Author: Brad Johnson

Former President Barack Obama, standing with Former Vice President Joe Biden, talks about the Iran Nuclear Deal on July 14, 2015. (Andrew Harnik-Pool/Getty Images)

 

Here’s a question that Iran critics such as U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) may want to ask: Did former President Barack Obama have a secret quid pro quo with Iran in 2008 or 2012?

The question has new resonance, and not just because of trumped-up charges that the Trump administration had a quid pro quo with Ukraine, but because of reports that Iran indeed did have uranium at a site the country had called a carpet-cleaning factory.

Specifically, on Nov. 11, the BBC reported the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed its inspectors “detected natural uranium particles of anthropogenic origin at a location in Iran not declared to the agency.”

The revelation seemed to confirm charges that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leveled in his 2018 U.N. speech, showing photos of a complex in Turquzabad that he called “a secret atomic warehouse for storing massive amounts of equipment and materiel from Iran’s secret nuclear weapons program.”

The IAEA’s report raises questions about the process Obama went through to create the Iran deal that was put in place without congressional approval—and which the Trump administration has rightly rejected.

Unlike Ukraine, the regime in Iran is one of the United States’ most hated enemies. According to Gallup, the American people since at least 1990—and likely since Iran’s Islamic revolution in 1979—have held a consistently negative view of Iran, understandably so given the country’s American hostage-taking, American soldier-killing, “Death-to-America”-chanting ways.

Yet, in 2008, then-candidate Obama openly signaled he hoped to engage Iran in a conversation about working together. Moreover, one critic asserted that Obama sent former Clinton State Department official William Miller to Iran to indicate that he was a friend of the Islamic Republic, and that they would be very happy with Obama’s policies.

Another critic characterized this outreach as “a private citizen going to foreign soil obviously in order to evade U.S. intelligence monitoring and establishing a backchannel with a sworn enemy of the United States who was actively disrupting our efforts in the military in the Middle East.”

Miller has recanted, but the Iranians maintained intransigence to Bush pressure, confirming Obama’s public premise.

Fast forward: As 2012 approached, a Chamberlain-minded mediaite called on Obama to pause his Iran “policy of pressure, pressure and more pressure” and engage President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whom he dubbed a “pragmatist.”

But Syria began to descend into civil war, aided by Iranians and their proxies, as one opponent, a Sunni jihadi force we now know as Islamic State, metastasized across Syria and Iraq. Gulf powers began to beg Washington to help “moderate” Sunni opposition.

One excellent exegesis by Michael Doran in Mosaic magazine reports that then-CIA Director David Petraeus “put together a plan to train and equip Syrian rebels in Jordan and to assist them once back in Syria,” garnering support from then-Secretary of State Clinton, then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and then-Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey.

But Obama said no.

Why?

Doran claims one potential reason was Obama’s “fear of antagonizing Iran”—leading not only to the Syrian slaughter, but the largest refugee crisis since World War II.

Instead, in July 2012, Jake Sullivan, then-State Department director of policy planning, traveled secretly to Oman to meet with Iranian officials.

What Sullivan said isn’t known, but we do know that at almost this exact time, a hot mic caught Obama telling another foreign leader—of Russia no less–“this can be solved, but it’s important … to give me space. This is my last election. After my election, I have more flexibility.”

Was a similar message delivered in Oman?

That is, did Obama collude with not just Russia but Iran to win the 2012 presidential election?

In early 2013, with Obama safely reelected and his newfound flexibility in hand, his administration developed another secret bilateral channel to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government—not Hassan Rouhani’s so-called moderate government starting in June 2013, as the Obama administration later claimed, but the hard-line one.

By February 2013, the backchannel had widened to include not only Sullivan, but then-Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and then-Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice, all in communication with their Iranian counterparts.

Yet asked about it that same month, then-State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland denied “direct, secret bilateral talks with Iran.” Faced with the truth, a reporter later asked if it was “the policy of the State Department to lie in order” to conceal secret negotiations; Nuland’s replacement replied, “There are times when diplomacy needs privacy in order to progress.”

By a series of odd coincidences, Nuland went on to hold the Ukraine portfolio, joined Joe Biden in calling for the Ukranian prosecutor looking into Burisma to go, interfaced with the likely whistleblower, and worked with Christopher Steele in delivering anti-Trump material to the Department of Justice.

Burns also resurfaced to defend career diplomats coming out to criticize the president.

“For them to be dismissed unfairly and accused of acting out of some political motive I think is just wrong,” said Burns, now president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “It gives a lie to the deep state caricature. These aren’t people plotting behind anyone’s back. They are stepping up to do their jobs.”

With Ukrainian quid pro quo accusations (and the Turquzabad revelations) ringing in our ears, we don’t know whether Miller actually went to Iran in 2008, or what he said if he did, nor do we know what Sullivan said in his secret July 2012 meeting with the Iranians either.

But given House and Senate Democrats’ sudden interest in investigating foreign quid pro quos, now may be the time for Cotton, Cruz, and others to start asking when we’re going to get details on Miller’s and Sullivan’s Iran contacts as well.

Christopher C. Hull holds a doctorate in government from Georgetown University. He is president of Issue Management Inc., senior fellow at Americans for Intelligence Reform, and author of “Grassroots Rules” (Stanford, 2007).

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

 

 

 

 

 

IRAQ/ISIS

An entity calling itself “The Iraqi Media Security Cell” has announced on twitter that it has just arrested a major lieutenant of the late ISIS leader al-Baghdadi. This fellow called himself Abu Khaldun, though his real name is Hamid Shakir Saba’ al-Badri. According to a report on al-arabiyya he was caught by Iraqi police in an apartment in Kirkuk, in the northern part of Iraq. He was a paternal nephew of al-Baghdadi’s and headed the Islamic State’s intelligence unit.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Iraq, the anti-government and anti-Iranian demonstration are continuing without let-up, particularly in the southern, Shi’a-dominated parts of the country. This is in spite of the Iranian-backed Shi’a heshd sh’abi (popular militias), and some elements of the regular Iraqi security forces, using live rounds against demonstrators.

In another matter, Iraqi authorities have also reported that 5 rockets have landed inside an American base in Iraq’s western, Sunni-dominated, province of Anbar. There were no casualties from this attack. The missiles allegedly came “from a desert area east of the American base.” A group calling itself “the al-Jazeera and desert operations” claimed responsibility.

COMMENT: The term “al-jazeera” in Arabic usually means “Island,” but can also have other nuances. In this case it refers to an area in Northern Syria just south of the Euphrates. Also, north of the Euphrates is a vast desert region extending into Iraq’s Anbar province which, in the past, was often called “al-Jazeera.”

The above-mentioned group is probably an offshoot of ISIS just trying to prove that they are still around, and still active in the Iraq/Syria theater.

TURKEY/LIBYA

Turkey has just signed a maritime “boundaries” treaty with the Fayez Sirraaj government in Tripoli, Libya. According to this treaty, both countries “agree” where their “mutual” maritime boundary is, and that both countries have the right to “share” in the economic exploitation (meaning drilling for oil) in each other’s claimed maritime “territory.”

Other agreements were also reportedly signing whereby Turkey promised to step up its already vigorous economic and military aid to the Sirraaj government.

