Donald Trump ist gerade eine Woche im Amt und schon gab es eine Flut von Horrornachrichten. Hier ein – sicher keineswegs vollständiger – Überblick…
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„In an interview with ABC News, Trump said he would wage war against Islamic State militants with the singular goal of keeping the U.S. safe. Asked specifically about the simulated drowning technique known as waterboarding, Trump cited the extremist group’s atrocities against Christians and others and said: „We have to fight fire with fire.“ Trump said he would consult with new Defense Secretary James Mattis and CIA Director Mike Pompeo before authorizing any new policy. But he said he had asked top intelligence officials in the past day: „Does torture work?“ „And the answer was yes, absolutely,“ Trump said. He added that he wants to do „everything within the bounds of what you’re allowed to do legally.“ (…) On the campaign trail, Trump spoke emphatically about toughening the U.S. approach to fighting the Islamic State group. He said he would authorize waterboarding and a „hell of a lot worse.“ After winning the election, however, he appeared to backtrack, pointedly citing Mattis‘ advice that torture is ineffective. Pompeo, Trump’s CIA director, said in his confirmation hearing that he would abide by all laws. But he also said he’d consult with CIA and other government experts on whether current restrictions were an „impediment to gathering vital intelligence to protect the country or whether any rewrite of the Army Field Manual is needed.“
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NY Times: Trump Poised to Lift Ban on C.I.A. ‘Black Site’ Prisons
„The Trump administration is preparing a sweeping executive order that would clear the way for the C.I.A. to reopen overseas “black site” prisons, like those where it detained and tortured terrorism suspects.“
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Trump hangs portrait of America’s most genocidal president in the Oval Office
„President Trump’s daily visual inspiration will apparently be a portrait of former President Andrew Jackson, who slaughtered thousands of Native Americans. The president whose face is on the $20 bill will also grace a wall of the Oval Office, according to the New York Times. Trump’s inaugural address was lauded by chief White House adviser Steve Bannon (who authored it) as “Jacksonian,” referencing its populist rhetoric. Trump himself referred to the 7th President of the United States as “an amazing figure in American history.”
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President Donald Trump to publish weekly list of crimes committed by immigrants
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Trump’s order to ban refugees and immigrants triggers fears across the globe
„If the order is enacted, among those immediately affected would be potential immigrants and visitors from seven Muslim countries — Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Iran, Libya and Sudan — that are considered by the Trump administration as nations whose citizens “would be detrimental to the interests of the United States.” For the next 30 days, they will not be allowed entry into the United States, even if they have visas and relatives who are U.S. citizens. The order also calls for halting all admission and resettlement of refugees for 120 days pending the review of vetting procedures. For Syrian refugees, the ban will remain in place until further notice.“
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Dazu passt, was Trumps designierter Sicherheitsberater, Michael Flynn, zum Islam geäußert hat und in seinem jüngsten Buch „The Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and Its Allies“ schreibt:
„Islam, he has said, is a cancer, a political movement masquerading as a religion and the product of an inferior culture. “I don’t believe that all cultures are morally equivalent, and I think the West, and especially America, is far more civilized, far more ethical and moral,” he argued in a book published this year.“
Als Hauptgegner macht Flynn in seinem Buch im Übrigen den Iran aus. Ansonsten sind Flynns Einschätzungen ziemlich bemerkenswert. Er bezeichnete die Kriege im Irak und Libyen als riesige Fehler, die den IS hervorgebracht und stark gemacht hätten, sagte zu Obamas Drohnenmordprogramm, dass es „mehr Terroristen erzeuge als umbringe“ und fuhr in einem Gespräch mit Al Jazeera fort:
„The more weapons we give, the more bombs we drop, that just… fuels the conflict. Some of that has to be done but I’m looking for the other solutions.“
Während seiner Zeit als Direktor der DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) hatte die DIA außerdem ein Memo verfasst, welches die Obama-Administration laut Flynn ignorierte:
