Showing posts with label Vladimir Putin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vladimir Putin. Show all posts
THIS IS THE VERY BEST DESCRIPTION OF TRUMP I HAVE EVER READ - A MUST READ -Rabbi Dov-Fischer “Everyone Is Smart, Except Donald Trump:”
Very good article with rational, not emotional, points.
Original link:
Friends and followers. This is well worth the read, which is why I am posting on my blog today. Rabbi Dov Fischer makes good sense. Who is Rabbi Dov Fischer? Rabbi Dov Fischer is an attorney and adjunct professor of law, a Senior Rabbinic Fellow at the Coalition for Jewish Values, congregational rabbi of Young Israel of Orange County, California, and holds prominent leadership roles in several national rabbinic and other Jewish organizations. He has been Chief Articles Editor of UCLA Law Review, clerked for the Hon. Danny J. Boggs in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and served for most of the past decade on the Executive Committee of the Rabbinical Council of America. His writings have appeared in the Weekly Standard, National Review, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Jerusalem Post, American Thinker, Frontpage Magazine, and Israel National News. READ ON!
Everyone Is Smart, Except Trump
By Rabbi Dov Fischer
It really is quite simple. Everyone is smart except Donald J. Trump. That’s why they all are billionaires, and all got elected President. Only Trump does not know what he is doing. Only Trump does not know how to negotiate with Vladimir Putin. Anderson Cooper knows how to stand up to Putin. The whole crowd at MSNBC does. All the journalists do.
They could not stand up to Matt Lauer at NBC. They could not stand up to Charlie Rose at CBS. They could not stand up to Mark Halperin at NBC Nor up to Leon Wieseltier at the New Republic, nor Jann Wenner at Rolling Stone, nor Michael Oreskes at NPR, at the New York Times, or at the Associated Press. But — oh, wow! — Can they ever stand up to Putin! Only Trump is incapable of negotiating with the Russian tyrant.
Remember the four years when Anderson Cooper was President of the United States? And before that — when the entire Washington Post editorial staff jointly were elected to be President? Remember? Neither do I.
The Seedier Media have never negotiated life and death, not corporate life and death, and not human life and death. They think they know how to negotiate, but they do not know how. They go to a college, are told by peers that they are smart, get some good grades, proceed to a graduate degree in journalism, and get hired as analysts. Now they are experts, ready to take on Putin and the Iranian Ayatollahs at age 30.
That is not the road to expertise in tough dealing. The alternate path is that, along the way, maybe you get forced into some street fights. Sometimes the other guy wins, and sometimes you beat the intestines out of him. Then you deal with grown-ups as you mature, and you learn that people can be nasty, often after they smile and speak softly. You get cheated a few times, played. And you learn. Maybe you become an attorney litigating multi-million-dollar case matters. Say what you will about attorneys, but those years — not the years in law school, not the years drafting legal memoranda, but the years of meeting face-to-face and confronting opposing counsel — those years can teach a great deal. They can explain how to transition from sweet, gentle, diplomatic negotiating to tough negotiating. At some point, with enough tough-nosed experience, you figure out Trump’s “The Art of the Deal” yourself.
Trump’s voters get him because not only is he we, but we are he. We were not snowed flaked-for-life by effete professors who themselves had never negotiated tough life-or-death serious deals. Instead, we live in the real world, and we know how that works. Not based on social science theories, not based on “conceptual negotiating models.” But based on the people we have met over life and always will hate. That worst boss we ever had. The coworker who tried to sabotage us. We know the sons of bums whom we survived, the dastardly types who are out there, and we learned from those experiences how to deal with them. We won’t have John Kerry soothe us by having James Taylor sing “You’ve Got a Friend” carols.
The Bushes got us into all kinds of messes. The first one killed the economic miracle that Reagan had fashioned. The second one screwed up the Middle East, where Iraq and Iran beautifully were engaged in killing each other for years, and he got us mired into the middle of the muddle. Clinton was too busy with Monica Lewinsky to protect us from Osama bin Laden when we had him in our sights. Hillary gave us Benghazi and more. And Obama and Kerry gave us the Iran Deal, ISIS run amok, America in retreat. All to the daily praise of a media who now attack Trump every minute of every day.