This treaty has been reported on by virtually every Arab and international news entity on the planet, some favorably, others not so favorably.

For example, the headlines for a recent essay on the Saudi-owned www.alarabiyya.net
screamed: LIBYAN ARMY OFFICIAL TO AL-ARABIYYA NET: WE WILL NEVER LEAVE LIBYA TO THE TURKS!

Brigadier General Khalid Mahjoub, the director of “moral guidance” in the Libyan national army stressed that no matter how much military support Ankara gives to the armed militias serving the Tripoli side and the latest political leader of the Muslim Brotherhood organization (an off-handed reference to Fayez Sirraaj), the Libyan army will never leave Libya to the Turks.

Gen. Mahjoub added that these recent agreements between Ankara and Tripoli reveal Turkey’s ambitions to expand in Africa and the Mediterranean. In this regard he warned that Turkey, once it has a foothold, will never withdraw and will try as much as possible to penetrate these areas.

The unnamed author of the al-arabiyya article added that these agreements will open the door for Turkey to send more support to the armed militias allied with it and to enflame the Libyan struggle as well as serving as the doorway for Turkey to exploit Libya’s energy sources and gain control of them.

ANALYSIS

This treaty essentially gives Turkey the right to drill for oil anywhere within Libyan territorial waters–and in the minds of the Turks, anywhere in the eastern Mediterranean.
Needless to say, virtually every Arab country not currently allied to Turkey (as well as Greece) has condemned the treaty.

While the above-mentioned Gen. Mahjoub seemed to believe that Turkey’s main interest in Libya and the rest of Africa has to do with economics and the lust for energy and other resources, any close examination of Turkey’s president Erdogan reveals much more than economic interests in these regions. This is nothing less than the physical expansion of Turkey and one more step taken in its desire to resurrect the Ottoman Empire, a new caliphate, with Turkey as its head. Erdogan, in his head, already believes that he is the consecrated Caliph, the successor to Muhammad. Therefore, all the countries around the Mediterranean basin which were once a part of the old Ottoman Empire, are, by definition, nothing more than provinces of Turkey. They just haven’t realized that fact yet.

Therefore Turkey believes that it has the right to drill for oil anywhere in the eastern Mediterranean because it believes that it is the re-incarnation of the Ottoman Empire during which time the entire eastern Mediterranean (and most of the western Med. as well) was an Ottoman lake. Therefore, Turkey is only laying claim to what it believes is its natural right.

Egypt and its Arab allies (including the Haftar movement and its allied parliament in Tabruk) have complained that this “treaty” is illegal because the Sirraaj government of Tripoli controls only the city of Tripoli and therefore has no authority to sign away the rest of Libya’s coastal waters to a foreign power. Egypt and other countries around the Mediterranean basin also fear that Turkey’s moves threaten their own territorial waters.

Greece has scoffed at the treaty because Turkey and Libya have no geographic justification to sign such a treaty because in between both countries is a huge geographical land mass called Crete which is part of Greece’s national territory–Meaning that the existence of Crete has to be ignored before one can imagine the territorial waters of Turkey and Libya to meet.

But what Greece is forgetting, is that according to Turkish sentiments, Crete, and in fact all of Greece, are nothing more that provinces of Turkey’s Ottoman Empire.

I do believe, also, that NATO, and the pro-West leaders of the Arab world (such as they are), better take a closer look at these Tripoli/Ankara treaties–particularly the clauses stipulating increased Turkish support for the militias fighting on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood Sirraaj government. These militias, as reported on this site numerous times over the past several months, are essentially left-over ISIS, al-Qaeda, Muslim Brotherhood, and Ansar ash-Shari’a personnel.

In Turkey’s current invasion and occupation of portions of Syria Erdogan has utilized militias composed of ISIS, al-Qaeda, and Muslim Brotherhood members which Turkey “captures” then recycles into new militias with different names and then inserts them into what it is now calling “The Syrian National Army.” These units are currently in the process of conquering Syria for Erdogan’s new Ottoman empire.

Many of the thousands of left-over ISIS fighters in the Syria/Iraq region are currently being rounded up by Turkey, while others are seeking refuge in the territory of their former patron, Turkey. My fear is that while many of these fighters will be recycled into Erdogan’s “Syrian National Army” for the continued conquest of Syria, others will be sent to Libya as part of the above-mentioned treaty promises of “increased Turkish military aid for the militias serving Tripoli.”

In this regard, I will leave readers with one final note. Rumors are seeping out of the Turkish prisons where former ISIS fighters are being held saying that “it will start again.”

We will report more on this in future installments. Stay tuned.

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Barry Webb has logged a 25-year career as an Arabist for the NSA, has two MA degrees in related subject matter, and is currently a Senior Fellow with Americans for Intelligence Reform www.intelreform.org. He is the author of Confessions of an (ex) NSA spy: Why America and its Allies are Losing the War on Terror. His website is www.barrywebbauthor.com

Did the Russians interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections? And, if so, on which side? Though I am a Middle East and Islam expert, I followed the Russia Gate scandal as it unfolded during the run-up to the 2016 elections, and for several months afterwards. At the time I was subscribing to a Magazine called EYE SPY which is printed in London. The writers, correspondents, and editors of this magazine are closely linked to Britain’s foreign intelligence agency, MI6. In fact, it appears that the magazine’s editing and subscription offices might well be located within an MI6 office. Yet, the magazine is sold as open source material on newsstands around the English speaking world.

In this essay, I will provide readers with the basics of the Russia Gate scandal as uncovered by this EYE SPY magazine, then I will provide some conflicting stories derived from other media. At the end I will try to analyze this mess.

RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE SERVICES

First, I should brief readers about the various Russian Intelligence services to help keep the players straight.

In the old days, the Soviet Union had only two intelligence agencies (that I know of), one was the GRU, which was the Soviet Military Intelligence arm. That agency still exists today as the Military Intelligence agency of the Russian Federation–and it is still called the GRU.

The other old Soviet intelligence agency was the infamous KGB. Just say “KGB” to anyone and it conjures up nothing but negative images of super spies running around the world trying to kill James Bond, or secret police breaking down the door of a suspected dissident at three in the morning. But the KGB was much more than that. Picture the NSA, DHS, FBI, and CIA all rolled into one agency. That was the KGB.

When the Soviet Union broke up in 1989-1990, the KGB was disbanded. Many of its former agents became Russian mafia figures. Others were eventually recycled into two new Russian Federation intelligence agencies. By far the smallest one is the SVR. It is the SVR that does all the James Bond stuff these days. It is they who run spies in foreign countries, it is they who recruit citizens of target countries and pays them for services rendered and/or for information of intelligence value called “humint.”

The much larger agency, and the one we will be concerned with for this article is known as the Federal Security Bureau, or FSB. To understand what the FSB is think of having the NSA, FBI, DHS, and the analytical wing of the CIA all rolled into one agency.

It is primarily the FSB that we will be concerned with in this essay, though the GRU may have played a small role to be noted towards the end.

