Persians are brown or black, huh? Might come as a surprise to them.

Megyn Kelly slams Colin Kaepernick's Iran tweet: 'I will not be shamed over calling out bull**** claims of racism'

Football player and activist Colin Kaepernick has also weighed in, criticizing the U.S. for taking military action against Iran and linking it to racially motivated imperialism.

“There is nothing new about American terrorist attacks against Black and Brown people for the expansion of American imperialism,” the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, known for his kneeling protests against police brutality, tweeted. 

“America has always sanctioned and besieged Black and Brown bodies both at home and abroad. America militarism is the weapon wielded by American imperialism, to enforce its policing and plundering of the non-white world.”

Gotta say I'm with Megan on this one.

Does he think the Amerindian population was brown or black?

Does he think the Nisei were brown or black?

He's spent too much time subject to propaganda of the left that the only whites are eurowhites, or at any rate the only people Americans regard as white are eurowhites.

Crock of shit, really.

Tell it to Danny Thomas and his children and every family running a Middle Eastern restaurant.

(Do Turkish immigrant families run Turkish restaurants or coffee houses? Damned good coffee.)

Tell it to Fernand Braudel who referred to the Mediterranean basin as the central feature of the historic geographic home of the white race and the nursery of most of their civilizations.

The left find it handy to paint the hostilities between Christian Europe and some of the inhabitants of Muslim lands - and some of the lands themselves - around the Med and extending across Anatolia, the Middle East, and Central Asia as turning on race, or at any rate as in some central way a clash of people or peoples of different races.

But not.

And is all this simmering conflict with the Axis of nuts, not just Iran but North Korea, just a spasm of racist, imperialist "policing and plundering of the non-white world" by evil white America?

Umm, nah.

Bozo fucks up again

So, Trump is now totally fucking up the Iran and Iraq problems just as he did the Korea problem, though his idiot supporters to this day praise the stable genius for his unfathomably wise and perceptive handling of all issues.

And remind us always that Obama was weak and a failure and Hillary an ogress.

Mark Meadows to newsie: "There isn't going to be another Benghazi."

All this chaos is the result of the takeover of the GOP by Pat Buchanan, incarnate in the Duce.

And there will be a lot more and a lot worse if Bozo gets his second term, during the whole of which he will have not the least reason to care about what voters might think of what he wants, says, or does.

Can we allow the Taliban their own state in which to aid and abet terror attacks, maybe nuke attacks, on the US?

The Israelis have been essentially fighting a forever war against unyielding and unrelenting Arab attacks aimed at their very existence for as long as Israel has existed.

Better a forever war than utter destruction, eh?

The Lessons of the Afghanistan Papers

While the anti-warriors are all gloating, and all, let's hope they don't lose sight of the genuine threat posed by an entire state controlled by as mad an Islamist ideology as that of ISIS, a Muslim terrorist movement we felt the need to deny control of its own state.

These people really and truly would nuke us if they could, and who is to say that with a little help from others who hate us equally and would love to cheaply put us in check they could not actually do it?

Remember the Axis of Nuts?

With all his stupid bluster, Trump has been totally unable to prevent North Korea from become a nuclear power with the actual capability of nuking the continental United States.

And also with his stupid bluster he has provided an occasion for Iran to resume efforts to join the nuclear club with the idea of at least holding the Great Satan in check.

How do we feel about the idea of Iran holding us in check?

Or North Korea, come to that?

The great thing about non-proliferation was that it kept the number of enemy states capable of keeping us in check - and so immune to the reverse - to a very small minimum, none of them actually crazy enough to nuke us in a purely aggressive move.

That moron Trump just absolutely doesn't see it.

There is so much he is just too stupid to see.

Sounds like Chamberlain in Munich, eh?

So, feel safe, tankers?

UK defence minister rebuffs criticism over tanker seized in Gulf

Think of the costs of such a loss and consider how long commercial tankers will be able to continue in these waters, so clearly unprotected.

What does it tell you when even the hawks seem more afraid of war than of the message sent by their inaction?

Or are they?

Britain must seek to reduce tension but its first duty is to protect ships and crews

Phooey.

Bravado belied by the rest of the content of this op-ed.

While Britain alone cannot afford any longer to be anything like a real global power, the EU could and can.