So let us understand a few things:
So let us understand a few things:
NEGOTIATING WITH NATO
NATO is our friend. They also rip off America. They have been ripping us off forever. We saved their butts — before there even was a NATO — in World War I. They messed up, and 116,456 Americans had to die to save their butts.
Then they messed up again for the next two decades because West Europeans are effete and so obsessed with their class manners and their rules of savoir-faire and their socialist welfare states and their early retirements that they did not have the character to stand up to Hitler in the 1930s. Peace in our time. So they messed up, and we had to save their butts again. And another 405,399 Americans died for them during World War II. And then we had to rebuild them! And we had to station our boys in Germany and all over their blood-stained continent. So, hey, we love those guys. We love NATO.
NATO Leaders. Who is paying their fair share?
And yet they still rip us off. We pay 4% of our gigantic gross domestic product to protect them, and they will not pay a lousy 2% of their GDP towards their own defense. Is there a culture more penny-pinching-cheap-and-
Long before Trump, they set up tariffs against us for so many things If the average American knew how badly Europe has been ripping us off for decades with their duties, no one in this country would buy anything European again. We would say, as a matter of self-respect and personal pride, “I no longer will buy anything but American, no matter what it costs.”
Every American President has complained about the cheating and imbalance — the NATO penny-pinching-cheapness, the tariff and trade imbalances. In more recent years, the various Bushes complained about it. Even Obama complained about it. But they all did it so gently, so diplomatically. They would deliver the sermon, just as the pastor predictably tells the church-goers on Sunday morning that he is against sin, and the Europeans would sit quietly and nod their heads — nodding from sleeping, not from agreeing — and then they would go back out and sin some more. Another four years of America being suckered and snookered. All they had to do was give Obama a Nobel Peace Prize his ninth month in office and let Kerry ride his bike around Paris.
So Trump did what any effective negotiator would do: he took note of past approaches to NATO and their failures, and correctly determined that the only way to get these penny-pinching-cheap baseborn prigs to pay their freight would be to bulldoze right into their faces, stare them right in their glazed eyes with cameras rolling, and tell them point-blank the equivalent of:
The Nations of NATO
“You are the cheapest penny-pinching, miserly, stingy, tight wadded skinflints ever. And it is going to stop on my watch. Whatever it takes from my end, you selfish, curmudgeonly cheap prigs, you are going to pay your fair share. I am not being diplomatic. I am being All-Business: either you start to pay or, wow, are you in for some surprises! And you know what you read in the Fake News: I am crazy! I am out of control! So, lemme see. I know: We will go to a trade war! How do you like that? Maybe we even will pull all our troops out of Europe. Hmmm. Yeah, maybe. Why not? Sounds good. Well, let’s see.”
So Trump stuffed it into their quiche-and-schnitzel ingesting faces. And he convinced them — thanks to America’s Seedier Media who are the real secret to the “Legend That is Trump” — that he just might be crazy enough to go to a trade war and to pull American boys home. They knew that Clinton and Bush x 2 and Kerry and Hillary and Nobel Laureate Obama never would do it. But they also know that Trump just might. And if they think they are going to find comfort and moderating in his new advisers, John Bolton and Mike Pompeo, alongside him. Nuh-uh.
So CNN and the Washington Post and all the Seedier Media attacked Trump for days: He is destroying the alliance! He attacks our friends!
Baloney. Obama was the one whom the Left Echo Chamber… Chamber… Chamber — never called out for attacking our friends — Israel, Britain, so many others — while cozying up to Hugo Chavez, bowing to dictators, and dancing the tango for Raul Castro. Trump is just the opposite: He knows who the friends are, and he wants to maintain and strengthen those friendships.