CHRISTOPHER STEELE

The author of the infamous “Trump Dossier,” sometimes called the “Steele Dossier,” which is at the foundation of the entire Russia Gate hoax was one Christopher Steele. Steele was a former Russia expert/agent for Britain’s MI6, and as such had spent a lot of time in Moscow and had a lot of contacts there. From 2006 to 2009 he ran the Russia desk in MI6’s London HQs. Upon retiring in 2009 he started his own company “Orbis” a “business intelligence company.” Whether or not he remained in contact with MI6 is open to question.

THE CLINTON / DNC ROLE

Fox news reported endlessly that the Hillary Clinton campaign and the DNC “paid 12 million dollars for the Steele Dossier.” That statement is highly misleading and only partly true. It totally ignores, and deflects attention from, the 20-ton elephant in the room.

The Clinton campaign and the DNC paid 12 million dollars to an American company called Fusion GPS for the purpose of digging up dirt on then candidate Donald Trump. It was Fusion GPS that then hired Steele. In so doing GPS would have obviously kept much of that 12 million for themselves. Neither the Clinton campaign, nor the DNC directly hired Steele.

There has never been any announcement, or evidence presented, as to how much of the 12 million GPS kept for itself, and how much it paid Steele to further the “opposition research project.” Steele then had to also pay an unknown amount to unknown Russians for the materials that went into the Dossier. Again, we do not know how much of that Steele kept for himself and how much he paid to unknown Russians.

One thing we do know, though, is that what ever percentage of that original 12 million the Clinton’s paid to Fusion GPS ended up in Russian hands . . . it was only a tiny fraction of the sums of the American money that went into the production of the Steele Dossier and its perpetuation as a key piece of “evidence” for the “deep state” to use against Trump. In actual fact, though, no one has ever presented a shred of evidence that even a dime of the DNC/Clinton/GPS money ever made it to the hands or pockets of a single Russian.

There were, however, other bank rollers. You and I, for example, as taxpayers actually paid by far the greater lion’s share of the sums for the Russian information that went into the Steele Dossier.

So, hang on for a wild ride through the real swamp.

THE EYE SPY ACCOUNT

We will start with Igor Sechin, the head of Russia’s huge oil company Rosneft, and a close friend and advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Igor Sechin’s name is mentioned several times in the Steele Dossier, but Steele never fingers Sechin as his primary source, nor does Steele ever give away who his primary source was–hinting that there was a middle man.

Britain’s EYE SPY magazine (April 2017 issue, p. 20), and other media, claim that the “middle man” was none other than Sechin’s chief of staff, one Oleg Erovinkin, a former KGB general.

According to the same issue of EYE SPY Erovinkin got his data (audio-visual materials, and “hacked” texts) from a pair of Russia’s top Cyber Geeks. And, these are:

Dmitry Dokuchayev, a Major in Russia’s FSB cyber security division.

And, Sergei Mikhailov, a Colonel in Russia’s FSB cyber security division.

Dokuchayev was originally a civilian hacker involved in criminal hacking under the name of “Forb,” and upon his arrest by the FSB was given a choice of prison, or a comfy job in Moscow working for the FSB cyber security division.
(Pic)

Note that all intelligence agencies in the world, including our own, hire civilian hackers, criminal or not, out of need. A sort of World War III is being fought 24/7 in cyber space, so he who has the best geeks and hackers wins. If you fail to keep pace you lose.

When Dokuchayev was arrested in January of 2017, the FSB authorities found wads of paper money stashed here and there in his residence. According to EYE SPY the total sum was equal to 10 million British pounds. That would be $14.1 million dollars U.S. It was not made clear whether the paper notes were in British pounds or U.S. dollars, but the FSB swore that the money came from the CIA.

It has never been made clear whether all that money was for Dokuchayev himself, or whether he was supposed to share it with his FSB boss, Col. Mikhailov, and/or the alleged “middle man” Oleg Erovinkin–or did each of these men also receive comparable amounts? We could potentially be talking about multiple tens of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars.

There is also the issue of multiple FBI payments to Christopher Steele. Fox news has mentioned six known payments by the FBI, but there might be more because the FBI continued to pay, and use, Steele after they had publically claimed to have stopped contacts with him.

EYE SPY magazine reported in an issue prior to April 2017, that Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, Victoria Nuland, gave the green light to James Comey for the FBI to contact Steele. The Washington Times has also run a couple of stories (which can be googled) confirming that account.

The portions of the Steele dossier that Dokuchayev and Mikhailov allegedly turned over to the “middle man” for delivery to Steele allegedly included at least one incriminating video and two audio tapes of Trump involved in illicit sex acts (including a “golden showers party”) with prostitutes in both Moscow and St. Petersburg. The materials compiled by the two FSB geeks also allegedly included some “hacked” texts of an unknown nature.

TIMELINE

The time line of this entire “dossier” affair is very interesting:

–Sept. 2015, a wealthy Republican “never Trumper” hired fusion GPS, an American investigative firm, to do opposition research on Trump. This research was limited to his entertainment and financial activities.

–June, 2016, Trump officially becomes the GOP nominee and the “never Trumper” withdrew his support for the GPS project, and the Democrats picked up the contract with Fusion GPS. The DNC and the Clinton campaign then provided GPS with the 12 million dollars to expand the research into Trump’s activities in Russia.

–June 2016 Fusion GPS then hired the British intelligence firm Orbis to look into any possible Russian connections with Trump and/or his campaign. Heading the Orbis company, and this particular aspect of the investigation was Christopher Steele, a former MI6 officer with experience in Russia.

–June 2016 Steele began delivering his reports in June 2016 and continuing through December 2016.

–Oct. 2016, there was a secret meeting at the U.S. Department of State for “select” individuals (including the above-mentioned Victoria Nuland) to be briefed in person by Christopher Steele regarding his “dossier.”

–Oct. 2016, Steele also turned some material over to the Mother Jones publication in Oct. of 2016, marking the first time this “opposition research” was leaked to the public.

–Oct. 2016, the FBI allegedly began to make its series of payments to Steele to continue his work.

–Oct. 2016, with portions of the “Steele dossier” already leaked to Mother Jones, then Director of the CIA John Brennan gave then DNI James Clapper the green light to leak it to CNN.

–26 December 2016, Oleg Erovinkin, the alleged “middle man” between the FSB cyber geeks and Steele was found by the FSB . . . surprise, surprise! . . . slumped over in the back seat of his car! He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. No cause of death was ever announced either by the hospital, or by the morgue where his autopsy was conducted. He was 61 at time of his death.

According to Wikimedia, his employer, Rosneft (remember, headed by Putin insider Igor Sechin) claimed he died of a heart attack. But, of course, according to EYE SPY everyone in Russia suspects foul play. “Sources” have confirmed that there were no obvious injuries to his body, which has fueled the speculations of “foul play.”

–According to Wikimedia, Steele, when questioned about the Erovinkin affair, denied that Erovinkin was the “middle man,” saying he never had anything to do with Erovenkin. Steele added that “sometimes people just die.” (My response to that is: Yes, they certainly do–especially if what they do, or know, might be uncomfortable for the Clintons.)

–According to Wikimedia there were rumors alleging that part of the info that Erovinkin passed to Steele was an unspecified lucrative offer from Rosneft to Trump.

–Jan., 2017 the FSB arrests Dokachayev and Mikhailov, according to EYE SPY. The charges against them was violating their oaths of office, treason, and working with the American CIA.