Another proof the idiot Tories and Brexiteers are stupidly going in exactly the wrong direction.

And while all this goes on American media continue with their utter fixation on partisan propaganda, most of them pouring the most vile, lie-based hatred and outrageous vilification on Trump and the Republicans.

Looking for a naval battle?

Iran Said to Seize British Tanker in Persian Gulf

The certainly have it coming.

Iran said Friday that it had seized a British oil tanker in the Persian Gulf, and the tanker’s owner said it had lost contact with the vessel as it appeared to be heading toward Iran. 

The British government said it was urgently seeking information about the incident.

The possible seizure of the ship, the Stena Impero, in the Strait of Hormuz, was the latest in three months of escalating tensions between Iran and the West. 

It came a day after the United States claimed it had downed an Iranian drone in the area, which the Iranians denied.

Britain and Iran have been embroiled in a dispute for the past few weeks over Britain’s seizure of an Iranian tanker near Gibraltar. Iran had been vowing to retaliate.

Iran’s Fars News Agency said the Stena Impero had been impounded because it was “violating maritime rules and regulations.”

. . . .

The British Defense Ministry said it was urgently looking into what had happened to the Stena Impero, a 30,000-ton British-flagged ship, which was heading for Saudi Arabia when it abruptly left the international sea lanes through the Strait of Hormuz.

You might ask why a Republican president is aiding and abetting a Communist tyrant

Because he likes him.

Trump Reverses Sanctions U.S. Imposed on North Korea Yesterday

President Trump undercut his own Treasury Department on Friday by announcing that he was rolling back North Korea sanctions that it imposed just a day ago.

. . . .

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said the decision was a favor to Mr. Kim.

“President Trump likes Chairman Kim, and he doesn’t think these sanctions will be necessary,” she said.

Trump walks away with no new agreement with NK

No new agreement at all reached.

In his version of events, Trump said the deal had broken down because Kim wanted complete sanctions relief for dismantling the main nuclear complex at Yongbyon, but the US wanted other nuclear facilities, including covert sites, disabled as well.

“It was about the sanctions basically,” Trump said at a press conference in Hanoi. 

“They wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety and we couldn’t do that ... Sometimes you have to walk, and this was just one of those times.”

. . . .

Trump made clear that the status quo will continue, with North Korea continuing to suspend nuclear and missile tests, while the US will not take part in joint military exercises with South Korea, which the US president is opposed to anyway.

“I gave that up quite a while ago because it costs us $100m to do it. I hated to see it. I thought it was unfair,” Trump said, adding that South Korea should shoulder more of the costs. 

“Exercising is fun and it’s nice they play their war games. I’m not saying its not necessary. On some levels it is. On other levels it’s not.”

Should have  started them up, again.

But, otherwise, looks to me like he did the right thing.

Another useless meeting?

There is talk of Trump getting together with his good bud Kim again.

'Cause things went so well for him the first time, though America was actually a loser as a result of that stunningly empty PR event.

Pompeo lies like Trump

Korea talks going swell, he says.

Things going along as we would wish.

US has "gangster mindset", says NK

Sort of like "We're America, bitches"?

Anyway, Pompeo continues to praise the emperor's new clothes while the North Koreans mock his nude ugliness.

The world is laughing at us?

Yeah, it is.

Especially in North Korea.

Less than a month after President Donald Trump talked about opening "a new chapter" between the US and North Korea, the relationship between the two nations has taken a tense and hostile, but predictable turn.

In a fiery escalation, North Korea on Saturday accused the US of a "gangster-like mindset" in high-level negotiations over denuclearization, a glaring contradiction of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's description of the talks as "productive."

Hey, it's all good

Wow. The art of the deal.

Pompeo signals 'progress' as North Korea pans talks

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo left Pyongyang on Saturday seemingly optimistic after two days of high-level talks, but without announcing any concrete steps North Korea would take or a timeline towards denuclearization.

North Korea, however, poured cold water on the talks, saying the "attitude" of the US was "regrettable" and not in the spirit of the June 12 summit in Singapore between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

"We had many hours of productive conversations," Pompeo told reporters Saturday in Pyongyang before boarding a flight to Tokyo. 