„Flynn also publicly commented for the first time on a previously classified Aug. 2012 DIA memo, which was recently obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request and reported on by HNGN. The memo had been circulated among top government officials and predicted that the U.S.’s covert support of Syrian rebels would lead to the establishment of „a declared or undeclared Salafist principality in Eastern Syria.“ The memo went on to say that the U.S. desired the creation of an Islamic State because it would further weaken Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.“ Flynn said „the [Obama] administration“ did not „listen“ to these warnings issues by his agency. „I don’t know if they turned a blind eye. I think it was a decision. I think it was a willful decision.“
„The United States, in coordination with the Gulf states and Turkey, intentionally armed Syrian rebel groups working to overthrow the Syrian government while knowing that doing so could lead to the creation of an Islamic State. But since the creation of such a state would further destabilize the Syrian regime, it was viewed as a strategic opportunity for the U.S. and its allies, according to a newly released Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) document. (…)
„The 7-page document notes that „the Salafist, the Muslim Brotherhood, and AQI [al-Qaida in Iraq, which eventually became the Islamic State group]“ are the main opposition forces fighting against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and adds that „the West, Gulf countries, and Turkey support the opposition,“ while Russia, China and Iran „support the [Assad] regime.“
In a section of the report titled „The Future Assumptions for the Crisis,“ DIA predicts that Assad will survive the attempted regime change and the situation will evolve into a proxy war, with the U.S., Gulf states and Turkey on one side working to overthrow Assad, and Russia, China and Iran on the other side, backing Assad. DIA then predicts, „… there is the possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist Principality in eastern Syria (Hasaka and Der Zor), and this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime, which is considered the strategic depth of the Shia expansion (Iraq and Iran),“ reported Nafeez Ahmed on Medium.
Since around the time the DIA report was released, the CIA has been covertly training and arming „moderate“ factions of these rebel groups working to overthrow Assad, despite knowing that doing could lead to the creation of a Salafist Principality, according to The Guardian. To this day, these so-called moderate rebels continue to defect to groups such as the Islamic State group, bringing their U.S.-supplied weapons and training with them, as The International Business Times reported.“
Und Seymour Hersh: „Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, director of the DIA between 2012 and 2014, confirmed that his agency had sent a constant stream of classified warnings to the civilian leadership about the dire consequences of toppling Assad. The jihadists, he said, were in control of the opposition. Turkey wasn’t doing enough to stop the smuggling of foreign fighters and weapons across the border. ‘If the American public saw the intelligence we were producing daily, at the most sensitive level, they would go ballistic,’ Flynn told me. ‘We understood Isis’s long-term strategy and its campaign plans, and we also discussed the fact that Turkey was looking the other way when it came to the growth of the Islamic State inside Syria.’ The DIA’s reporting, he said, ‘got enormous pushback’ from the Obama administration. ‘I felt that they did not want to hear the truth.’“
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George Monbiot im Guardian: „Over this time, I have watched as tobacco, coal, oil, chemicals and biotech companies have poured billions of dollars into an international misinformation machine composed of thinktanks, bloggers and fake citizens’ groups. Its purpose is to portray the interests of billionaires as the interests of the common people, to wage war against trade unions and beat down attempts to regulate business and tax the very rich. Now the people who helped run this machine are shaping the government.“
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Donald Trump is making major policy pronouncements based on what he sees on TV
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The Guardian: Four more journalists have been charged with felonies after being arrested while covering the unrest around Donald Trump’s inauguration, meaning that at least six media workers are facing up to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine if convicted.