–Finally, EYE SPY quoted a former CIA officer Stephen Hall as saying that the arrests of Dokuchayev and Mikhailov “may be the tipping point concerning Russian hacking.” Moscow sources, however, are satisfied the arrests were made in connection with hacking commentary which appeared in Christopher Steele’s Trump dossier.

–According to EYE SPY Putin was furious about the two FSB agents getting involved with the CIA.

OTHER SOURCES and ANALYSIS

If you Google Dokuchayev and/or Mikhailov you will find several articles on them which are more recent than the EYE SPY material.

As it turns out, the trials for these two gentlemen were held behind closed doors so there are no solid accounts as to what they were actually convicted of. Most of the accounts on the internet have the charges against them being connected with their cooperation with the FBI regarding the investigation into Russian hacking into the 2016 election, with no mention of the Steele dossier, or CIA involvement.

My personal view is that the EYE SPY account is likely the most accurate because it occurred closer to the time of the actual crimes and arrests, and because of the magazine’s close relationship with MI6, and “intelligence-related Russian sources.”
Also, the media sources presented by Google would have had a built in bias to assume that these two FSB officers had cooperated with the FBI on the election hacking story (which would support their narrative of “Russians” trying to put Trump in the WH) rather than having provided material for the Steele dossier (which aimed to hurt Trump and knowledge of which would destroy to media/left narrative).

Supporting this view is the fact that EYE SPY was following the entire Russia Gate very closely with articles on it in each issue–until the April 2017 issue which fingered CIA involvement with the two above-mentioned FSB geeks. After that issue EYE SPY imposed a blackout on any further reporting on the entire Russia Gate issue. This raised my suspicions considerably. MI6 is close to the CIA not only because of the “five eyes,” and “two eyes” connections, but because MI6 has always been loaded with leftwingers, as is the upper floor of the CIA–especially during the Brennan years when this entire Russia Gate occurred. Thus, it appeared to me that MI6 had ordered EYE SPY to halt coverage on the Russia gate issue so as to protect Brennan and gang at the CIA.
Interestingly, it was at this time that Steele was temporarily “disappeared.”

Some of the accounts on the internet have the two FSB cyber geeks arrested in December of 2016 instead of January 2017. According to these accounts, Dokuchayev and Mikhailov were yanked out of a staff meeting with bags over their heads.

During interrogations, it appears that Major Dokuchayev ratted on his boss Col. Mikhailov (and a number of other individuals) in a plea deal. As a result Dokuchayev (whom I believe was the ringleader, and the individual in whose residence actual American-provided paper money was found) received only 6 years, while Mikhailov got 22 years. There were rumors that Mikhailov got $10 million U.S., or was promised that amount, but the evidence for that was never actually produced. Mikhailov reportedly swore to the end that he was innocent.

It is thought that some of the conflicting stories about the roles Dokuchayev and Mikhailov played, and as to whether their crimes had to do with the Steele Dosier or hacking into the 2016 U.S. elections, and/or how the case was even broken, is due to rivalry between the GRU and the FSB, but that is pure rumor and speculation.

Finally, there are reports that a “mystery donor” had donated $50 million U.S. after the 2016 elections to keep the Steele Dossier “going.”

SUMMARY

What we hope that the Barr/Durham investigations will include, and fine answers for:

–Who was the above-mentioned “mystery” donor?

–Who, besides Victoria Nuland, attended that Oct. 2016 briefing on the Dossier by Mr. Steele. And, what did Mr. Steele reveal about the contents of the Dossier? And who and where did he get his information from?

–Exactly how much of the Democrats’ 12 million dollars was kept by GPS and how much went to Steele. Then, if Steele actually received any of the Democrats’ money, what did he use it for? How much of it, if any, went to Russian contacts, and who were they?

–CIA expenditures (official and unofficial) during the time frame of June 2016 forward to at least 2018 need to be investigated to check for possible payments to Steele and/or Russian contacts.

–How much did the FBI pay Christopher Steele for the dossier?

–Who killed Oleg Erovinkin? Was it one of the Russian players? Or one of ours?

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Barry Webb had a 25-year career as an NSA Arabic translator/analyst, holds two MA degrees in related subject matter, and is the author of Confessions of an (ex)NSA Spy: Why America and its Allies are Losing the War on Terror. His website is: www.barrywebbauthor.com He is currently a senior fellow with Americans for Intelligence Reform at www.intelreform.org

Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden leaves following a visit to Detroit One Coney Island Restaurant on Aug. 01, 2019 in Detroit, Mich. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

 

As each attempt to impeach President Donald Trump fails, something new is pulled from what seems like a bottomless bag of dirty tricks that would make any corrupt politician proud.

Once the Mueller investigation turned out to be a complete failure for the Democrats, a phone call with the Ukrainian president was next used to try to tarnish the president. Initially, Trump was accused of demanding a quid pro quo targeting the candidacy of a political opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden.

When that failed after everyone had read the transcript of the conversation, the president was accused of a nebulous combination of bribery and corruption, somehow based on the same phone conversation.

New to this process is that the alleged identity of the whistleblower has been widely discussed by everyone other than the leftist mainstream media and Congress—though that identity hasn’t been confirmed. Initially, the head of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), insisted that the whistleblower testify publicly before his committee.

Once it was discovered that Schiff’s staff had coordinated with the whistleblower prior to the complaint being filed, he changed tactics and now demands that the identity of the whistleblower remain secret. Schiff also insists that he doesn’t even know the identity of the whistleblower, and yet, in the next breath, insists he must protect the person’s identity. How does he know who to protect?

Based on the actual facts and testimony presented by the Democrats over a three-day period, Trump did nothing other than try to track down corruption. The real question that remains is, did Joe Biden or Hunter Biden do anything that should legitimately be investigated?

Joe Biden’s son has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Burisma. There’s not been a single credible theory that explains why the Ukrainian energy company Burisma would pay so much money to Hunter Biden, other than his father forcing the firing of Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma for alleged corruption.

In a Nov. 15 article, USA Today tried to explain away this underlying problem by saying that it’s fairly common for Ukrainian companies to hire high-profile people, and to prove the point noted that Joseph Cofer Black was hired to the board of Burisma in 2017. This is an interesting comparison that actually makes the Bidens look even more guilty.

Energy companies are always a prime target of terrorist attacks, and the hiring of Black, a former CIA counterterrorism chief, makes perfect sense and provides real value to the energy company. Hiring an almost completely unknown (at the time) recovering drug addict with no experience of any discernible value by an energy company does not.

This comparison is so lopsided and awful, it makes you wonder if the article was written to inform or to cover up the fact that Hunter Biden had no value as a board member outside of what his father could do for Burisma as vice president of the United States.

The Democrats have repeatedly claimed that any suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of the Bidens has been debunked. Never do they mention exactly who, when, or where it was debunked.

Vastly underreported is the fact that Biden did more than just get Shokin fired; he also insisted Shokin be replaced with Yuri Lutsenko. Lutsenko is the very same person who stated publicly that there’s no evidence Hunter Biden did anything wrong and is the source of the “debunked” claim.