"These are complicated issues, but we've made progress on almost all the central issues. Some places, a great deal of progress. Other places, there's still more work to be done."

But North Korea called the outcome of the discussion "worrisome" and argued that the "cancerous issues" the US delegation raised were the same ones that had "amplified" distrust and the risk of war with past administrations and caused previous talks to end in failure, adding that its "willingness to denuclearize could falter."

"We expected the US to bring constructive measures to build confidence in accordance with the spirit of the US-NK Summit," the statement carried by state-run news agency KCNA said. 

"However, the attitude of the US in the first high-level talks held on the 6th and 7th were indeed regrettable."

The statement added: "The United States is fundamentally mistaken to think that the demands that reflect their 'robbery mentality' are acceptable to our patience."

The Five confront Iran

A very good piece in L'Express.

Nucléaire iranien: recherche accord désespérément

Les discussions sur le nucléaire iranien ont repris - sans les Américains. Un défi majeur pour les Européens.

La renégociation avec l'Iran a recommencé, à Genève, avec l'ardente obligation de durer moins longtemps que la fois précédente - il avait fallu douze ans pour parvenir à l'accord du 14 juillet 2015, formalisé sous le nom de JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Plan d'Action Global commun). 

Or, face à Téhéran, les pays concernés - Russie, Chine, France, Royaume-Uni et Allemagne - se retrouvent dans un contexte complètement différent. 

It doesn't look good, and Iran is in a pissy mood.

L'aveuglement de Trump

L'Iran, avec lequel "les négociations sont extrêmement dures", selon l'aveu même d'un diplomate russe chevronné, fait sciemment monter la pression en laissant croire à un compte à rebours fatal. 

Le négociateur, le roué ministre des Affaires Etrangères, Mohammad Javad Zarif, est porteur d'une feuille de route très complexe. 

Que Donald Trump ne veut visiblement pas comprendre. 

Le président américain a affirmé sans sourciller : "L'Iran n'est plus le pays qu'il était il y a quelques mois. Il y a là-bas un tout autre groupe de leaders". 

Avec sa finesse habituelle, il a ajouté : "Ils ne regardent plus vers la Méditerranée autant qu'avant... Ils sont moins portés sur ce qui se passe en Syrie, sur ce qui se passe au Yémen et sur beaucoup d'autres endroits".  

En l'occurrence, c'est exactement l'inverse. 

Un mouvement avait été initié à la faveur du JCPOA ; l'année 2017 s'était soldée par un taux de croissance économique de près de 10%. 

De nombreux modérés commençaient à en tirer profit pour contrer les conservateurs, toujours vent debout contre l'accord de 2015. 

C'est ce mouvement-là qui s'arrête. 

Pour le reste, le régime poursuit inexorablement ses menées extérieures. 

Hossein Salami, un des commandants des Gardiens de la Révolution, le corps d'élite du camp des durs, a estimé le mois dernier que le Hezbollah, allié indéfectible de l'Iran au Liban, disposait maintenant de 100 000 missiles prêts à détruire Israël. 

Le pouvoir des mollah se raidit

Le Guide Suprême Ali Khamenei, dont le pouvoir se situe au-dessus de celui du président, Hassan Rohani, vient de déclarer qu'Israël est toujours une "tumeur cancéreuse". 

En Syrie, on a dénombré en juin trois soldats iraniens tués, ce qui prouve qu'ils continuent à se battre hardiment aux côtés de Bachar Al Assad. 

Plusieurs signes démontrent que l'Iran s'est adapté au durcissement de Trump par un renforcement de sa stratégie agressive. 

Quant aux difficultés économiques qu'affrontent le pays, elles ne provoquent rien d'autre qu'un raidissement du pouvoir des mollahs. 

Pour célébrer la fin du Ramadan le mois dernier, Ali Khamenei a appelé ses concitoyens à se priver, à se serrer la ceinture et à ne plus voyager à l'étranger pour sauvegarder la monnaie nationale en danger. 

A destination de ceux qui prônent la fin de l'isolement, en renonçant à la course au nucléaire, le Guide a lancé : "Ceux qui défendent l'idée, en suivant la propagande ennemie, que le peuple est fatigué et épuisé sont eux-mêmes fatigués. Ce sont eux qui sont épuisés". 

