vrijdag 12 mei 2017

Blaming Russia Rather than Saudi Arabia and Israel

James Comey’s Legacy: Blaming Russia Rather than Saudi Arabia and Israel

Russia has never influenced US policy making but Saudi Arabia and Israel have and continue to do so.

By Adam Garrie

May 11, 2017 "Information Clearing House" -  The last time Donald Trump fired an important official prior to an important foreign visit was when Steve Bannon was fired from his position on the  National Security Council the day before a Chinese delegation led by President Xi was to meet with Trump. It was also incidentally a day prior to Trump’s infamous 6 April 2017 attack on Syria.
Steve Bannon was known to favour Russian reconciliation, particularly over Syria cooperation. He was also a leader of the anti-Chinese camp, especially in the aftermath of Mike Flynn’s resignation. The dots were not difficult to connect.
Now, within hours of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov holding talks with US Secretary of State Tillerson and apparently Donald Trump in Washington, FBI Director James Comey has been fired.
Donald Trump is quoted in an official statement as saying,
“The FBI is one of our Nation’s most cherished and respected institutions and today will mark a new beginning for our crown jewel of law enforcement”.
The liberal mainstream media are all ready saying that this is a ‘gift of Russia’ as if Trump will hand over Comey’s firing notice to Mr. Lavrov on a silver plate, not that Russia particularly cares. Russia does not.
Theories about Trump firing Comey to placate Russia are not only literally stupid, but it makes a mockery of the United States. Then again, so too did the entire ‘Russiagate’ investigation that Comey’s FBI was leading.
In a democracy, important checks and balances held keep each branch of government scrutinised when any powers are abused or laws are  broken. It is important to have an impartial FBI willing to investigate any branch of government when anything untoward is suspected. But it’s a two way street.
The un-elected FBI can go rogue as much as a President or Senator and that is what the FBI has done over investigating the non-issue of Donald Trump’s non-existent connections with Russia.
Any patriotic American should be ashamed of what Comey has done, continuing to investigate such a totally bogus set of entirely political/opportunistic accusations.
Not only is there zero evidence of any Trump-Russia connnections but more importantly, America is too powerful to be influenced by ANY foreign power. So too are Russia and China.
The fact that America still can be influenced by foreign powers is not due to capitulation, but instead due to greed which leads to a voluntary surrender of US interests whilst those of a foreign state are elevated.
But is Russia one of those states? No it is not.
There are no signs historically nor presently that Russia has ever had any positive influence on the United States Federal government at any level.
The same cannot be said of Saudi Arabia and Israel,  states which are far weaker than Russia, but states which never the less have influenced US policy making for decades.
America doesn’t depend on Saudi or Israel for survival, but in a corrupt country, money talks and this is what America has become: a corrupt country that is so rich and so powerful it doesn’t even need to be corrupt, but greed has got the better of integrity.


For years America depended on cheap oil from Saudi Arabia and its other OPEC goons and likewise, many Americans liked to lavish themselves in the easy money which flowed from the repressive desert kingdom. Hillary Clinton was a prime example of a politician bought and sold in Saudi gold.
Likewise, the US based Israel lobby is extraordinarily powerful in terms of monetary influence. Groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) donate millions to political causes. By contrast, groups which oppose Israel’s foreign and internal policies do not have that kind of money and therefore do not have that kind of influence.
One can love or hate Saudi Arabia/love or hate Israel, but these are facts and they are as American as baseball and burgers. They have nothing to do with Wahhabism or Zionism per se.
What a shameful state it is, that US politicians feel the need to rely on foreign money for personal enrichment. I can understand why leaders in the poor countries that America dominates feel the need to go along with American money and influence in order to enrich themselves or even keep their nation from total collapse or invasion, but what is America’s excuse? America has the biggest military in the world and is the world’s wealthiest nation.
There is no excuse other than old fashioned greed on an extreme scale.
In this sense, I do not blame Saudi Arabia or Israel for their disproportional influence on US policy. They are simply purchasing something that is de-facto for sale.
One must blame the US politicians who put money before country and they do so in a country that doesn’t even need the money. Hillary Clinton’s husband gets millions just for opening his mouth (to speak that is, not the Monica Lewinsky style of mouth opening), does she really need that much more?
This knowledge must lead to questions of both how far to expand America’s legal definition of corruption. This also much raise questions about the heart and soul of American democracy.
No country should unduly influence another. But the fact is, Russia is not now and never has influenced America. Russiagate was a political crusade and a deeply un-creative one at that. The fact that the FBI took it seriously was shameful.
James Comey had to go and although the move was probably motivated by Donald Trump’s personal anger rather than any wider philosophical sense of justice, the result is the same and it is the correct one.


Adam Garrie is Managing Editor at The Duran where this article was originally published.



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