For the record, in CIA parlance back in the old days, this is what we called “circular reporting,” and most people find that highly suspicious at best. Democrats have suggested that additional proof of Biden’s innocence is that Shokin was blocking an investigation into Burisma, and that’s one of the reasons Biden got him fired.

So, Democrats would have us believe that Joe Biden forced Shokin’s firing because Shokin refused to investigate the company paying Hunter Biden hundreds of thousands of dollars. Further that, Shokin was replaced by Lutsenko, who would go forward with the Burisma investigation, but who instead publicly cleared the Bidens of any wrongdoing.

The alleged whistleblower plays directly into this possible corruption by the Bidens, because if the person reportedly was closely intertwined with Biden’s involvement in Ukraine, it would be likely that the whistleblower was familiar with the details of Hunter Biden’s sweetheart deal with Burisma.

That raises the additional question about whether the whistleblower might have a motive for trying to damage Trump and drawing attention away from the Bidens, while at the same time seeking to stay out of the limelight.

There’s a very real possibility that the corruption is entirely on the part of the Democratic Party to cover up its coordination with the previous left-leaning Ukrainian government in an attempt to target and damage the Republican Party and their candidate for president.

There’s solid evidence that this coordination continues, in the form of the so-called whistleblower, various witnesses from the U.S. State Department, and Schiff.

With all the investigations underway, there’s a good chance the truth will come out in the very near future. What if that truth shows Schiff and the others did indeed coordinate in an effort to unseat a legally elected president of the United States? That could be considered seditious conspiracy and advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government.

It’s time to appoint a special prosecutor to get to the bottom of this stink bomb.

Brad Johnson is a retired CIA senior operations officer and a former chief of station. He is president of Americans for Intelligence Reform.

 

ANTI-IRANIAN DEMONSTRATIONS
The Lebanese have been demonstrating for weeks against Hezbollah’s control of their government, which is just another way of saying that they are demonstrating against Iran’s control of their country by proxy. They are demanding a new government of technocrats not connected with any political party be appointed to run the government.
The protestors are made up primarily of Sunnis and Christians. The Iranians have ordered their proxies in both Lebanon and Iraq to do what ever is necessary to put a stop to these demonstrations. Though the violence here has not been as severe as in Iraq, there has been some shooting with live rounds, and last night Hizbollah thugs attacked a group of protestors with motorcycles.
In spite of the Hizbollah violence, the non-terrorist Shi’a Amal party has long ago sold its soul to Hizbollah and has sided against the demonstrators. Likewise the largely figurehead president, Gen. ‘Aoun, a Christian, has sold his soul to Hizbollah, thus he too has sided against the demonstrators (and against his own ethnic group).
The Iraqis have also been demonstrating for weeks. While these demonstrations ostensibly began to protest corruption in the government, lack of services, and a rotten economy that can not provide enough jobs, they quickly morphed also into anti-Iranian protests. What is most interesting about these protests is that they are taking place mostly in the southern portions of the country which is predominantly Shi’a. In other words, we have Shi’a Iraqis in huge numbers protesting Shi’a Iran’s hegemony over their country.
In fact, these Shi’a protestors are burning pictures of Khomeini and Khamenei, burning Iranian flags, and chanting “death to Khamenei.” Iranian stooges in the security forces and in the Iranian-controlled Iraqi Shi’a militias called al-heshd ash-Sha’bi (popular mobilization) militias have been using live rounds against the demonstrators. As a result over a hundred protestors have been killed and hundreds more wounded.

The past week has also seen massive anti-regime protests in Iran taking place in at least 100 cities and towns and in every region of the country. It was the regime’s sudden steep increase in the price of gasoline that allegedly touched off the nation-wide protests, but they too quickly morphed into anti-regime demonstrations with protestors chanting “death to the dictator, death to Khamenei.”
These protests lasted only a few days because the regime did not just use live rounds sporadically like in Iraq, they used live fire massively to intentionally mow down large numbers of protestors at once. Machinegun fire was used at one point. Also, as in Lebanon, thugs on motorcycles were used to terrify and break-up groups of protestors.
TURKEY/IRAN/QATAR/MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD
Over the weekend, leaders of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) met with Muslim Brotherhood (MB) leaders in MB friendly Turkey to discuss common actions against reportedly Saudi Arabia.
Today, Monday 25 November, terrorist-supporting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited MB financier Qatar to discuss regional issues. Arabic news sources are reporting that massive trade deals have been signed as a result of this Erdogan visit. Erdogan, who just happens to have 10,000 Turkish troops already stationed in tiny Qatar, said that his purpose is to guarantee the security of Qatar, and the “peace and stability” of the region. Additional military cooperation is also in the works.

