anyway. After the inauguration, Flynn's lawyers told the White House counsel's office that the national security adviser would indeed have to move forward with that filing.

Flynn was fired in February after the White House said he misled Vice President Mike Pence and other top officials about his conversations with Russia's ambassador to the United States. Foreign lobbying is legal and lucrative. Both Republican and Democratic operatives offer their services to overseas clients. But the Justice Department requires Americans working on behalf of foreign interests to register, disclosing the nature of their work, the foreigners they dealt with and the money they made.

Willful failure to register for foreign lobbying work can carry up to a five-year prison sentence, but the Justice Department rarely brings criminal charges and instead urges violators to register. On Wednesday, a spokesman for former Trump campaign chairman Manafort said that he, too, under pressure from the Justice Department, would formally file for prior foreign lobbying. Manafort's work for political interests in Ukraine occurred before he was hired as Trump's campaign chairman, spokesman Jason Maloni said, though the U.S. government raised questions about his activities after he was hired by Trump.

"The work in question was widely known, concluded before Mr. Manafort began working with the Trump campaign and was not conducted on behalf of the Russian government," Maloni said. Manafort was pushed out of Trump's campaign in August after The Associated Press reported that his consulting firm had orchestrated a covert Washington lobbying operation on behalf of Ukraine's ruling political party without disclosing that work to the U.S. government.

The White House did not respond to questions Wednesday about when Trump learned about Manafort's foreign lobbying work and his discussions with the U.S. government about registering as a foreign agent.

The questions surrounding Page are perhaps the most serious. On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that the Justice Department obtained a highly secretive warrant to monitor his communications because there was reason to believe he was working as a Russian spy.

In March, Trump personally announced Page as part of a newly minted foreign policy advisory team. But as questions began swirling about Page's ties to Russia, the campaign started moving away from the little-known investment banker. Trump has since said he had no relationship with him.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that the Justice Department only obtained the warrant after the campaign distanced itself from Page. Chris Ashby, a Republican elections lawyer, said that while it's easy to blame Trump for missing red flags about his campaign advisers, it's not always possible to dig up details that potential hires aren't willing to disclose on their own.

"In the ideal world, you could rely on paid background checks, but you'd have to have the money and the time," Ashby said. "The farther down the ranks you go and certainly when you reach the ranks of unpaid advisers, that becomes impractical."

https://www.mail.com/int/news/us/5113016-best-people-trumps-personnel-picks-haunt.html#.1258-stage-hero1-1

I don't care if he's being advised by Nookie the Bear, as long as no-one is telling him it's a good idea to attack sovereign states, invade other nations, risk starting WW3, etc.......

Carter Page: 'Something may have come up in a conversation' with Russians about lifting US sanctions.

Carter Page, a foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump's presidential campaign, said that when he was in Moscow last summer, "something may have come up in a conversation" with Russians about lifting U.S. sanctions.

Page traveled to the Russian capital in July 2016 to give a speech at the New Economic School.

ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos asked Page on "Good Morning America" today if he met with anyone in the Russian government or connected to Russian intelligence during that trip.

Page said he briefly said "hello" to one of the school's board members.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/carter-page-conversation-russians-lifting-us-sanctions/story?id=46771486

Well, the stupid sanctions have been a flop. The people they have really damaged are EU farmers, especially the poor Greeks. Meanwhile, Russia has done trade deals with other nations for any exotic fruit they can't grow themselves, and Russian agriculture has boomed.

Oligarchs can always move money around, but the EU would freeze without Russian gas, and non-Russian astronauts would be earthbound - or Space Station stranded - forever more without co-operation.

I actually don't know why these pampered, elitist fools thought their stupid sanctions would have any effect in the first place. They clearly were unaware of the old Soviet saying about Guns before butter - if they had, they wouldn't have expected Russia to fall apart because they couldn't buy ten different varieties of feta cheese.

I have NO idea if this is true or not, it's impossible to tell nowadays:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-13/syria-claims-us-led-coalition-strike-isis-chemical-weapons-depot-has-killed-hundreds


"The jets of the so-called US-led coalition launched a strike at about 17:30-17:50 [local time, 14:30-14:50 GMT] on a Daesh warehouse where many foreign fighters were present. First a white cloud and then a yellow one appeared at the site of the strike, which points at the presence of a large number of poisonous substances. A fire at the site continued until 22:30 [19:30 GMT],"
The Syrian army yet again denied possessing chemical weapons. According to the Syrian General Staff, the US-led coalition's strike killed several hundred people, including civilians. Hundreds were poisoned as a result of the strike on Daesh's headquarters and depot with chemical weapons

However, the US has screwed up yet again, and admitted it:

I have reason to believe it is, Bonny. Incidentally, Tucker Carlson is an amazing guy who cuts through the BS etc....

I gather Tucker has demolished a couple of warmongers...

The so-called 'friendly fire' business is true, the Pentagon has admitted it. As for the other allegations....time will tell.

And if time tells that the supposed sarin attack by Assad was a crock of sh*t, then Trump is finished. Between listening to Ivanka, revelations about missiles aimed at Iraq and chocolate cake, he's handed every single one of his many enemies ample grounds to impeach him.

In all honesty, I am so deeply sad at what he is now doing after such a promising start.