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EXCLUSIVE: The Trump administration may evict the press from the White House
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics...white-house/#…
.@seanspicer says it's about "logistics " & numbers. Another transition official quoted calling press "the opposition party"
Our forefathers fought and died for freedom of press. To have Trump supporting American voters cheer its downfall is disturbing.
At Paris meeting, major powers to warn Trump over Middle East peace
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-isr...-idUKKBN14Y0SF
Major powers will signal to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday that a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians is the only solution, with France warning him that plans to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem could derail peace efforts.
Some 70 countries, including key European and Arab states as well as the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, are in Paris for a meeting that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected as "futile". Neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians will be represented.
But, just five days before Trump is sworn in, the conference provides a platform for countries to send a strong signal to the incoming American president.
Trump has pledged to pursue more pro-Israeli policies and move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv, where it has been for 68 years, to Jerusalem, all but enshrining the city as Israel's capital despite international objections.
Calling it a provocation, France's Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the move would have serious consequences on the ground.
"One cannot have such a clear-cut, unilateral position. You have to create the conditions for peace," he told France 3 television.
Paris has said the meeting will not impose anything on Israel or the Palestinians and that only direct negotiations can resolve the conflict.
A draft communique seen by Reuters reaffirms existing international resolutions, urges both sides to restate their commitment to the two-state solution and disavow officials who reject it. The communique asks the protagonists to "refrain from unilateral steps that prejudge the outcome of final status negotiations".
LOW POINT
Diplomats said the communique could be toughened up with an allusion to Trump's plans for Jerusalem and whether to have a follow-up to the French initiative intensely debated.
"This conference is among the last twitches of the world of yesterday," Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting on Sunday. "Tomorrow will look different and that tomorrow is very close."
Relations between the United States and Israel have soured during President Barack Obama's administration, reaching a low point late last month when Washington declined to veto a U.N. resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlements in occupied territory.
Obama's secretary of state, John Kerry, said the settlement programme threatened Middle East peace and the two-state solution.
Related Coverage
France's Ayrault says Trump Jerusalem proposal provocation
Palestinian President Authority Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday that he had told Trump that a move to Jerusalem would kill off the peace process and strip the U.S. of its role as honest broker - and could lead to the Palestinians going back on their recognition of Israel.
Home to Europe's largest Muslim and Jewish communities, France has tried to breathe new life into the peace process over the past year. It believes that, with the uncertainty surrounding how the next U.S. administration will handle the issue, it is important to push the sides back to talks rather than allowing a fragile status quo to fester.
But with elections coming up this year in France and Germany, and Britain appearing to align itself more closely with the Trump administration on the issue, the prospects of the European Union, the largest economic partner for both Israel and the Palestinians, taking a lead on the matter appear unlikely.
Arab states also have concerns about how Trump's relationship with them will turn out, and have taken a cautious line.
IC has temporarily cut intel off from allies when their govts got too cuddly w/our enemies.
Nobody ever thought they'd have to cut off DC.
When jihadist attacks against the West start rising, thank President Trump for breaking the Western intelligence alliance to placate Putin.
Outgoing CIA boss says Trump does not understand Russia's intentions and capabilities.
http://news.sky.com/story/cia-boss-s...ssia-10730196#
UPDATE:White House Reviewing #DworkinReport On #Trump's #Russian Ties
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...=1478882710090
Last edited by davidbfpo; 01-15-2017 at 05:32 PM.
Estonian media cites #Czech media outlet Respekt claiming no records of COEHN's directly entering the country. http://maailm.postimees.ee/3975493/e...8.1484472964#…
COHEN might've used 3 options:
1.False passport
2.Diplomatic passport
3.Different country of arrival & destination
but what everyone forget: Cohen has also Israeli citizenship. He could travel with that passport...
BUT WAIT.....who owns the Estonian newspaper who stated Cohen did not travel to Prague.....
Kosachev, who allegedly didn't meet Trump's lawyer COHEN, who never in life have frequently visit Prague, was head of Rossotrudnichestvo.
So is now Trump destroying the core of the US democracy????Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09
"They are the opposition party," a senior official says about the *press*.
No, America, this is NOT normal.
AP Politics
✔
@AP_Politics
CIA director says Trump tweeting harms security:
http://apne.ws/2jTe3K9
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 01-15-2017 at 05:20 PM.
Putin is clearly confident that #Trump will upend all U.S. sanctions against #Russia, hence no need to retaliate.http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/53678#…
BUT WAIT...........
Pence DOES NOT answer Qs on CBS on whether Trump Admin wants Russia out of Eastern Ukraine/Crimea: "He’ll work through these issues, John."
Last edited by davidbfpo; 01-15-2017 at 05:55 PM. Reason: remove oversize photo
Carter Page Dec '16 Moscow visit & Zvezda TV breaking news on US lifting Russian sanctions is play-book confirmation of Caribbean Crisis.
Russian TV's Kiselev likens the US intelligence report on alleged Russian hacking to "a mouse excreting something, it's pathetic"
Kiselev on Obama's presidency: "a disgrace...destructive...bloody... catastrophic". Kiselev on Trump: "plain-talking...a man of his word".