LIBYA/RUSSIA
Over the weekend it was reported that the U.S. has begun flying drones over Tripoli to “assess the security situation.” One of those drones has “disappeared.”
U.S. active involvement in the Libya mess is a radical departure from the administration’s here-to-fore “hands off” approach. This radical change in policy came only after Erdogan’s visit to Washington last week. In this regard Trump had also publicly called for Gen. Haftar of the Libyan National Army (who controls most of the country) to halt his attacks against the Tripoli government, which is essentially a Muslim Brotherhood regime supported by MB-supporting states of Turkey and Qatar.
On 24 November, Trump hardened his rhetoric against U.S. double citizen and former CIA asset Haftar, claiming that he was engaging in acts “against the Libyan people,” even though Haftar is supported by the only non-MB parliament elected by the people in the aftermath of Qadhafi’s overthrow. This, now powerless parliament, resides in the city of Tobruk. The Tobruk/Haftar side of the Libyan civil war is supported by the anti-MB governments of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and to a lesser extent France and Russia.
However, al-jazeera TV has reported that Russian “mercenaries” have recently been aiding Haftar’s forces. It was later revealed that these Russians are members of a Moscow-based security company “Wagner” which is close to the Kremlin.
With all of this as background, and the apparent shift in the WH’s policy from one of neutrality to one apparently favoring the MB-Triploli government (coming only after the visit of MB-supporter Erdogan), on Monday 25 November Libyan General Haftar was in Moscow meeting with high-level Russian military figures. According to al-jazeera reporting the results of these meetings will be increased Russian military aide to Haftar’s cause, including new Russian weapons and a Russian military base somewhere in Libya.
ANALYSIS
Gen. Haftar’s increased reliance on Russia might be a result of a perceived WH realigning with the Tripoli Government. On the other hand, Trump’s perceived realigning with Tripoli might well be a response to Russia strengthening its hand behind Haftar. If this is true, then one has to ask the question of “what happened to the Trump of the 2016 election campaign?” On numerous times Trump told his adoring audiences “wouldn’t it be nice to get along with Russia? To have Russia as an ally?”
That Trump is long gone. One explanation for the change is that due to the Democrats and their media lapdogs pursuing the Russia, Russia hoax 24/7, even years after the election, Trump feels compelled to constantly take the most hostile hard-line approach to Russia that he can, in hopes of deflating the Dem’s and media obsession with the non-existent Russian collusion theme, or that “Putin has something on Trump.”
This situation, and this sort of pressure from the Dems and the media has now forced Trump to side with the MB in Libya for the simple reason that Russia is supporting that anti-MB faction.
Or, perhaps both theories are wrong, and perhaps the reason for Trump’s anti-Russian and pro-MB moves in Libya, Syria, and elsewhere is done out of deference to Turkey’s Erdogan?
Certainly Trump’s controversial moves in Syria have come after phone calls from Erdogan, and his recent moves vis-à-vis Libya came only after Erdogan’s WH visit.
But something even bigger is possibly brewing in favor of the Turkish strongman Islamist. Everyone on the planet recognizes what a mess Syria is. In this context a recent editorial appeared on www.aljazeera.org claiming that Turkey is the only “rightful” ruler of Syria.
The reasoning went like this: Assad is disqualified because he used poison gas numerous times on is own people. He would never be accepted by the opposition (except for the Kurds who have allied with Assad out of physical necessity after the Trump pull back). The rest of the Syrian opposition is too divided, and mostly dominated by ISIS and al-Qaeda-associated militias.
Even without the civil war, you still have a country divided along ethnic lines with Sunni, Shi’a Alowites, Kurds, and Christians.
Therefore, Turkey is the only entity in the neighborhood capable of imposing its will on all the factions, and bringing stability back to Syria. Turkey is also less offensive to all of the factions than they are to each other (except for the Kurds who would be crushed in this deal). This, of course, is nothing more now than a reconstruction of the Old Turkish-dominated Ottoman Empire—if only partially.
But now, behold the sudden chaos erupting in Iraq, Iran, and Lebanon. The demonstrations in Iran and Lebanon could be traced to Trump’s stringent economic pressure on Iran, and on its client the Hizbollah which dominates the Lebanese government. But, (non-existent) Trump embargoes cannot explain the chaos in Iraq.
Regardless of the causes, the fact of the matter is that all three countries are severely divided along sharp (and many-faceted) ethnic lines, making all three ungovernable by any domestic party. Lebanon is divided almost equally three ways between Sunnis, Shi’a, and Christians, along with a smattering of Druze.
Iraq is also divided ethnically with Shi’a, Sunni, Kurds, Christians, and Yazidis. In the “democracy” set up by the American occupation, the majority Shi’a quickly became the “government” of Iraq—and highly resented by all the other factions who felt left out. And, now, even the Shi’a in the country have turned against the Shi’a rulership due to its domination by neighboring Iran.
So, what is to prevent the Qatar-hosted al-jazeera TV and website from promoting the idea of its big ally, Turkey, from extending its “benign” neo-Ottoman rule over those counties as well? Given Trump’s recent pro-Turkish moves in Syria and Libya, and the chaos in the above-mentioned Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran—what’s to keep the Trump administration from also working towards a “NATO member” Turkish solution to all of those countries?
At first it would look like a genius stroke—the entire Middle East suddenly blanketed in peace and stability. And, theoretically at least, a part of “NATO” through Turkey’s membership.
But the long-term effects would be a total disaster for the current governments of Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia—none of which want Turkish rule (but all of whose people have been seduced, and cultivated, by Turkish soap operas presented in Arabic, by Arabic actors, and which glorify the mythical Ottoman “golden age”).
Then, once all the countries around Israel have become part of this neo-Ottoman empire . . . you can kiss Israel goodbye. Then you can kiss Cyprus and Greece goodbye as well, the Balkans too. A pathetic, weakened, and already half-Islamicized western Europe would be next.
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Barry Webb had a 25-year career as an Arabic translator/analyst for the NSA, holds two MA degrees in related subject matters, and is the author of Confessions of an (ex) NSA spy: Why America and its Allies are Losing the War on Terror. His website is: www.barrywebbauthor.com Currently he is a senior fellow at Americans for Intelligence Reform at www.intelreform.org

 

 

 

 

IRAN/SHI’A CRESCENT

An “Arab Spring” 2.0 revolt of sorts has been taking place in both Iraq and Lebanon for the past several weeks. These massive, country-wide demonstrations in both countries have taken on an anti-Iran flavor–even in the Shi’a-dominated regions of Iraq. These demonstrations, particularly in southern Iraq have become rather violent with live rounds being used to shoot protestors. An estimated 300 have been killed and 15,000 wounded.
Meanwhile, the protestors are burning pictures of Khamenei and Khomenei.

With Syria also in a mess, it appeared that the Mullah’s dreams of a “Shi’a Crescent” (connecting Iran with the Mediterranean Sea via Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon) were heading south. Then things got even worse for them this week. The demonstrations in Iraq have spilled over into Iran itself. The Iranian demonstrations were touched off by the regime’s 50% hike in fuel prices last week, but they also demonstrate a deep-seated disaffection with the rule of the Mullahs. Previous demonstrations have called for the regime to step down and have even been accompanied by shouts of “Death to Khamenei” in mockery to the regime’s usual orchestrated “Death to America” chants used on other occasions. The demonstrators of this current round are also chanting “death to the dictator, death to the dictator.”

These current rounds of demonstrations, which began on Friday 15 November, have spread throughout the entire country.

Compounding the problem for the Mullahs are the huge non-Persian ethnic groups in distinct regions of the country. In the northwest are the Kurds, who can’t help but be at least somewhat affected by the semi-autonomy of their Kurdish brethren across the border in northern Iraq. In the north east are the Ajerbaizanis. It is estimated that fully 25% of Iran’s population of 85 million are Azeris. The Azeris also, can look across Iran’s northern border and see the fully independent state of their brethren in the nation of Azerbaijan.

In the south east of Iran are the Baluchis who have more in common with their fellow Baluchi’s who dominate southwest Pakistan right across the border. There have already been a number of Baluchi terrorist actions in Iranian Baluchistan directed against the Iranian regime.

In Iran’s far west is the predominantly Arabic-speaking region of Ahwaz where an IRGC patrol was ambushed some months ago. The Saudis have been cultivating this region for years, so there might be some truth to the Iranian regime’s accusing Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the United States for the current nation-wide demonstrations taking place.

The Iranian regime last week announced the discovery of a new oil field in Ahwaz containing 50 billion barrels of oil. To be sure, other people besides the Iranian regime would like to get their hands on that oil–perhaps even the people of Ahwaz.

In Iran as a whole, some 36 have been killed by live fire and hundreds wounded. Some of the protestors are calling for the “international” community to do something.

BOTTOM LINE: Things are not looking very good for the Mullahs right now. These demonstrations include not only the non-Persian ethnic regions mentioned above, but also the predominantly Persian areas such as the capital city of Tehran. I believe it would be safe to say that Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear “deal” and the subsequent embargoes the Trump administration has placed on Iran the country, and on the leading Mullahs, and the pressure these embargoes have placed on Iran economically have helped to fuel the discontent in the country. Whether or not it will result in a regime change or not remains to be seen.

KURDS–SYRIA

The leader of the Syrian Democratic Forces Kurdish General Mazloum Kobani Abdi has slammed Trump’s cease fire agreement with Turkey–only days after he was forced to read a statement written by Trump in a quid pro quo. The Trump statement had Gen. Abdi praising Trump and thanking him for arranging the cease fire. The quid pro quo was that Gen. Abdi had to read that prepared statement in order to get the 50 million dollars for his group that Trump had promised. But, then, on 19 October, Gen. Adbi was quoted by NPR as saying that the deal was “really terrible.”