It is no different from a parent telling a 35-year-old son: “I have been supporting you for thirty-five years I put you through college by signing four years and $100,000 PLUS in Loans. You graduated college fifteen years ago. For fifteen years I have been asking you nicely to look for a job and to start contributing. Instead, you sit home all day playing video games, texting your friends on a smartphone I pay for, and picking little fuzz balls out of your navel. So, look, I love you. You are my flesh and blood. But if you are not employed and earning a paycheck — and contributing to the cost of this household — in six months, we are throwing you out of the house.” That boy is NATO. Trump is Dad. And all of us have been signing for the PLUS Loans.”
NEGOTIATING WITH PUTIN.
Putin is a bad guy. A really bad guy. He is better than Lenin. Better than Stalin, Khrushchev, Kosygin, Brezhnev, Pol Pot, Mao. But he is a really bad guy.
Here’s the thing: Putin is a dictator. He answers to no one. He does whatever he wants. If there arises an opponent, that guy dies. Maybe the opponent gets poked with a poisoned umbrella. Maybe he gets shot on the street. Maybe the opponent is forced to watch Susan Rice interviews telling the world that Benghazi happened because of a YouTube video seen by nine derelicts in Berkeley and that Bowe Berghdal served with honor and distinction. But, one way or another, the opponent dies.
Trump knows this about Putin. And here is what that means: If you insult Putin in public, like by telling the news media just before or after meeting with him that he is the Butcher of Crimea, and he messed with our elections and is an overall jerk — then you will get nothing behind closed doors from Putin. Putin will decide “To heck with you, and to heck with the relationship we just forged.” Putin will get even, will take intense personal revenge, even if it is bad for Russia — even if it is bad for Putin. Because there are no institutional reins on him.
But if you go in public and tell everyone that Putin is a nice guy (y’know, just like Kim Jong Un) and that Putin intensely maintains that he did not mess with elections — not sweet little Putey Wutey (even though he apparently did) — then you next can maintain the momentum established beforehand in the private room. You can proceed to remind Putin what you told him privately: that this garbage has to stop —or else. That if he messes in Syria, we will do “X.” If he messes with our Iran boycott, we will do “Y.” We will generate so much oil from hydraulic fracturing and from ANWR and from all our sources that we will glut the market — if not tomorrow, then a year from now. We will send even more lethal offensive military weapons to Ukraine. We can restore the promised shield to Eastern Europe that Obama withdrew. And even if we cannot mess with Russian elections (because they have no elections), they do have computers — and, so help us, we will mess with their technology in a way they cannot imagine.
Tump knows from his advisers what we can do. If he sweet-talks Putin in public — just Putin on the Ritz — then everything that Trump has told Putin privately can be reinforced with action, and he even can wedge concessions because, against that background, Putin knows that no one will believe that he made any concessions. Everyone is set to believe that Putin is getting whatever he wants, that Trump understands nothing. In that setting, Putin can make concessions and still save face.
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin
That is why Trump talks about him that way. And that is the only possible way to do it when negotiating with a tyrant who has no checks and balances on him. If you embarrass the tyrant publicly, then the tyrant never will make concessions because he will fear that people will say he was intimidated and backed down. And that he never will do. Meanwhile, Trump has expelled 60 Russians from America, reversed Obama policy and sent lethal weapons to Ukraine, and is pressing Germany severely on its pipeline project with Russia.
THE BOTTOM LINE
At the end of the day, Donald Trump is over seventy years old. He has made many mistakes in his life. He still makes some He is human. But Trump likewise has spent three score and a dozen years learning. He has seen some of his businesses go bankrupt, and he has learned from those experiences to be a billionaire and not let it happen again. No doubt that he has been fooled, outsmarted in years past. And he has learned from life.
Trump is a tough and smart negotiator. He sizes up his opponent, and he knows that the approach that works best for one is not the same as for another. It does not matter what he says publicly about his negotiating opponent. What matters is what results months later.
