The US Hamster Wheel

[BenThere]

By the way, Biden is not POTUS, is he - or have I missed something?

Yeah, Boac, you missed an essential part of my statement describing him as 'candidate' Joe Biden.

And Goblin, the idea of Mr. Trump shoving pancakes into his pocket makes my eyes roll involuntarily. Your posted link article is clearly a hatchet job where a writer found an obscure relative who now finds him distasteful 11 years after his visit. The writer had to dig deep for that one.

[TheGreenGoblin]

The writer had to dig deep for that one.

As did Trump when rummaging through his pockets for his Scottish pancake mush after his theft!

He is not the Messiah, he is a very naughty boy!

[Boac]

Ben - I think you have forgotten the Chump is also a 'candidate'?

[Boac]

It's called getting your sh!t together, little man!

"Trump tweeted that reports he had been willing to meet with Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian president, before the drone attacks were false. “The Fake News is saying that I am willing to meet with Iran, ‘No Conditions.’ That is an incorrect statement (as usual!),” he tweeted on Sunday.

But political commentators were quick to point out that those comments came from Pompeo and treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin, who five days ago said on camera that Trump was willing to meet with Rouhani with “no preconditions” at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in New York."

Time to fire Pompeo and Mnuchin, obviously. Any better ideas, folks?

[Undried Plum]

Unnamed US officials have been speaking to the New York Times, ABC and Reuters.

One official said there were 19 points of impact on the targets and the attacks had come from a west-north-west direction - not Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen, which lies to the south-west of the Saudi oil facilities.

The officials said that could suggest launch sites in the northern Gulf, Iran or Iraq.

A close-up image of damaged tanks at the Abqaiq processing plant appeared to show impact points on the western side.

How the hell does an approach direction of West or NorthWest to Abqaiq indicate a launch site in Iran?

[Boac]

Smart move by the Chump to counter the forecast oil glut and boost US exports! UP - the mythical attack 'direction' fits nicely with Israel, Jordan or Iraq.................

[TheGreenGoblin]

If an author like Stephen King had made up a bad character like Trump we would have said "nah not credible" but alas...

Trump congratulates himself for US becoming 'number one energy producer in the world' in wake of Saudi refinery drone attacks...

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 07116.html

Cui bono? The Israelis in my opinion with covert US knowledge. The Houthis don't have the technology or training and I doubt that the Iranians would be so stupid.

An ideal casus belli. The spirit of the insane moustache Bolton writ large. While the fires burn Nethanyu annexes parts of Hebron under the burning oil fires smoke screen as the Middle East goes up in flames and a senile Trump incontinenty tweets illiterate madness!

[Undried Plum]

“Thank you Mr President,” he wrote in the tweet

A classic example of his Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

[Boac]

Which way is the delicate Chump flower blowing in the wind now? If anyone knows, please tell.

July 30th
"No pre-conditions. No. If they want to meet, I'll meet. Anytime they want. Anytime they want. It's good for the country, good for them, good for us, and good for the world. No pre-conditions. If they want to meet, I'll meet."

September 29th
"The Fake News is saying that I am willing to meet with Iran, 'No Conditions.' That is an incorrect statement (as usual!)."

Remember, also July

"Just remember, what you are seeing and what you are reading is not what's happening. Just stick with us, don't believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news."

Like yeah! Naughty naughty Fake News. There are numerous clips of the Chump spouting the crap too - it's just that he CANNOT REMEMBER! Imagine trying to negotiate with world leaders with a memory as bad as his. Imagine trying to WORK in the White House............ Melanie - she got a son?

[BenThere]

I suspect he's playing above your level, Boac. You just don't perceive it yet.

Watch how the new Iran strategy unfolds and report back in 6 months. So far he has a golden touch with everybody but victims of TDS such as yourself.

[Boac]

The problem for the world, Benjamin, is that the only person on his level is - him. You just don't perceive it yet. I think that is function of DDS.

[TheGreenGoblin]

You just don't perceive it yet. I think that is function of DDS.

Initially I suspected that Mr BenThere might be pulling our proverbial collective chain, or that perhaps he was a troll (but never a Goblin) but in the light of his last posts I am beginning to wonder if he simply isn't all there!

[Boac]

I have had him as a closet troll for ages, GG, but every now and then there is a glimpse suggesting genuine stupidity

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

The final attack direction proves nothing, one way or the other. It was likely selected to minimise civilian casualties in the target area. Furthermore, "US officials" are well aware of both these things.
That the media also choose not to mention them is either unforgivable ignorance or propaganda.
I have put a guesstimate of the attack plan in the Gulf thread, and would welcome comments on that.

[Boac]

From the FT:

"Not a student of history or a man of details, he is discovering the hard way that it is easier to start a crisis in the Middle East than to control it, let alone end it."

In a nutshell.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Anything starts a conflict in the Middle East, and Doing Nothing does too.
They've been kicking the crap out of each other throughout recorded history, with the help of outsiders or not.
Right now, the biggest beneficiaries look to be US shale oil producers, which may or may not be a co-incidence, but certainly isn't costing Trump much.
Do remember that he just got rid of Bolton, and overaggressive advice was the reason given. Let's see how this one pans out; Trump hasn't started a war yet, and Obama was fighting at least one for every single day of his presidency.

[llondel]

Trump appears to be in the Bay Area at the moment. AF1 just landed at Moffett Field. That'll screw up traffic, and apparently the Trump Blimp is being deployed.

[BenThere]

Well it won't screw up air traffic. Moffett is a military airport. And Bay Area traffic is always screwed up.

I hope the Trump Blimp appears. It boldfaces the puerility of his opposition.

[Stoneboat]

... That'll screw up traffic..

How badly depends on whether he gets his hair cut or not.

[TheGreenGoblin]

Ref: The blimp.

Well let's hope the often very puerile Trump doesn't expire in a lighter than air moment like the eponymous Rear Admiral (and far more admirable) William A. Moffett who died in the Akron airship disaster in New Jersey.

The skeleton of the Macon airship's hangar at Moffett field is well worth a look, the airship having being lost off the Californian coast. It is a pity that the hangar, an incredible structure in its day, has not being preserved properly over the years, although it may have been re-skinned recently, but it seems that some Americans care little for their heritage if they cannot exploit it, a sentiment that will chime with Trump and his regime who are infamous for their desecration of many sites of interest and natural beauty all over the USA and elsewhere in the world for that matter. The other two hangars there are also worth a look if they haven't been sold for lumber yet.