The Kurdish General’s name is significant because it indicates that he came from the city of Kobani. When ISIS was at its peak they had besieged the city. The people of Kobani stood alone while the world watched them beat back the ISIS thugs–at great loss of lives to themselves. Men, women, every able-bodied person in that city fought for their lives while the Turkish army, just a hundred yards of so across the border cheered on the ISIS terrorists yelling allahu akbar and denigrations of the Kurds.

Afterwards, most of the survivors in Kobani having recognized ISIS as the real Islam, converted to Christianity. The people of this city are thus on Turkish President Erdogan’s list for extermination.

After obtaining the ceasefire with Turkey, Trump celebrated it on Twitter tweeting: “think of how many lives we saved in Syria and Turkey by getting a ceasefire yesterday. Thousands and thousands, and maybe many more.’

FACT: Turkey began breaking this celebrated “ceasefire” before the ink was even dry, as predicted by myself and virtually everyone else on the planet who is familiar with Turkey’s behavior. In the month that has passed, Turkey and its al-Qaeda, ISIS, and Muslim Brotherhood (MB) militias (all rolled into what Turkey calls the “Syrian National Army”) have killed over 500 Kurdish, Christian, and Yazidi civilians and forced over 300,000 more out of their homes. These are also results predicted by myself and everyone else on this planet familiar with Turkey’s behavior.

ERDOGAN’S VISIT TO WASHINGTON (13-14 November)

During the press conference wrapping up Erdogan’s Washington visit, Trump claimed that the “cease fire” was firm, and holding. As he was reading that statement the Turkish regular army was busy shelling a Christian city, according to Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) leader Gen. Abdi during an interview aired during a regular news report by the Saudi-owned al-arabiyya TV channel.

QAMISHLI, SYRIA

When Trump announced he was pulling American troops out of Syria, leaving our allies there high and dry, the Kurdish-dominated SDF immediately made peace with the Assad regime in Damascus, and by extension, their Russian patrons. SDF then, in conjunction with the Syrian army and probably Russian air force participation, retook the Christian city of Qamishli from the terrorist gangs that had been running the place.

The Trump administration then did another policy 180 degree flip-flop and instead of pulling all 1,000 American troops out of Syria as he had announced, he rushed 500 of them to Qamishli where they took over the oil fields. Rumors have it that the actual number of American troops there are closer to 800. In other words, this represents more of a redeployment than a withdrawal . . . an effort to protect oil resources rather than allies and civilians.

While the Americans were moving into the oil fields, the Russians moved to take over the Qamishli air port. American and Russians troops are thus close enough to play soccer with each other. Al-jazeera reported that the Americans and Russians coordinated with each other so as to avoid accidentally getting into a skirmish.

Arabic TV channels are also reporting that the Russians have beefed up their presence at the airport this past week, bringing in a number of attack helicopters.

During an al-jazeera TV talk show, the host queried a Russian guest speaking from Moscow, about Russia’s recent move at the Qamishli airport. The Russian, who was rather along in years, but spoke superb Arabic (meaning he was probably ex KGB), currently works for a Moscow think tank close to the Kremlin. The Russian responded to the talk show’s host saying that the Russian troops are not occupation troops, they are there to protect and defend the region for the legitimate government of Syria.

The al-jazeera host kept pressing the Russian with “defend it from whom?” This went on several times with the Russian swerving and dancing away from the question until at the very end of the program he admitted with some irritation that they were there to protect Syrian territory from the Turks.

LIBYA

The day after Erdogan left Washington Trump called Fayez Sirraaj, the head of the UN and EU-recognized government of Libya which is based in Tripoli. In this conversation, he indicated that he supported the Sirraaj government as the legitimate government of Libya, and called upon General Haftar, who heads an opposing “government” to halt his attacks against Tripoli.

This represents another 180 degree policy flip flop by the Trump administration, because Trump had previously offered verbal support to Gen. Haftar. So, it begs the question as to why?

A couple of weeks ago there were reports that General Haftar’s forces were beginning to tilt the fortunes of battle in their favor, and after over a year of stalemate were making some serious progress in Tripoli. People wondered why the sudden change of fortune?
The answer came a few days later. Russian advisors were embedded in General Haftar’s forces, attempting to have the same success there that they had in Syria.

This past week contributed reports that the Russians were not only advising Gen. Haftar’s forces, but were heavily financing the project as well. Al-jazeera TV reported that Sudanese “volunteers” were bring trained in Egypt, on an Egyptian military base . . . by Russians! On 15 November, al-Jazeera TV reported that the Russian advisors active in Libya were “mercenaries” working for a company called “Wagner” which is reputedly close to the Kremlin.

“Wagner” is sort of a Russian version of the American Company “Blackwater” and is composed of ex-Russian military. Members of this outfit have been used in both Ukraine and Syria, allowing Moscow to claim it had nothing to do with the matter when and if they get into a situation causing an international row.

So, what do the Russians want in Libya? A share of the oil wealth for starters, but beyond that a couple of military bases might sure be nice–especially given that their bases in Syria might be on shaky ground if things there go south.

The White House has given the Russian moves in Libya as the reason why it has shifted its (at least emotional) support to the Sirraaj government in Tripoli.

ANALYSIS

I could buy the WH reason for this shift in policy . . . had it come prior to Erdogan’s visit to the WH. The fact that this decision, this phone call to Sirraaj (and a subsequent Pompeo call to Haftar ordering him to cease and desist) came just one day after Erdogan’s visit, makes it impossible to believe that Russia was the real reason.

The circumstances, and Trump’s history of complying with Erogan requests, about a half dozen times over the past year, make me suspect that this is just more of the same.
WHO IS GENERAL HAFTAR?

Born Khalifa BilQaasim Haftar in a small town near Benghazi in eastern Libya, in 1943. As an adult, he worked his way up the army becoming a Colonel when he, and other officers, aided Col. Qadhafi in overthrowing the corrupt, aging King Idris. In the late 1980s, Qadhafi and Haftar had a serious falling out and Haftar began working with the American CIA in several attempts to bring Qadhafi down, none of which bore fruit until 2011. Haftar, like most Arab military officers of that era, was always a strong secularist and anti-Islamist.

In the meantime Haftar helped the CIA train anti-communist Latin American troops at a base in Chad, to be used against communist governments in Central America, as well as Libyan and Chadian troops to be used against Qadhafi. In addition to the CIA, the Israelis, Saudis, and other countries intelligence organizations were involved in these projects, according to a program aired on al-jazeera TV on 18 November 2019.

Haftar also lived in Virginia as a “guest” of the CIA long enough to obtain dual U.S. citizenship.

Therefore, if Trump is truly turning against this long-time American ally (and citizen) in favor of the MB terrorist state in Tripoli, it would have to be interpreted as more blatant submision to Erdogan and his dreams of world conquest. We can always hope that Trump is just asking for a cease fire, but coming on the heels of Trump’s recent moves in Syria and his feting of the planet’s number one sponsor of terrorism in Washington this past week, it does not look good.