In his first eighteen months in Washington, this man has turned around the American economy, brought us near full employment, reduced the welfare and food stamp lines, wiped out ISIS in Raqqa, moved America’s Israel embassy to Jerusalem, successfully has launched massive deregulation of the economy, has opened oil exploration in ANWR, is rebuilding the military massively, has walked out of the useless Paris Climate Accords that were negotiated by America’s amateurs who always get snookered, canned the disastrous Iran Deal, exited the bogus United Nations Human Rights Council. He convinced Canada and Mexico that he would walk out of NAFTA if they didn’t negotiate a new and fair trade agreement (they did), and he has the Europeans convinced he would walk out of NATO if they don’t stop being the cheap and lazy parasitic penny-pinchers they are
He has slashed income taxes, expanded legal protections for college students falsely accused of crimes, has taken real steps to protect religious freedoms and liberties promised in the First Amendment, boldly has taken on the Lyme-disease-quality of a legislative mess that he inherited from Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama on immigration, and has appointed a steady line of remarkably brilliant conservative federal judges to sit on the district courts, the circuit appellate courts, and the Supreme Court.
What has Anderson Cooper achieved during that period? Jim Acosta or the editorial staffs of the New York Times and Washington Post? They have not even found the courage and strength to stand up to the coworkers and celebrities within their orbits who abuse sexually or psychologically or emotionally. They have no accomplishments to compare to his. Just their effete opinions, all echoing each other, all echoing, echoing, echoing. They gave us eight years of Nobel Peace Laureate Obama negotiating with the ISIS JV team, calming the rise of the oceans, and healing the planet.
We will take Trump negotiating with Putin any day.
Fwd: Fw: A most interesting read with an unexpected ending
Great geo-political read!!!
Subject: A most interesting read with an unexpected ending
The author is Joel Ross, Principal, Citadel Realty Advisors, 15 West
36th Street, NYC, NY. Mr. Ross publishes the Ross Rant, a $300 per
year subscription newsletter, which makes predictions based upon
economic data.Ross Rant
July 29 2018
To understand the trade war with China, you need to understand that
China at the moment is having a major slowdown economically. The stock
market is down 25%. Many banks are being bailed out by the government.
Everything and everyone in China is way over levered, and the economy
is therefore in a high risk position which the government was trying
to fix. The trade war got in the way, forcing the government to
subsidize the smaller banks. China is loaning tens of billions to
countries like Pakistan to build ports and railroads and
infrastructure. Problem is, these countries have zero possible way to
ever repay these loans. So now they are faced with stopping the
projects or asking the IMF to bail them out.
It is a mess for China and the countries who took the loans. There is
starting to be pushback against China for this. So, Trump’s timing to
go after China is exactly right. They are in a weakened position
right now. Ignore all the hype about how they could sell their $1.4
trillion of US Treasuries —to who??? Not going to happen. The whole
world agrees China violates every rule on trade and steals IP. Trump
is just the only one who is willing to take them on, with the rest of
the world cheering him on from the sidelines. Now it appears the EU
is willing to cooperate with Trump and revise the WTO and to push
China on IP and other trade violations. Something they were never
willing to do before.
Can 4% GDP growth continue? Maybe. But 3.5% would be great. Remember
the left, and the press saying in 2016 and early 2017, 2% was the new
normal maximum, and the US was at its peak and we faced stagflation,
economic decline, etc. 2% was the accepted number as what good growth
would be. Larry Summers was right out there saying 4% was impossible.
Some in the mainstream media and Wall St said getting above 2% was
pure fantasy, and Trump was dreaming.
So, as I have said often, ignore the talking heads, and the mainstream
media. They all have an agenda. Almost none are objective. The tax
bill and deregulation was a huge boost. The left just can’t admit it.
There are even stories now in the press that 4% is really a bad
thing??? 4% is great, it may not be 4% next quarter, but 3.5% would
be terrific. If Trump really does a deal with the EU, Mexico and
Canada, and then Japan, 3.5%, or better, is very realistic.
Capital expenditures will ramp up further once the tariff issues
subside and that uncertainty goes away. They say exports were hyped
due to pending tariffs, but to do that, inventories were drawn down,
so this quarter inventories will be rebuilt, pushing up GDP growth
upward. The press does not want you to believe it because it means
the Republicans win in November, so they will try to convince you
otherwise. Even my very liberal economist friends admit privately to
me that the economy is going to be booming for at least 6 more
quarters. The key is to reelect Republicans to control Congress.