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Trumps Top-Berater kassiert 285 Millionen Dollar
„Als Chef des Nationalen Wirtschaftsrates ist Gary Cohn künftig Donald Trumps wichtigster Wirtschaftsberater. Zuvor hatte er 25 Jahre lang für die US-Großbank Goldman Sachs gearbeitet, zuletzt als Vizechef. Zu seinem Abgang stellt Goldman Sachs Cohn noch einmal einen ziemlich dicken Scheck aus. Laut der „New York Times“ erhält er ein gigantisches Bonuspaket in Höhe von 285 Millionen Dollar. In der Zahlung enthalten seien 65 Millionen Dollar in Cash aus langfristigen Bonuszusagen. Hinzu kommen 940.908 Goldman-Sachs-Aktien im Wert von zusammen knapp 220 Millionen Dollar, die nun zu Geld gemacht werden können. (…) Ein Einzelfall ist Cohn mit seiner üppigen Abschiedszahlung nicht: Kürzlich war bereits bekannt geworden, dass der künftige US-Außenminister Rex Tillerson von seinem bisherigen Arbeitgeber Exxon Mobil zum Abgang rund 180 Millionen Dollar erhält.“
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Und noch am Rande: Um zu wissen, für wen der designierte Wirtschaftsminister, Ex-Rothschild-Banker und Multimilliardär, Wilbur Ross, Politik machen wird, genügt ein Blick auf seinen Lebenslauf bei Wikipedia. Gleiches gilt für Trumps „Special Advisor to the President on Regulatory Reform“, Carl Icahn. Und wem das noch nicht genug ist: Hier das Worst of Betsy DeVos bei den Anhörungen des Senats.
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Geschenke für Öl- und Finanzindustrie:
„US-Präsident Donald Trump hat zwei hochumstrittene Pipeline-Projekte wiederbelebt. Trump unterzeichnete am Dienstag zwei Dekrete, mit denen er sowohl die Keystone-XL- als auch die Dakota-Access-Pipeline neu genehmigte. Beide Ölprojekte waren unter seinem Vorgänger Barack Obama gestoppt worden. (…)
Zudem will der designierte US-Finanzminister Steve Mnuchin eine der wichtigsten Fangleinen für Banken nach der Finanzkrise lockern und ihnen wieder mehr Spekulation auf eigene Rechnung erlauben. Dies geht aus einem Antwortschreiben des früheren Goldman-Sachs-Managers auf Fragen des Finanzausschusses des US-Senats hervor, das der Nachrichtenagentur Reuters am Montag vorlag. Konkret fordert Mnuchin Änderungen an der Volcker-Regel, mit der den Geschäftsbanken nach dem Beinahe-Zusammenbruch des Finanzsystems im Jahr 2008 Fesseln beim riskanten Eigenhandel angelegt wurden.“
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Ach ja, und das Irrsinnsprojekt der geplanten Mauer an der Grenze zu Mexiko dürfte zumindest nicht allzu einfach werden: Why Trump can’t simply build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border with an executive order
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Trump risks ‚war‘ with Beijing if US blocks access to South China Sea, state media warns
Donald Trump Could Be Starting a New Cold War With China. But He Has Little Chance of Winning
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John Pilger: The Issue Is Not Donald Trump. It Is Us.
„William I. Robinson, professor at the University of California, and one of an uncontaminated group of American strategic thinkers who have retained their independence during the years of intellectual dog-whistling since 9/11, wrote this last week:
“President Barack Obama… may have done more than anyone to assure [Donald] Trump’s victory. While Trump’s election has triggered a rapid expansion of fascist currents in US civil society, a fascist outcome for the political system is far from inevitable…. But that fight back requires clarity as to how we got to such a dangerous precipice. The seeds of 21st century fascism were planted, fertilized and watered by the Obama administration and the politically bankrupt liberal elite.”
Robinson points out that “whether in its 20th or its emerging 21st century variants, fascism is, above all, a response to deep structural crises of capitalism, such as that of the 1930s and the one that began with the financial meltdown in 2008…. There is a near-straight line here from Obama to Trump…. The liberal elite’s refusal to challenge the rapaciousness of transnational capital and its brand of identity politics served to eclipse the language of the working and popular classes… pushing white workers into an ‘identity’ of white nationalism and helping the neo-fascists to organise them”.
The seedbed is Obama’s Weimar Republic, a landscape of endemic poverty, militarised police and barbaric prisons: the consequence of a “market” extremism which, under his presidency, prompted the transfer of $14 trillion in public money to criminal enterprises in Wall Street.“