Dans un pays où tout augmente, la population en vient à contester ouvertement les autorités, jugées incompétentes, mais sans qu'aucun espoir de changement de régime en découle. 

On a déjà vu où la contestation spontanée, non construite, conduisait ; en 2009, les jeunes dressés contre la corruption et les manipulations électorales du médiocre Mahmoud Ahmadinejad eurent droit à une répression en bonne et due forme. 

Il n'y a pas de force (ni d'idéologie) de coagulation de l'opposition, en Iran ; la seule option de variation provient de l'ouverture vers l'extérieur - encore n'est-ce qu'une hypothèse, mais elle méritait d'être tentée comme le voulait la logique du JCPOA. 

Contrairement aux rodomontades de Donald Trump, ce sont seulement les très frêles signaux de libéralisation qui sont frappés de plein fouet. 

A moins d'un nouvel accord sur le nucléaire iranien, c'est le pire aspect de la République islamique qui reprendra le dessus.  

So what about NK and its nukes?

The Duce is just walking away, tweeting about saving the world from war as the intelligence agencies report Kim is expanding his nuclear establishment.

Experts Skeptical That North Korea Is Serious About Denuclearizing

And where are the peacenik Democrats?

Or are we all globalists now, as everyone at MSNBC seems now to be, promising DC will take a nuke for Tallinn?

Bozo's man crush on Kim

Trump says he wants 'my people' to 'sit up at attention' like North Koreans

President Donald Trump on Friday defended his warm praise of Kim Jong Un, saying his newfound affinity for the North Korean dictator was making Americans safer.

At the same time, Trump expressed esteem for the forced deference North Koreans show for their leader and joked he wished "my people" would do the same.

. . . .

Since returning from his summit with Kim, Trump has referred to Kim as "funny," "smart," "very talented," and someone who "loves his people."

He's also spoken with barely contained awe about the displays of reverence North Koreans are obligated to show toward their supreme leader.

"He's the head of the country," Trump said of Kim Friday during a live interview on Fox News' "Fox and Friends." 

"And I mean he's the strong head. Don't let anyone think anything different."

"He speaks and his people sit up at attention," the President added. "I want my people to do the same."

Later Friday, Trump told reporters at the White House his remark was a joke.

"I was kidding," he said. 

"You don't understand sarcasm."

Trump getting us out of Korea

He is not stupid enough to think he has actually somehow caused NK's nuclear arsenal to disappear, and he has already admitted without alarm - joking, in fact - that NK might not actually follow through on nuclear disarmament.

He has called off training for our troops in SK without which they are less of a deterrent and less capable of simply defending themselves, and has already said he wants to pull them out.

And he has significantly distanced himself from the brinkmanship of the rhetoric of war both he and his administration publicly espoused during the scariest part of the crisis.

Almost everybody agrees that, if it isn't already too late for military action - because they can and very possibly would nuke us - to force them to abandon their nukes it soon will be.

And so Kim and the Buchanites win.

Nobody really thinks the US would or should go to war against a nuclear armed NK to help SK fend off invasion.

Truth to tell, nobody wants an American president to risk anything remotely that serious in an effort to keep Putin from military action against neighboring pieces of the ex-Soviet Union.

We are all of us getting softened up for an American withdrawal of our forces and of our guarantees from SK, and maybe next Japan.

Maybe this is how Trump staggers his way toward the isolationist policies of his campaign.

Globalists deplore the dismantling of what they call "the post-WW2 liberal world order", referring in actual fact to the system of international alliances left over from the long-gone Cold War.

But those global alliances are past their shelf-life, and we need neither the ability nor the commitments to fight 2 and 1/2 wars against any adversaries, anywhere in the world, at the same time, though it is perfectly obvious that "the deep state" and the majority of politicians in both parties are not ready to even think so, much less say so and make the necessary changes.

The NATO countries are rich enough, populous enough, and powerful enough to conduct their own collective defense, or their own military adventures, without us.

So are Japan, SK, and the other states in the Far East, especially if they remain allied with Australia and New Zealand.

None of which is to say any of Trump's protectionist moves make the least sense.

And though of course we need to continue police and security cooperation with everybody facing Islamic or other forms of terrorism, that does not mean we really need to participate with the Europeans and friendly local powers in the continuing military struggles against ISIS, the Taliban, and other radical Islamic organizations in the Middle East, Central Asia, or Africa.