Keep in mind Maxine Waters is chair of the finance committee if the
Dems get control, and Nancy is speaker. Think about that combo, and
the ability to get budgets and more tax reform done. It should drive
you to the polls and to take all your friends with you to vote. What
a trade: Trump, and 4% GDP,
or Maxine Waters.
If you want to understand Russia, and the whole gas pipeline issue---
gas and oil is 52% of Russia’s GDP. The GDP of Russia is slightly
smaller than NY State, around $1.5 trillion. GDP per capita is only
$8,748 in 2017. Far lower than in 2013. We heard this first hand
when I was in Russia, but now the stats show it to be true. The
standard of living in Russia is declining. 20% of the Russian budget
goes to weapons and the army.
So Trump is right - how can Germany build a new gas pipeline with
Russia which will fund more weapons spending, when they are supposedly
having sanctions because of weapons and Crimea. It is nuts. The gas
line will provide Russia billions of new cash flow for weapons which
are aimed at ----Germany. But Merkel also thought letting in over 1
million Muslims was also a great idea until the voters rebelled, and
the rest of the EU voted right wing in response.
Reality is Russia is now in economic decline due to lower oil prices
and corruption. Defense spending was reduced this year. So what does
Merkel want to do – build the pipeline to pay them more badly needed
money. Trump is not out of line for his comments. The pipeline is
the same as Obama paying Iran $150 billion just as their economy was
tanking. Truth is Russia cannot afford to wage a real war in Europe
now that Trump has forced NATO to materially up spending and
readiness.
If Obama was still in power Putin could take over Baltic states and
have only a few sanctions because under Obama NATO was militarily
unable to react. That was why Putin felt he could go into Crimea with
no big problem. Putin also knew he could continue his cyber war with
no real consequences under Obama. Don’t believe the crap about Trump
favors Putin, or they have something on him. It is more lefty
nonsense. The US pays 71% of NATO costs. Germany pays less than 1.2%
of their GDP for their own defense. We pay far more for Germany’s
defense than Germany does, and they can afford to pay.
Trump is right for making this a major issue. So in 2018, NATO and
the US are upping spending on defense and Russia cannot keep up.
Russia is forced to reduce spending because oil prices did not rise as
much as Putin needed.
Under Obama US defense spending went down from 2013 on, and Russia
went up a lot, and China even more. Obama left us in very bad and
weak shape vs our main adversaries. It was massive US defense
spending by Reagan vs Russia, that won the cold war. The story now is
very similar vs Russia and Iran. The best way to win a war is to far
out spend the bad guys until they fold with no shots being fired. A
strong offensive capability and willingness to use it (missiles fired
at Syria) is the best defense. Putin and Xi got the message. Putin
blew it by favoring Trump. The last thing he wanted was a much
stronger US military and stronger, capable NATO.
Iran’s GDP is $439 billion, less than that of 14 states. And now it
is tanking. Obama gave them $150 billion - 34% of their GDP. Iran
cannot compete with US and Israel. Israel is much smaller by
population and has a GDP of $320 billion. With sanctions Trump is
imposing, Iran is in real economic trouble, and cannot afford a war
with us, the Sunnis and Israel.
The Obama nuke deal just empowered Iran to go on an expansion into
Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon. Now Israel and the US are pushing
back with the help of the Sunnis. Reimposing sanctions will severely
cripple Iran and they will likely try to attack shipping in the
straits and the Red Sea. It will end very badly for them now that the
Sunnis, Israel and the US are teamed up, the US military is being
rebuilt, Sadr is pushing back on Iran trying to control Iraq, and the
Iranian people are protesting and ready to revolt.
The entire Mideast situation is going to change by year end when
sanctions go back into effect. Iran will run out of money to continue
their expansion. What is astonishing is Merkel and the EU prefer to
try to get around the US sanctions and trade with Iran instead of
cooperating with us and destroying the regime. And the press thinks
Trump acts badly with the EU??? The EU doesn’t pay for their own
defense and they favor Iran.
The US economy is on a roll. It will be strong well into 2019 and
maybe into 2020. The stock market will go up. Just be patient. Bond
prices will decline further. All equities will continue to work.