On Russian TV Kiselev's take is mirror image of Western media: portrays Obama admin as immoral/corrupt, Trump as upstanding/victim of "lies"
Tonight Russian state TV anchor Dmitry Kiselev quoted a UK newspaper article. But left a bit out.
Last edited by davidbfpo; 01-15-2017 at 06:59 PM.
A British angle: a comment
From Post 483 by Outlaw09 in part:Yes Mr Steele is a British national, who served in MI6 / SIS, an intelligence agency that like the other British agencies has exceptionally close links to it's American "cousins" (although GCHQ is reportedly even closer to the NSA it's "cousin"). Could his loyalties and networking in the private sector serve more than one paymaster and other "interested parties"? Yes, quite clearly.While US media snoozed, Financial Times did report on how dirty money flowed into Trump.
WHY is it that Steele is a Brit...the FT is Brit and some of the best social media Trump black money flows OSINT analysis are coming from EU and UK????
Secondly until July 2015 the FT newspaper and other electronic options were owned by the UK-based Pearson Group, but it was then sold to Nikkei, a Japanese media company. A compnay that has a mixed reputation according to this, almost funny now, Russian author:https://www.bloomberg.com/view/artic...as-a-new-owner
Pearson Group also sold its 50% share in The Economist to the Agnelli family, from Italy where their interests include Fiat. The Pearson Group has largely UK-based corporate owners.
It is a moot point if in 2017 the FT reflects a distinct British flavour, let alone reports in the UK's national interest. More likely the international corporate financiers IMHO.
From Post 485 by Outlaow09 cited in part:That is quite simply "spin" and may originate from within the agencies or Whitehall-Westminster. There is IMHO the widely held belief that any spy (HUMINT source), would not, except when jointly run, reveal the true identity of a spy anywhere. The information reports gained, well that is quite different and we know that sometimes the "jigsaw" can be assembled to identify a spy.British intelligence asks for guarantees that its spies in Russia will remain anonymous under the Trump administration. Source: Sunday Times.
davidbfpo
David, isn’t it rather curious that a Russian intelligence operation to insert a Russian agent into the heart of American politics and even the White House, which began 5-8 years ago, and which is so secret and so sensitive that it is controlled directly from the Putin’s PA rather than the SVR or GRU, was revealed to various Russian businessmen and then to a former SIS officer? How is it that the tentacles of this elaborate plot are all to be found by way of open-source intelligence?
Does it not surprise you to learn that the SIS has outstanding human intelligence in Russia, in marked contrast to SIS penetration during the Cold War?
Does it also not surprise you that this network of British agents was unable to alert London about Russian intentions regarding Georgia, Ukraine and Syria?
Given that Mr. Steele’s agents include senior FSB officers and members of the PA, would the process of elimination – pliers plus blowtorch plus bullet – be very difficult for Putin?
HUMINT in Russia today
Responses by section:Yes, very curious and contrary to how HUMINT works. Unless one considers it is a very clever "smoke & mirrors" ploy to undermine Trump's credibility - which it certainly is for some.
Then there is the "old boys" network in Russia, with ex-KGB & GRU etc being in the "private" sector and mixing with their still-serving friends. I recall there was a big exodus after the USSR fell, but have many returned to state service? Or can we still talk about a separation of interests between the state, a private sector and business?
Advocates of open source claim IIRC 90% of information is open. Notably Robert Steele. See:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_David_SteeleHow is it that the tentacles of this elaborate plot are all to be found by way of open-source intelligence?
That aside. I have my doubts the tentacles have been discovered. Cash still has power and greed remains a powerful desire.
SIS undoubtedly aspires to have HUMINT from Russia, I doubt anyone considers it has an 'outstanding' performance. I recall the success of the two best known SIS sources in the Cold War, Oleg Penkovsky (caught) and Oleg Gordievsky (escaped). The later it is stated was convinced by a briefcase of foreign cash; his account is different.Does it not surprise you to learn that the SIS has outstanding human intelligence in Russia, in marked contrast to SIS penetration during the Cold War?
Now does SIS learn much from all the Russian wealthy exiles and resident who live in London, who continue to have links back home. The murder of Alexander Litvinenko, using polonium as a poison may fit in here.
[quote]Does it also not surprise you that this network of British agents was unable to alert London about Russian intentions regarding Georgia, Ukraine and Syria?[quote]
Gauging intentions has always been hard, even more so when decisions are made within a small circle, or even one person. I cannot recall the detail of each episode, but capabilities were either moved or upgraded beforehand - some of which was detected and warnings given.
No, not very difficult I suspect. So that recent death in Moscow makes me wonder. Hardly time in Putin ruled Russia to have open criminal trials of traitors.Given that Mr. Steele’s agents include senior FSB officers and members of the PA, would the process of elimination – pliers plus blowtorch plus bullet – be very difficult for Putin?
Last edited by davidbfpo; 01-16-2017 at 01:08 PM.
davidbfpo
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