NEO-OTTOMAN EMPIRE

In my book listed below I noted that Obama’s Foreign Policy for the Middle East had two major prongs. One was to set up Iran as a minor hegemon in the region. The other was the re-establishment of the old Ottoman Empire led by Turkey, but allied this time with a series of MB-led Arab states ringing he eastern and southern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. This is why the Obama administration favored MB movements during the original Arab Spring.

Fast forward to the Trump administration and as we move towards the end of his third year it appears that Trump has trashed one of Obama’s Foreign Policy pillars (that based on Iran), while adopting the other (that based on Turkey and the MB). This is the only explanation that fits all the facts, including Trump’s behavior vis-à-vis Erdogan, Trump’s giving Erdogan the green light to invade Syria and ethnic cleanse the Kurdish and Christian-dominated regions. The icing on the cake came the day after Erdogan’s Washington visit and the above-mentioned call of support by Trump to the Tripoli government.

Why is this important? A look at the who’s supporting whom score card will tell you all you need to know:
–Supporting Gen. Haftar’s Libyan National Army are: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, France, and now Russia–as well as the first non-Qadhafi, and non-Muslim Brotherhood parliament elected in Libya, which is now sitting in exile in the eastern coastal city of Tabruk.

–Supporting Sirraaj’s Tripoli government are: Turkey, Iran, and Qatar, the world’s top three state sponsors of terrorism (in that order). The Tripoli government is also home to many of the worlds most wanted list of terrorists, including Saif al-‘Adel, al-Qaeda’s mastermind of the East Africa embassy bombings in 1998. Tripoli’s “army” is mostly a collection of al-Qaeda, ISIS, MB, and Ansar ash-shari’a militias.

So, the question once again is: Why would Trump suddenly shift the administration’s favor from Haftar to Sirraaj? And, why did this happen the very day after the Erdogan visit? Why support the same side of the Libyan mess that Turkey does–infested with terrorists as it is?

Again, the only answer that fits all the facts is that Trump, over the past year, has bought into the notion that the best solution for the Middle East and its “endless wars,” and the scourge of terrorism, is to bring back the Ottoman Empire Caliphate headed by NATO “ally” Turkey.

Indeed, things are looking good for Turkey right now. Erdogan has been successfully playing Putin and Trump off of each other, with one trying to woo him to leave NATO so he can cut him down to size, and the other trying to woo him to remain in NATO so as to prevent his being cut down to size. This has resulted in Erdogan being able to land weapons deals with both powers (if we should sell him patriots and F-35s) which will make him impervious to attack by either power, or any lesser power on the planet. This in turn will give him a free hand to carve up the Middle East as he sees fit.

And, Turkey has prepared the ground well. For years now Turkey has been seducing the Arabic-speaking populations of he Middle East with soap operas using Arabic actors and glorifying the “golden age” of the Ottoman Empire. This has been so successful that Arabs throughout the Middle East have been giving their children Ottoman Turkish names taken from these soap operas.

If we assume that the Trump switch to the support of the Sirraaj government means full scale recognition leading to the Mb-dominated Tripoli government becoming the de facto ruler of Libya . . . score one more for Erdogan, because any MB government would be favorable to a reconstitution of the Ottoman Empire headed by Erdogan.

In Tunisia, a pro-MB government has just been elected to power, so score one more. That gives Erdogan two key North African allies as potential provinces in a new Caliphate. Election-starved Algeria is leaning that way if they ever do get elections.

But first steps first. Erdogan must first complete the conquest of Syria before any of the other dominoes fall. He has made no secret of his mission. That’s why he changed the name of his “Syrian Free Army” terrorist militia to the “Syrian National Army.” This why al-jazeera.net recently published an editorial by Yaseen Aqtaai, on 06 November 2019, in which the author made the case that because the Assad regime has used poison gas, and because all of the other factions fighting in Syria are supported by outside powers, that Turkey is the only force capable of preserving the territorial integrity of Syria, re-uniting it, and establishing stability and a peaceful future going forward.

In favor of that viewpoint is that the ruling Assad gang, are composed of Shi’a offshoots called “Alowites,” and they are a tiny minority of the population. The vast majority of Syria’s population has always been Sunni. Turkey is Sunni.

Finally, this brings us to this weekend’s edition of the sin’at al-mawt (industry of death) program aired on the Saudi-owned al-arabiyya TV channel. In closing this weekend’s episode, the show’s host rhetorically asked: “What will be the next iteration of the
al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Mus’ab az-Zarqawi-come-ISIS organization which has multiplied in size, power, and wealth with each new iteration?

My answer to that question is that a good case could be made that Turkey’s “Syrian Free Army”-come “Syrian National Army” will be that next iteration. Indeed, it already contains elements from ISIS, al-Qaeda, and the MB. What more could one jihadist ask for? Once Erdogan has completed the conquest of Syria he will likely change the name of that group once again to reflect the next stage of his conquests for the sake of the Neo-Ottoman Empire.

Putting all of these facts together is why I believe that Trump has adopted the Turkey-Muslim Brotherhood platform of the Obama Foreign Policy. Indeed the upper echelons of the CIA, State Department, and most of the NSC are Obama holdovers. Virtually all members of Trump’s inner circle who might have been against the Turkey/MB platform have been eliminated from the administration.

But, Mr. President, I do have to ask you . . . do you really think that a terrorist-supporting Islamist super state controlling the entire Middle East and large chunks of Central Asia headed by a meglomaniac who believes that Allah has chosen him to lead the Islamic world in that final “End of Times” war to destroy the Christian West . . . is really in the best U.S. interests?

Erdogan has a long history of contracting terrorist groups to conduct terrorist acts against his political opponents/enemies, then blaming these acts to justify “revenge” against whatever organization (or state) that he wants to take out. A prime example of that happened just this weekend. There was a car bomb at a civilian bus terminal in the town of al-Bab in North Syria which killed 18 people and wounded 30. Turkey immediately blamed the Kurdish YPG (which formed the backbone of the “Syrian Democratic Forces” that we used to crush the Islamic State). Erdogan will then use this car bomb as justification for his further expansion into Syrian territory and additional extermination of Kurds and other minorities.

However, no one in al-Bab, a primarily Kurdish town, is buying Erdogan’s blaming the YPG for the car bomb. Only the American media and WH will fall for that ruse. The YPG would never car bomb their own people, or any other people for that matter. Even the PKK has always limited their actions to Turkish military, intelligence, and governmental entities.

The entire town has been demonstrating today demanding that the Turks leave Syria. They know what Erdogan is up to.

Erdogan wallows in history. He also wallows in Islamic prophecies. When he was elected mayor of Istanbul/Constantinople, he declared that his election was the “reconquest” of Constantinople–thus fulfilling a key Islamic prophecy about the “Last Days.” He obviously believes that he will be the fulfillment of numerous other Islamic prophecies about destroying the Christian West.

So, Mr. President Trump, I ask you again, do you really want to unleash this monster, this 21st century neo-Hitler, upon the world?

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Barry Webb had a 25-year career as an Arabic translator/analyst for the NSA and holds two MA degrees in related subject matter. He is also the author of Confessions of an (ex) NSA spy: Why America and its Allies are Losing the War on Terror. His website is: www.barrywebbauthor.com. Currently he is a senior fellow for Americans for Intelligence Reform at www.intelreform.org

 

 

 

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