They will resolve trade in the next 90 days. Before November. NAFTA
will get revised. WTO will get revised. Putin is in no economic shape
to invade anyone, or do another Syria. He is now motivated to try to
work with Trump. If oil prices stay around where they are, Russia is
hurting. Q3 GDP will be over 3%. This is like under Reagan.
Trump will bury Putin in military spending and Putin will have to
concede on some issues. It will just take time. It took Reagan three
years. If the result is no pipeline, Russia is in more trouble. Farm
products in the EU will still be a big problem. Macron cannot give in
on this and stay in office. From here on it is all about China, and
how Xi can give in and not lose face.
Bottom line, a very strong US economy and big defense spending will
overwhelm Russia and Iran. A strong economy, allowing big defense
spending, matters a lot in terms of geopolitics. The price of oil is
strategic, not just economic.
Nicky Haley will be elected president in 2024 She will be the first
woman president. Mark it downGreat geo-political read!!!
Subject: A most interesting read with an unexpected ending
The author is Joel Ross, Principal, Citadel Realty Advisors, 15 West
36th Street, NYC, NY. Mr. Ross publishes the Ross Rant, a $300 per
year subscription newsletter, which makes predictions based upon
economic data.Ross Rant
July 29 2018
To understand the trade war with China, you need to understand that
China at the moment is having a major slowdown economically. The stock
market is down 25%. Many banks are being bailed out by the government.
Everything and everyone in China is way over levered, and the economy
is therefore in a high risk position which the government was trying
to fix. The trade war got in the way, forcing the government to
subsidize the smaller banks. China is loaning tens of billions to
countries like Pakistan to build ports and railroads and
infrastructure. Problem is, these countries have zero possible way to
ever repay these loans. So now they are faced with stopping the
projects or asking the IMF to bail them out.
It is a mess for China and the countries who took the loans. There is
starting to be pushback against China for this. So, Trump’s timing to
go after China is exactly right. They are in a weakened position
right now. Ignore all the hype about how they could sell their $1.4
trillion of US Treasuries —to who??? Not going to happen. The whole
world agrees China violates every rule on trade and steals IP. Trump
is just the only one who is willing to take them on, with the rest of
the world cheering him on from the sidelines. Now it appears the EU
is willing to cooperate with Trump and revise the WTO and to push
China on IP and other trade violations. Something they were never
willing to do before.
Can 4% GDP growth continue? Maybe. But 3.5% would be great. Remember
the left, and the press saying in 2016 and early 2017, 2% was the new
normal maximum, and the US was at its peak and we faced stagflation,
economic decline, etc. 2% was the accepted number as what good growth
would be. Larry Summers was right out there saying 4% was impossible.
Some in the mainstream media and Wall St said getting above 2% was
pure fantasy, and Trump was dreaming.
So, as I have said often, ignore the talking heads, and the mainstream
media. They all have an agenda. Almost none are objective. The tax
bill and deregulation was a huge boost. The left just can’t admit it.
There are even stories now in the press that 4% is really a bad
thing??? 4% is great, it may not be 4% next quarter, but 3.5% would
be terrific. If Trump really does a deal with the EU, Mexico and
Canada, and then Japan, 3.5%, or better, is very realistic.
Capital expenditures will ramp up further once the tariff issues
subside and that uncertainty goes away. They say exports were hyped
due to pending tariffs, but to do that, inventories were drawn down,
so this quarter inventories will be rebuilt, pushing up GDP growth
upward. The press does not want you to believe it because it means
the Republicans win in November, so they will try to convince you
otherwise. Even my very liberal economist friends admit privately to
me that the economy is going to be booming for at least 6 more
quarters. The key is to reelect Republicans to control Congress.
Keep in mind Maxine Waters is chair of the finance committee if the
Dems get control, and Nancy is speaker. Think about that combo, and
the ability to get budgets and more tax reform done. It should drive
you to the polls and to take all your friends with you to vote. What
a trade: Trump, and 4% GDP,
or Maxine Waters.