Anyway, we certainly don't need to take a leading role either politically or militarily in any of that.

Trump's overnight lies

Trump on Past Rhetoric With North Korea: I Felt ‘Foolish’ at Times, But It Was Necessary

President Donald Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity that his past rhetoric toward North Korea – exemplified by language like "fire and fury" – made him feel "foolish," but he said it was necessary for progress.

In an excerpt of an interview with Hannity that will air in full Tuesday night, Trump reflected on past comments he made about North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

"Well, I think without the rhetoric, we wouldn't have been here. I really believe that," Trump said.

"You know, we did sanctions and all of the things that you would do, but I think without the rhetoric, you know, other administrations, I don't want to get specific on that, but they had a policy of silence."

"If [North Korea] said something very bad, very threatening, and horrible, just don't answer," Trump said, describing the approach of past administrations. 

"That's not the answer. That's not what you have to do."

He gave Kim the high profile summit he has wanted for many years and got in return the same promises NK has made and reneged on twice before.

He gave away training exercises crucial to readiness.

And he seized the opportunity to reiterate his desire to get US troops entirely out of SK, quite apart from anything resembling genuine concessions from NK.

Does he even know his claims are lies, or does he begin and end with lying to himself?

Anne Applebaum in WAPO.

And Jennifer Rubin.

A GOP globalist responds to the Korea deal

The Art of the Moron

Rick Wilson's apparently previously insignificant career as a "Republican strategist" seems to have taken off with his full-time anti-Trumpism.

Bozo takes a victory lap for the morons

King Ubu returns.

Trump proclaims 'there is no longer a nuclear threat' from N. Korea after return from Singapore

See?

Easy peasy for the World's Greatest Negotiator.

Bozo in Singapore reverts to Buchananism

The best deal EVER

Really

The 49 wildest quotes

A sample:

"I mean, I may stand before you in six months and say, 'Hey, I was wrong.' I don't know that I'll ever admit that, but I'll find some kind of an excuse."

Kim had a great summit. And he didn't even need to give anything away

But the real reward was five hours with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, when the two leaders signed a document that essentially reiterated promises North Korea has already made, extracted no new or concrete concessions to demonstrate Pyongyang was committed to denuclearization, and further, spoke of "security assurances" the dictator had long sought from the United States.

. . . .

But perhaps the most stunning moment of the summit came after Kim had left the summit venue. 

In a freewheeling press conference lasting more than an hour, Trump was pressed by reporters to elaborate on the security guarantees he could provide to North Korea. 

In response, Trump pointed to the presence of nearly 30,000 US troops in South Korea, something that has long irked not only North Korea, but also its biggest backer: China.

"I want to get our soldiers out. I want to bring our soldiers back home," Trump said.

While the US President qualified that a troop withdrawal was "not part of the equation right now," he made it clear that it could be, in the future.

And to the apparent surprise of South Korea, Trump promised to halt what he called "the war games" -- joint military exercises with South Korea -- that North Korea has long regarded as a provocation. 

They were expensive, inappropriate -- and "provocative," he said.

He doesn't really care much whether they get rid of their nukes.

He's looking for a big splash of apparent achievement behind which to advance his isolationist agenda.

Remember his suggestion during the campaign that Japan and SK need to defend themselves and maybe get their own nukes?

Korea summit still on? Back on?

Trump cancelled it Thursday and says now it's still on.

Art of the deal?

Trump Pulls Out of North Korea Summit Meeting with Kim Jong-un

President Trump has notified Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, that he has canceled their much-anticipated meeting to discuss steps toward denuclearization and peace because of recent “tremendous anger and open hostility” by Pyongyang toward members of his administration.

. . . .

Mr. Trump’s reference to anger and hostility followed comments from a North Korean official who described Vice President Mike Pence as “ignorant and stupid.”

Mr. Pence had said that relations with North Korea “will only end like the Libyan model ended if Kim Jong-un doesn’t make a deal.” 

He made the comments in an interview on Monday with Fox News.

But in front of the cameras just now Bozo was not angry and instead was persistently optimistic about how it will all work out, insisting Kim and the North Koreans still want to "do the right thing".