If you want to understand Russia, and the whole gas pipeline issue---
gas and oil is 52% of Russia’s GDP. The GDP of Russia is slightly
smaller than NY State, around $1.5 trillion. GDP per capita is only
$8,748 in 2017. Far lower than in 2013. We heard this first hand
when I was in Russia, but now the stats show it to be true. The
standard of living in Russia is declining. 20% of the Russian budget
goes to weapons and the army.
So Trump is right - how can Germany build a new gas pipeline with
Russia which will fund more weapons spending, when they are supposedly
having sanctions because of weapons and Crimea. It is nuts. The gas
line will provide Russia billions of new cash flow for weapons which
are aimed at ----Germany. But Merkel also thought letting in over 1
million Muslims was also a great idea until the voters rebelled, and
the rest of the EU voted right wing in response.
Reality is Russia is now in economic decline due to lower oil prices
and corruption. Defense spending was reduced this year. So what does
Merkel want to do – build the pipeline to pay them more badly needed
money. Trump is not out of line for his comments. The pipeline is
the same as Obama paying Iran $150 billion just as their economy was
tanking. Truth is Russia cannot afford to wage a real war in Europe
now that Trump has forced NATO to materially up spending and
readiness.
If Obama was still in power Putin could take over Baltic states and
have only a few sanctions because under Obama NATO was militarily
unable to react. That was why Putin felt he could go into Crimea with
no big problem. Putin also knew he could continue his cyber war with
no real consequences under Obama. Don’t believe the crap about Trump
favors Putin, or they have something on him. It is more lefty
nonsense. The US pays 71% of NATO costs. Germany pays less than 1.2%
of their GDP for their own defense. We pay far more for Germany’s
defense than Germany does, and they can afford to pay.
Trump is right for making this a major issue. So in 2018, NATO and
the US are upping spending on defense and Russia cannot keep up.
Russia is forced to reduce spending because oil prices did not rise as
much as Putin needed.
Under Obama US defense spending went down from 2013 on, and Russia
went up a lot, and China even more. Obama left us in very bad and
weak shape vs our main adversaries. It was massive US defense
spending by Reagan vs Russia, that won the cold war. The story now is
very similar vs Russia and Iran. The best way to win a war is to far
out spend the bad guys until they fold with no shots being fired. A
strong offensive capability and willingness to use it (missiles fired
at Syria) is the best defense. Putin and Xi got the message. Putin
blew it by favoring Trump. The last thing he wanted was a much
stronger US military and stronger, capable NATO.
Iran’s GDP is $439 billion, less than that of 14 states. And now it
is tanking. Obama gave them $150 billion - 34% of their GDP. Iran
cannot compete with US and Israel. Israel is much smaller by
population and has a GDP of $320 billion. With sanctions Trump is
imposing, Iran is in real economic trouble, and cannot afford a war
with us, the Sunnis and Israel.
The Obama nuke deal just empowered Iran to go on an expansion into
Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon. Now Israel and the US are pushing
back with the help of the Sunnis. Reimposing sanctions will severely
cripple Iran and they will likely try to attack shipping in the
straits and the Red Sea. It will end very badly for them now that the
Sunnis, Israel and the US are teamed up, the US military is being
rebuilt, Sadr is pushing back on Iran trying to control Iraq, and the
Iranian people are protesting and ready to revolt.
The entire Mideast situation is going to change by year end when
sanctions go back into effect. Iran will run out of money to continue
their expansion. What is astonishing is Merkel and the EU prefer to
try to get around the US sanctions and trade with Iran instead of
cooperating with us and destroying the regime. And the press thinks
Trump acts badly with the EU??? The EU doesn’t pay for their own
defense and they favor Iran.
The US economy is on a roll. It will be strong well into 2019 and
maybe into 2020. The stock market will go up. Just be patient. Bond
prices will decline further. All equities will continue to work.
They will resolve trade in the next 90 days. Before November. NAFTA
will get revised. WTO will get revised. Putin is in no economic shape
to invade anyone, or do another Syria. He is now motivated to try to
work with Trump. If oil prices stay around where they are, Russia is
hurting. Q3 GDP will be over 3%. This is like under Reagan.
Trump will bury Putin in military spending and Putin will have to
concede on some issues. It will just take time. It took Reagan three
years. If the result is no pipeline, Russia is in more trouble. Farm
products in the EU will still be a big problem. Macron cannot give in
on this and stay in office. From here on it is all about China, and
how Xi can give in and not lose face.
Bottom line, a very strong US economy and big defense spending will
overwhelm Russia and Iran. A strong economy, allowing big defense
spending, matters a lot in terms of geopolitics. The price of oil is
strategic, not just economic.
Nicky Haley will be elected president in 2024 She will be the first
woman president. Mark it down
Fwd: Fw: Real Russia Probe Exposes Clintons, Not Trump - Media 'Flat Out Lying to the American People
Hannity: Real Russia Probe Exposes Clintons, Not Trump – Media ‘Flat Out Lying to the American People’
By Jack Davis
October 24, 2017 at 7:54am
October 24, 2017 at 7:54am
Fox News host Sean Hannity just broke it down for his viewers, and it's a must-see. "The Democrats and their handmaidens in the media should have been more careful about what they wished for. The Russia collusion story is finally coming out." Read more…
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Fox News host Sean Hannity unloaded on the Democrats and the mainstream media Monday night, saying they had been “flat out lying” about which 2016 presidential candidate actually had close ties with Russia.
“The evidence is now incontrovertible, it’s overwhelming that the Clintons sold out our national security to the Russians, and the Obama administration did nothing to stop them and then they covered it up,” Hannity said. “Democrats and the media, they have been lying to you for over a year about what is really going on.”
The root of the Russia-Clinton connections was a deal to allow Uranium One, a Russian company, to buy a significant part of the American uranium supply.
Recently unearthed documents show former President Bill Clinton wanted to meet with Russian high-rollers during a 2010 trip to Moscow during which he was paid a $500,000 speaking fee.
Further reports have said Russia sought to gain influence with the Clintons in 2009, as the deal with Uranium One was nearing its 2010 approval. That effort ended when a Russian spy ring was broken up in 2010.
It has also been revealed that Special Counsel Robert Mueller, appointed to investigate Russia-U.S. connections, is now targeting the Podesta Group, a lobbying firm run by Tony Podesta, the brother of John Podesta, who was former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman.
“When it comes to Russia, it is clear that Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media have been flat out lying to the American people about what is really happening,” Hannity wrote Monday in a column for Fox News that was based on what he said in his monologue.
“It was always just a matter of time before their manufactured hysteria and conspiracy theories blew up in their faces and boomeranged back on the Democrats and the media,” he added. “Well, it is happening now.”
Hannity said the significance of Russia seeking to get close to the Clintons through a spy ring that was busted in 2010 comes in its link to Clinton’s email scandal.
“Think about this: At the exact same time Vladimir Putin and Russia were trying to infiltrate her inner circle, Hillary Clinton was using a private server that had top-secret special access programs, classified national security information on it,” he said.
“Clinton knew what was happening because her office commented on the Russia spy ring bust back in 2010. Yet, she recklessly continued to use the personal server, putting national security at risk.”
The conservative talk show host said that it was no coincidence that “Russian nuclear officials were giving $145 million to the Clinton Foundation. Were they simply feeling philanthropic?”
The question was rhetorical, of course.
“Putin wanted a piece of our uranium supply, our government knew he was illegally (trying) to get it, a former president met with him and pocketed a suspicious speaking fee and, what did our government do? The Obama administration, including Hillary Clinton and then-Attorney General Eric Holder let it happen. In 2010, the Uranium One deal was approved,” he said.
Hannity said he feared that connections among top Justice Department officials who were associated with the episode might keep the truth under wraps.
“If the Department of Justice won’t do its job and expose the Russia scandal, Congress will. Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., says the House Oversight Committee is now investigating this Uranium One deal,” Hannity said, adding that an FBI informant from the time the uranium deal was approved wants to come forward and tell the whole truth.
“The Democrats and their handmaidens in the media should have been more careful about what they wished for,” Hannity concluded. “The Russia collusion story is finally coming out.”
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